This morning was busy in the kitchen. I started with the elderberries. I juiced all that was in the fridge and freezer. No more elderberries on the plants, no more in the fridge and no more berries in the freezer – just juice.
Today I ended up with 7 quarts and 2 pints. The steam juicer goes quickly once the juice starts flowing. I thought the 7th quart would be the last but as the jar was about to fill up to the very top, I realized I needed another jar and had no more quarts in the kitchen so I grabbed a pint jar, then grabbed the 8 cup measuring cup and figured that could be sufficient. I was going to pour all the juice into Powerade bottles so I wasn’t concerned about the container the juice was flowing into.
I ended up with 8 quarts of juice today, already had 3 quarts in the freezer so that’s 11 quarts for me. My friend got 6 quarts of juice from our berries so in just two growing seasons, these two elderberries that I planted in late 2020 produced 17 quarts of juice. I didn’t leave gallons of berries on the bushes but I left enough for the birds. There are still a few clusters just now getting ripe but I’m done . . not cleaning up elderberry residue in the kitchen again this year.
My plan is to use about 1-1/2 quarts of juice and make elderberry syrup this afternoon and we’ll start taking it. We usually don’t start til about mid-September but with all the talk of “stuff” going around already, I think now is a good time to start.
vivoaks says
That’s an amazing amount of berries from just 2 plants! The one plant I have that grows in a hedge row (not planted, obviously), there’s never enough for me because the birds eat them all before they ripen enough for me to pick…. Hubby loves elderberry jelly. 🙂
judy.blog@gmail.com says
I had years in Texas where the birds got them all. I’m thinking there were so many, maybe the birds got the ones near the top (the shrubs are at least 8′ tall) and left the ones for me that I could reach. That’s why I always freeze dry some – you never know what will happen next year.