Elderberry Juice Concentrate
Wildcraft and foraged, elderberry juice concentrate is a powerful tonic for winter illnesses. Extract and preserve one of nature’s most valued fruits.
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Maybe you live somewhere were elderberries do not grow but here they’re on the side of the road and every bend of any mountain route. I have been asked if I grow them or where I buy them and I can honestly say I have never done either. Im not sure why anyone would. We have grown so accustomed to purchasing everything in this modern era that we have forgotten to look to nature. They are everywhere around us and there is always more than enough. Every end of summer, in three hours of foraging, I can obtain enough elderberries to create a year supply of juice and a five gallon batch of elderberry wine.
Elderberries are high in vitamins and antioxidants and I see magnificent beauty in the Lord’s design. He brings forth fruit in every season equipped with the nutrients we need to survive the ailments at that time.
Citrus, high in vitamin C, come into season in the winter, when everyone is ailing and in need of a boost. Elderberries come into season right before colds and flus become prevalent. Coincidence or design?
Elderberry juice concentrate benefits
Elderberry has been revered for over 2500 years in cultures across the world. Aiding the body’s natural healing abilities, elderberry destroys the replication process of a virus. Thus allowing the body to recover fifty percent quicker and enhancing antibody production. (Today’s Herbal Health)
Commonly used to prevent or fight colds, flus or influenza, elderberry juice is a staple that all homes should carry in their medicine cabinet or home apothecary at NO COST. Elderberry syrup and cordial are sold at astronomical prices in supplement stores, while the elder plant grows wild throughout most of North America. The process for obtaining and extracting this berry’s life giving properties is relatively simple.
WILDCRAFT FORAGED ELDERBERRIES
Growing up in Northern Idaho my family’s summer revolved around two things. Huckleberries and Elderberries. I knew few of this plants immune benefits as a child, but come fall if the freezer wasn’t full of huckleberries and my mom wasn’t juicing elderberries, summer felt incomplete.
Juicing elderberries this way has been a tradition in my family for over half a century and has been passed down from my grandparents. I have yet to meet another family that processes elderberries the same.
EQUIPMENT NEEDED FOR ELDERBERRY SAMBUCUS JUICE
- Steam Juicer
- Quart or Pint Mason Jars
- Water-bath Canner (Optional)
HOW TO MAKE ELDERBERRY JUICE CONCENTRATE
(You will want approximately four pounds or sixteen cups of elderberries)
Using your steam juicer fill the bottom reservoir with filtered water than proceed to stack the catch basin and colander.
Place your elderberries in the top colander portion of the juicer. Remove as many of the stems as possible as they contain cyanide, however cooking does destroy the toxin. If you feel uneasy leaving any stems in your juice feel free to remove them. My family has never suffered any ill effect from leaving berries on small clusters.
Once your steam juicer has been processing for approximately thirty minutes you should begin to see juice collecting in the hose. Fill to 1/4 inch headspace a clean and hot mason jar with the elderberry juice concentrate. The juice will be extremely hot. Wipe the rim, place a lid and ring and set in a prepared waterbath canner.
I prefer to use pint jars, whereas my mother preserves her juice in quarts as she creates a cordial with her juice. Because my household contains young children we leave ours as a juice, without the alcohol component a cordial requires for counter stability.
Process jars for 10 minutes at a full rolling boil. For each cup of raw berries you should yield one cup of juice concentrate. Once opened, the juice should keep well for at least a week in the fridge.
As a concentrate there are many ways to consume this healing juice. My husband adds his to lemonade, my children take a spoonful in the mornings and I love to create a tea with raw honey.
If you are sick, I would recommend creating a tea with one cup hot water, two tablespoons elderberry juice concentrate and one teaspoon of raw honey. You can always add lemon juice and a chunk of ginger for added benefit.
