Wild Elderberry & Chilli Vinegar

Wild Elderberry& Chilli Vinegar


You would have to be a nutter not to make this black beauty...it's fantastic.

© Fig 1. L.Moore Elderberries

This is a spectacular vinegar that goes well with lots of goodies. Any restaurateur should be gagging for this and willing to swap his/her granny for a bottle...a few splashes of this will enrich the dullest dish.  This is a stunning touch of class. It is rich in colour, deep and earthy and makes any meal blush with delight.

I was not expecting this to taste so good but believe me it's worth the effort and time. Since I have made it I have had it on my salad, my burger, my venison sausages, cold meats and cheeses...slurp! Hurry go and bag yourself some elderberries before it's too late. They are so versatile. So far I have made elderberry compote (yum), elderberry cordial (delicious) and now the vinegar. This is an incredible month for foraging I feel like a child in a sweetie shop full of delights. Next time you take a walk have a look for these incredible edibles.

Ingredients

Elderberries 350 g
white wine vinegar 500 ml
Sugar 250 g (add more if you like it very sweet I like mine tarty)
chillies (optional)


All I did was collect my elderberries and weigh them. Then I used a folk to scrape the berries off their branches. You can give them a rinse while still attached under a tap.  If you wash them in a bowl of water then you lose a lot of the juice. If you are worried about little nasties then leave them laid out on newspaper and let the little crawlies have time to leave. The best elderberries to pick are when the branches look droopy and too heavy for the branch...this means they are really full and ripe and hanging heavy on the tree.

OH yes back to the vinegar. Once you have gone through the time consuming bit of plucking your berries off their branches put them in a jar with your chopped chillies. Make sure your jar has enough room to take on 500ml of white wine or cider vinegar. Pour the vinegar over your berries and leave with a lid on for 4 days. After a day or two give them a mash and leave them until day 4. Now sieve them and pour the liquid into a clean pan. Discard the berries or recycle them. Heat up your vinegar and then pour in your sugar and once it dissolves stir for about 10 minutes. Do a taste test and if you want it sweeter add more sugar. Now bottle into sterilized jars or bottles...Ta Dah...you won't be disappointed.  

© Fig 2.L.Moore Elderberry vinegar..yum

© Fig.3. L.Moore What an incredible edible

...there is plenty of sites on the internet that will identify elderberries for you. Once your really sure HAVE A GO...slurp

enjoy xx

Vibrant Sumac, elderberry & blackberry juice

Vibrant Sumac Juice with Elderberries and Blackberries

Whoa...September already...

This is an amazing month/season for fruits , berries and nuts. This is a season for feasting on the goodies of the summer...yum...slurp. We have sumac berries, rowan berries, guelder rose berries, rose-hips, blackberries, plums, hazelnuts (the list is endless)

Fig 1.© L.Moore Vibrant Sumac Juice with blackberries and elderberries 

Now about the Stag horn Sumac. What a great name!

This is a garden escapee that comes from North America. Traditionally the native peoples of North America made a kind of lemonade with it (sometime known as the lemonade tree). The fruits taste of lemon and they are very tarty. You know when a sumac is ready to pick for such a wonderful drink when you touch it. When you press it with your fingers it feels rather sticky. If you lick your fingers you can taste the lemony bitterness of the fruits (be warned it is tarty).

Traditionally the fruits are soaked in water for several hours and then sieved and drank (my recipe uses a slightly different technique). The fruits have fine red hairs that can be dried and rubbed off as a dried herb called sumac. This is a red powder that comes from the dried fruits and it used a lot in Lebanese and Turkish Cuisine. You usually find Stag Horn's Sumac growing on roadsides, railways, embankments, and poor free-draining soils, and gardens. You need to gather the fruits at the beginning of autumn as the winter rain washes away the flavour.

The branch stems are really fuzzy and furry to touch and feel ever so gorgeous. They are supposed to resemble the antlers of a young stag. I have never felt the antlers of a stag but on first experience these velvety red branches feel really soothing. If I close my eyes I can imagine I am touching the antlers of an incerible stag (it's good to imagine...yay).


My Vibrant Sumac Juice with added blackberries and elderberries

5 - 6  sumac cones
sugar (amount depending on the stewed pulp)
Juice of l lemon (optional)
3 handfuls of blackberries
3 elderberry heads
1 liter of water

I placed my furry friends into a pan of water approximately about 1 liter of water and the juice of a lemon (optional). It is best to break up the cones with your hands before you begin to boil your Sumac. Once you have broken them up bring to the boil and simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes adding your elderberries and blackberries for the last 5 minutes. Apparently if you boil the berries a lot the tannin's come out and it tastes quite bitter and strong. Now mash up your fruits and leave to seep in the pan for half an hour (with the heat off). Then strain your pulp through a strainer or cloth and collect the juice into a bowl. Make sure you have the same amount of sugar to juice ratio (i.e the same amount as your extracted juice). Pour your juice back into a clean pan and then add your sugar. Gently heat up until the sugar dissolves and stir for a minute or two. Now it is ready to bottle. I did not sterilize my bottles because I knew I would be drinking it straight away. If you want to store this lovely juice I suggest you sterilize your bottles.

This really is a strange tasting juice (but it is gorgeous). It reminded me a lot of cranberry as it has a little dry after taste. As it is tarty and and dry I recommend tasting it first before you bottle it and decide if it needs more sugar and/or honey.  I had mine with ice and sparkling water added and a sprig of mint...delicious. If this recipe is a little strong for your taste buds try just seeping the berries in boiled water (off the heat) for 15 mins to get a weaker version and add your sugar while it is hot. I added the blackberries and the elderberries to give it a rich vibrant colour and also to reap the benefits of these dark fruits.

© Fig 2.L.Moore Sumac fruit shrub

© Fig.3.L.Moore Sumac juice from the Sumac berries with elderberries & blackberries

© Fig.4.L.Moore Sumac berry with elderberries

© Fig.5. L.Moore Sumac shrub in my neighbors garden

How to recognize the stag horn sumac 

Known as Rhus Typhina.
It is an upright suckering deciduous shrub which stand up to 3 m tall and wide. It has velvety red branches that resemble stags' horns. Large pinnate leaves up to 60 cm long and have 2-31 lance-shaped dark green leaflets that turn bright orange and red in autumn. The yellow/green flowers are produced on upright, conical shoots, up to 20 cm long in mid summer. Followed by female plants of dense clusters which are spherical, hairy and a deep crimson fruit on the tips of the branches (see pics).

Be Careful
Beware of the Rhus Verniciflua which is known as the varnish tree because of it's glossy leaves. It is very toxic and causes painful blisters and aggravates the skin. However this is different because the fruits are YELLOW.  Sumac is crimson red.


'If in doubt leave it out'

What to eat
You can eat the red berries and make a fruit drink. Also you can dry out the fruits and use these as a lemonade substitute (steep in boiled water for an hour or lightly simmer then sieve, pour back into pan adding sugar and simmer for 5 mins until sugar has dissolved). To dry the berries just break them up and keep dark and dry for a few weeks. You can also use the dried berries for jam but make sure you sieve the berries out before bottling the jam.

Once your berries have been dried out rub them through a nylon sieve to remove the red hairs and this is how you get your sumac herb. This is lovely rubbed into chicken as a marinade, added as a topping to hummus and yogurts.Sumac is also on eo f the main ingredients in the spice Za'atar (used in  middle eastern cuisine). Below are some links that may be of interest to health and food and also source material.

Ta da...enjoy this lovely fruit freely

Source material

Fowler, Alys (2011) The Thrifty Forager, pp160-161

http://www.healwithfood.org/health-benefits/sumac-spice-good-for-you.php

http://www.thekitchn.com/inside-the-spice-cabinet-sumac-67042