The elderberries are getting ripe so quickly. Thursday evening I picked two full grocery sacks full. I cut the stem off just behind where the berries start so a full bag has lots of stem and debris, along with the berries. Once they’re frozen, I will take one bag out of the freezer at a time (so they all stay frozen) and, using my hands on the outside of the bag, kinda crunch them like I would be crumbling crackers. That’s the easiest way I’ve found to separate the berries from the stem. Then I dump the bag into the biggest bowl I have and shake it. The debris comes to the top and I can pick it out – not totally but somewhat. Then I get the next bag and do the same thing until all the bags from the freezer have been done. The berries all go into the steam juicer.
Notice I have the jar sitting in the drawer – probably something some day I will wish I hadn’t done but that’s how I’ve been doing it for 10+ years. Depending on how much juice there is at any given time, that jar can fill up quickly so I have to keep my eye on it.
I ended up with 5 quart jars of juice.
I used three quarts to make elderberry jelly, elderberry syrup and the other two quarts went into the bottles (one from honey and one from syrup for the soda stream). Those went into the freezer. I’m guessing, from the amount of berries still out there, that I will end up with at least 15 quarts of juice total. Not even sure what I will do with all that
I’ve been wanting to make mint jelly because we love that with lamb and it’s hard to find here so I went out and picked mint, steeped it and made 14 half pints of mint jelly.
Adding green coloring would make it look more like mint jelly that we see in commercial production but I prefer to add nothing that isn’t needed and I really don’t care if it’s green or yellow or tan (which it often will turn) – just so it tastes like mint jelly. I also like to use mint jelly to make a PB&J on rye bread.
Breakfast was a Dutch Baby and we ate it with strawberries and blueberries (and lots of syrup on mine!).
By the time dinner time rolled around, I was too tired to think about cooking and was thankful soup was on the menu and it was already made. We were also supposed to have chicken salad sandwiches but Vince said he wanted a BLT. That was even easier!
Today I may can some baked beans but I may put that off til Sunday or even Monday.
justquiltin says
I think it’s genius to stick the jar in the drawer. Looks like it would be harder to get the hose to easily sit in a jar up on the countertop. Do you have some sort of glass or plastic container under the jar in the drawer in case of overflow? Although I ‘m sure you’re not far away when all that is going on. Your Dutch Baby looks delicious!
judy.blog@gmail.com says
I can and should probably put a pot in a chair and let the hose drain into that. No, nothing to catch the overflow – just watching closely (and you know how that goes!) so it doesn’t get close to overflowing. Thanks. I do like Dutch Babies. When I make pancakes, Vince is eating his while i’m cooking mine and then he’s done before I start so the Dutch Baby is a bit similar to a pancake and we both eat at the same time.
Leona Mac says
Judy, long time lurker here. I have a juicer (Mehu Maija) and it has a clamp that sits on the hose to seal it. Pinch the clamp and then the juice runs freely. It means that you don’t have to sit and watch. The juice accumulates in the bottom of the steamer until you release it.
https://www.healthnutalternatives.com/mehu-liisa-clamp-for-steam-juicer-p198.aspx
about the 3:10 mark of this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqn7skeq37k
Leona
judy.blog@gmail.com says
I have that too (Mehu Liisa juicer) but I find that if I let the juice accumulate in the bottom, then release it, the juice comes out so quickly that there’s a bit of debris that comes through when using the elderberries. It is so terribly time consuming (and maybe impossible) to remove all the debris from the tiny berries. I pour it through several layers of cheese cloth but find that I get a cleaner juice letting it come out slowly as it reaches the hose.