Perfectly Preserved Podcast
Want to learn to safely preserve food at home? Join Master Preservers Anna Cash and Jenny Gomes as they teach you all the ins and outs of canning, from water bath canning, to steam canning, to pressure canning. You’ll learn tested, up-to-date techniques that work for a modern, busy home. Each episode will cover a specific topic relevant to food preservation such as canning equipment, excellent recipe choices for both beginner and intermediate canners, and even other methods of food preservation such as dehydration, fermentation, and freeze drying. Friends and food preservation enthusiasts Anna and Jenny will guide you expertly and share laughs along the way.
Perfectly Preserved Podcast
Are Elderberries Worth the Hype?
Anna and Jenny talk about the over-hyped elderberry as a home remedy, what it’s actually good for, and the ways you can preserve it.
They discuss which types are safe, and which are not, they discuss that it isn’t especially effective, and you shouldn’t spend a lot of money to access these products.
Here’s the link to the articles that we reference: https://www.consumerreports.org/medicine-and-treatments/natural-cures-guide-which-work-which-dont-a2935767175/
https://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/em-9446-play-it-safe-when-preserving-elderberries
https://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/sp-50-536-preserving-fruits-wild-berries-fruits
Hosted by Master Food Preservers Anna Cash and Jenny Gomes
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Welcome to the Perfectly Preserved Podcast. I'm your host Jenny Gomes. And I'm Anna Cash. Here we come together to bring you a podcast all about preserving food safely, easily, and dare I say, perfectly. At home. We are master food preservers moms wives, and we love talking about canning. ready to can like a master preserver. Let's get into today's episode.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:welcome back to another episode of The Perfectly Preserved podcast. I'm Jenny, and I'm here with my co-host, Anna, and we are so excited to talk today about what might feel like a little bit of a controversial topic, elderberry, and whether or not you should be preserving it. There's actually a ton to consider when elderberry both as a home remedy and as a safe or unsafe. Home preservation option Before we dive in, thank you so much to everyone who has left us a review. It seriously helps our podcast so much reach the earbuds of other canners when you leave us a review. it also helps when you share it with a friend. So thank you. Thank you so much for that. let's dive in to all things elderberry. Anna, if you were to describe what you think of when you think of elderberry, what do you think of?
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:I don't know. for me, elderberry is like this. I don't wanna say almost mythical, but it's like this syrup that people in healthy mom's groups that they talk about. oh, if you're feeling under the weather, just take a spoonful of elderberry. it has magical healing qualities and, we're not here to say definitively one way or the other, but we definitely are gonna talk about it.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:preserve it. We're gonna talk all about it. So hopefully this isn't a hundred percent controversial, but we do wanna talk about
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Yeah. So elderberry has definitely been super hyped up as one of those things that people will say if you can do, you can your own elderberry. And I've been asked about it a lot. It grows
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:elderberry.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:where I live, both right where my home is and then up in the mountains. and which is unique, I think because. I'm sure that lore, that crunchy mom homestead lore probably has spread to parts of the nation where it isn't local. So one thing that I was really thinking about when planning this episode was the mom or the family that's trying to boost their kids' immunity, but they don't have that foraging, that free, basically, that free elderberries. Should they spend the money to get their hands on some elderberry? That was really the person I was thinking of when we were thinking about this episode. but we're gonna start with the most important information that we could share that is a hundred percent a fact. There are a couple types of elderberries and some are absolutely not acidic enough for safe water bath canning. I didn't know this because the only kind that grows near me. At the very tip top of California is the kind that's safe to water. Bath can. So lucky for me, I don't have to change what I do or what I know about elderberries, but there are a couple different types of elderberries that are not safe for canning because they're not acidic enough. and then today we're referencing a couple different articles from the Oregon State University Extension Office. Then, I guess I'll start with the one that says, play it safe when preserving Elderberries. So elderberries are native to North America. They're a popular landscaping herb. They're actually very pretty. I feel like the green leaves are pretty, the berries are pretty. but there's a couple types that if you're thinking of canning or sourcing them from someone, you need to know which kind you're getting. Blue elderberries are native to the west. You can use them in any canning recipe as you would a high acid berry, just like blackberries, blueberries, or strawberries.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:They
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:would say, almost sky blue because they're blueberries are powdered with a white, natural powder, a powdery appearance. It's a dusky blue when they're ripe. So they're sky blue They're very pretty. Like they're the color of your eyeshadow. If it's 1986, right? They're very blue.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Yes.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:they're really pretty. their leaves are, A pretty nondescript, I would say not notable, but it's the powder reappearance of their elderberry. The berries when they're ripe, that would signal safe. The powdery sky, blue, safe, and they're native to the west. The American elderberry native to the eastern United States. They have been domesticated and they're available in nurseries. Their leaves are a lot, to me, they look skinnier in this picture.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Yeah.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:They have different colors of berries and they do not have the powdery coating. They are safe to freeze, safe to dehydrate, but do not use them like a high acid fruit. research in both Oregon and Missouri have shown American elderberries vary in acid content and are not consistently below the 4.6 pH, so they're considered a low acid food. You could easily. Freeze them, dehydrate them, but I wouldn't can them. So if I were you and I lived in, anywhere where these blueberries are. Blue, blue and not the dusky, powdery whited coating. I would be very thoughtful about where you get your elderberries from, from whom you purchased them. If you bought any kind of elderberry, tincture, elderberry, tea, elderberry, anything. I would ask which cult ofra are these? Are these American elderberries? Are they blue?
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:are these
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:What do they look like before you process them? there's also another kind called a European elderberry
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:also
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:they are also domesticated and they are like,
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:also
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:berries look in this picture much bigger and very dark, very black, black purple. And they are high in acid but they are difficult to distinguish from the American elderberries. be thoughtful then. And then there are red elderberries and I actually. Okay, this is Monday. On Saturday, I was hiking with friends in the mountains
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:on
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:and
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:I.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:came across a bunch of red elderberries, and I thought, these must be elderberries, but I didn't. I had never seen red ones in person. And sure enough, this picture is exactly like what saw in the mountains, so they look exactly the same as the blue. Their leaves are the same, but the berries are a beautiful, bright red. There's not enough research done on these red ones, but they do have a higher toxin concentration, which we're gonna talk about, particularly in the seeds. So it would not be wise to use these for food preservation or for eating. if you were starving in the mountains and you ate these, you'd end up with a bellyache or worse. So I wouldn't use the beautiful red ones.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Yeah.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:So that's the most important thing that we definitely, if you click off from here and you've taken the most important thing, it's not the most controversial thing we'll say today, but it is the most important that if you are going to be preserving, we want you to be very clear on which variety you have in front of you. And. The safe kind are the kind that's native to the west and have the powdery white coating on top of the blue, so they're sky blue. They're actually so much like my headphones, if you're watching this on YouTube, they're very similar to my headphone color.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Mm-hmm.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:so
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Yeah.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:go ahead Anna.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:And I would say too that it's not necessarily that the other two aren't safe to make syrup with, but canning it is not recommended because of the pH
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Great.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:So the red ones were like, the information isn't out. We don't wanna use the red ones at all, but the European or the American elderberry, those are safe to use, but not for canning because of their low acid
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Right. let's talk about whether or not elderberry is the magical cure.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Not
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:imo, immunity boosting make you better when you're sick. thing that so many people on the internet are sharing when they are selling you.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:internet
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Some of these supplements, what have we found, Anna?
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Well, we are going to link an article by the consumer reports about natural cures guide, basically like talking about different things, supplements or practices. It even goes into like massage but they are saying that not necessarily that elderberry is going to prevent you from getting sick.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:it can help you. That can help in the aid of getting better if you are feeling unwell.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:know. What are your thoughts about
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Right. So consumer reports, I love them because they are not-for-profit and they just test all the things. and I actually subscribed to them when we were starting our home remodel so that I could read about like which dishwasher is most likely to not break down and get my dishes clean and the, for that type of unbiased information. And, I just love this article because it covered a ton of different home remedies.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:it
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:And it is more than happy to give credit where credit's due, but where there's information lacking or EV evidence In the contrary, it's just very interesting to read, and I think what probably has happened in the elderberry world is that there's a lot of people who are able to make money off of selling elderberry,
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:who to
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:I think it kind of has some of that, like lore around it because it's like a beautiful color.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:It
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:It just has a wonderful mix of the homemade and it's like you can get it, but it's a little, it's not everybody can have it.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:I,
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:thriving off of some really good PR
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:uh.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:and the research. Indicates we've read both that it's inconclusive, like maybe it helps, maybe not in terms of helping you get better when you're sick. And then some just said flat out, it doesn't make any difference at all. Like the Consumer Reports article pointed out that
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:all
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:when people were sick and either they were given a placebo or they were given elderberry, there was no change in the duration or severity of their symptoms. I also think elderberry has really been given a lot of hype as like it boosts your immunity, which you might believe would help prevent you from getting sick in the first place. And that is not actually what that means at all, and it's not what elderberry is gonna do for you
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:means at all.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:to what research we were able to find, which is kind of a bummer because it feels really great to be. Preserving something that you wanna feel good about giving your kids before they head back to school or before you travel in an airport or whatever. That feels really good to do that.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:in an
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:But based on what we've read, and again, we'll link what we've read, I don't think that you, I would feel very confident saying to our listeners, I would not spend
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:confident
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:inordinate amount of money getting your hands on elderberry because the benefits that we can feel confident. Saying it will give you
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:confident.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:same as many other healthy foods that you probably have much easier access to.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Foods
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:other vitamin C rich foods like
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:other
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:If you can get your hands on apples but not elderberries for an affordable price, I think your time and money would be far better spent on something like applesauce or oranges or than anything that's more readily available.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Yeah.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:a good, it is a good source of vitamin C and like many other wild berries that does have some other nutrition to it. But for the hype that's really been built up around elderberry, I just, I don't think, I wouldn't spend any money getting it personally, and I wouldn't recommend our listeners do it. You know what I mean? Have you seen like people sell the supplements, the powders, the tinctures, the syrups?
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:the dehydrated
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Oh
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:the syrups I've seen. yeah, I've seen a lot of it. And part of it is you cannot fault people for
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:yeah.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:back to the land wanting to do more natural
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:But you also need to realize that maybe that hike up into the mountains did you more good than the elderberries
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Yeah,
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:You
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:a hundred percent.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:getting outside and, and having that exercise and the fresh air, I think does a lot for your immune system as
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:and has been known to, to be a little bit more helpful than elderberry. and like Jenny said, there are so many fruits and vegetables that we can eat, that we can grow, that we can forage, that are chock full of vitamins and minerals. And, I'm a huge proponent anyway. I don't know about Jenny, but I'm a huge proponent of having a really varied diet and that can also help, keep your immune system up.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Yeah, like if I had a friend who
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Yeah,
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:a surgery or suddenly was sick, or God forbid worse, like really ill, my first thing that I would preserve them would not be elderberry. It honestly would be bone broth. It's easy on the tummy. It has lots of nutrition. You can't really get from lots of other places quite as easily. if I were at a canner. Faced with oh gosh, I gotta come up with a nutritional powerhouse for someone I love elderberry. Wouldn't even make the list,
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Yes.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:wouldn't even come up near
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Yeah.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:list. I did wanna share though. Um, so Elderberry is available to me for free, all over the place. I can pick it when it's in season, I can get my hands on it. So I have definitely preserved it a lot. Um. It makes a tasty pancake syrup. We're gonna talk about some recipes in a little bit, but, um, it's important that the recipes you use have added sugar, which you may not be excited about. Um,
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Which you may not
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:my sister has kids that are younger than mine, so when hers were getting close to the age where they were gonna be, you know, need a little immune boosting,
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:where they were.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:We juiced elderberries. She was leaning more into even if it maybe helps, well then I'm gonna give it to'em, which is great.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:it's
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Great. Give your kids the elderberry juice. That's great. But juice with no sweetener, it's berry sour. So then we were like, okay, so we're gonna put all this honey in it, and then we put a little bit of apple cider vinegar in it, and then we just refrigerated it at the back of her fridge.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Vinegar.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:So the apple cider vinegar was still like living. Honey was still doing what Honey Does, soothes your cough, but is it gonna, is it a magical cure all? Maybe, maybe not. but it was, I'll tell you, it's very hard to get it to taste good without sugar. So even if you don't, can it, and you're still just thinking about consuming it, It's a little bit of a trick to get it to be something you can choke down. but thinking about. That is really important. And that's something we, that was like our controversial episode for the season, I guess, like whether or not you would spend any money on elderberry. it is important to note that raw elderberries are toxic and they can make you sick. if you ate a lot of them, you would probably suffer cyanide poisoning, which sounds horrific. And I don't know if there's anyone out there that's gonna eat a ton of them raw, but you should, think twice before doing so. Gosh, where am I hitting? Hitting all the notes, Anna?
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Yeah. The most important thing is that if you're gonna use. Elderberries, just make sure that you're cooking them, that you're not
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Yeah,
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:it's super important because that cooking process,
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:neutralizes.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:that, cyanide property.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Hmm.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Neutralizes the cyanide that's in elderberry. So, even if you got. Dehydrated elderberries in the mail, you would need to cook those
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Hmm.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:into some type of syrup. But it's a, it's an interesting topic. I mean, I think anybody who's spent any amount of time being a mom or having kids, you've heard of people saying, oh, you know, you just need to give him a little bit of elderberry syrup and it'll
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Yeah.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:knock that flu right
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Uh, but. Yeah, this consumer report and, and I need to look into the study that they did actually and, and really like dive into the statistics of it. but it just said, you know, taken four times a day, one teaspoon each. I think it
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:let's see, yeah, it says, in it people who took elderberry extract four times daily for five days saw no difference in how. Long their flu lasted and how lousy they felt compared to those who got a placebo.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Right.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:you know,
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Hopefully it feels good. Like,
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:little awkward.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:yeah, I'm like, sorry, don't wanna rain on your parade, everybody. Hopefully it feels good. Like if you don't have access to that, we don't want you to feel like, oh man, I gotta spend a bunch of time and money to get my hands on elder barrier, or what else will I give my kids? That's not, I don't think that's supported by facts at all. I think if you enjoy making it and giving it to your kids, then that's awesome. But I would not go outta my way at all to source it
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:my way
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:as a way to boost my kid's immunity. When surely you have something else available to you that is also wholesome, organic, something that you felt really good about, like some other high vitamin C fruit. Something with fiber.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Mm-hmm.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:the other thing. The berries are minuscule. The berries themselves are really tiny
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Yeah.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:and they're kind of a pain, honestly. I mean, they're great or whatever, but they're not easy. They're way smaller than choke cherries.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:not
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:They're the, I'm holding my hand up. Like they're a little bitty guys. Um, maybe that's a good segue.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:teeny. They look like bbs almost.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Yeah. So small. So maybe this is a good segue to talk about, like, how can we preserve them? If you wanna do it, let's get into how you can, can them. When you're harvesting them, you
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:harvesting
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:like, if you're like a, like, I like to do things correctly, person, you might want to pick all them off individually and you'll just be standing there for so long, which is fine if you wanna stand there for so long. If you don't, you can take a pair of, like either kitchen shears or loppers and just nip off the big clusters so that that's what you bring home. And then on those big clusters, you can just throw the whole cluster into the freezer.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:and then on those?
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Then once they are frozen, they knock off of the cluster much easier. So that is the tactic I've used usually, unless the elder berries themselves are quite a bit bigger than I remember one year I was like, dang, these are all really big. And I think I was able to kind of pull them off pretty easily. So, I mean, again, if you wanna pick'em all off one by one, go ahead. But you can easily freeze them and then knock them off those. That's pretty easy. I have never done this, but in one of the articles from the Oregon State Extension, it described how to preserve them. And it talked about using a screen, so knocking them over a screen that's set over a bowl, which looks like a really good idea. it's called screening. So that's like a cooling rack. That seems like a really smart way to do that. I always juice mine in a steam juicer and I think we have an episode all about steam juicers, or about how to steam juice. How to make juice. So that's how I juice mine. Did you do a different method when you made yours, Anna?
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:man? It's been years. I don't even remember the method that I used. picked mine from up in the mountain and like you said, they were really small and I was like, am I even gonna get anything out of these? I, I'm sure I used a steamed juicer.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Yeah. And it takes a lot of them.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Yeah.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:This is not a,
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:a lot of
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:it's not like an easy win.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:gonna ask you like how much juice,
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Geez.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:much elderberry juice do you get out of like per
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Yeah, for,
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:how, I don't even
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:I'm looking on this article from Oregon State, which I just love because it's all fruit that I have near me. The recipes that they give for high sugar jams and jellies that you can use with elderberries, it's 16 ounces of berry pulp or juice. So to get 16 ounces of juice is quite a bit like, I don't know, a five gallon bucket full of the clusters. Do you think that's a good guess, Anna? Quite a bit. Maybe more.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Yeah. I mean, you would have to have a lot because they're
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:They're so small. You have to ask yourself, is the juice worth the squeeze? A lot of work to get in there. I think that's what we say if you're gonna butcher a rooster or not, will the juice be worth the squeeze? Will it be worth all the work? But, elder, I mean, you can do it.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Such a hilarious Absolutely.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Well
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:That's what I
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:good
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:currents. I'm like, is the juice worth the squeeze?
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Because they're small too, right?
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Yeah.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Yeah. You gotta ask yourself, do I really want.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:yeah, I would say at least.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Yeah,
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:at least a full hopper's worth in your steam juicer
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:at least for 16 ounces of juice, not very much.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Mm-hmm.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:It's not very much
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Yeah.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:So once you steam them with that juice, you would follow a high acid water bath canning recipe for syrup like pancake syrup.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:recipe for
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Or a sweetened juice. And you can add spices if you want. The one time we did this, I did this with my sister, we did add, I wanna say clove and maybe ginger, We were just trying to like, make it as warming. Did it help? I don't know. God only knows. but if you have those things on hand and you wanna do it, it tasted pretty good. With the honey, the apple cider vinegar and some spices. And maybe that will feel amazing to you. Maybe you should do that. the thing that I would make again and again with it is a beautiful purple jelly, beautiful blue ribbon jelly,
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:jelly.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:jelly at the county fair. But that is not what you're probably think of when you think of elderberry. You think of like. Curing cancer, but this is just jelly for your toast,
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Right. And I don't know about you, Jenny, but when I made elderberry syrup, it wasn't like, this is so delicious. I want to eat a lot of it. I feel like you really have to add a lot of sugar or other flavors to it.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:with. Sugar. So this organ state says for 16 ounces of juice, you do 19 ounces of
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:of
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:sugar. So yes, that's a lot of sugar. If you're new to this, that's quite a bit of sugar.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:a
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:I think the flavor of elderberry is nice, but it's not, you know, stop, hold the presses. It's good. It's great, but it's not my absolute favorite. My dad actually really likes it and it's like part of his nostalgia, like his mom made it. It's very pretty. We have it growing on the ranch.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:very
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:It's very pretty. It's tasty, it's sweet, it's fruity. I think the flavor of choke cherries is like more of a unique taste. And even though you have to add a ton of sugar, it's still delicious. Unique. It has a taste, elderberry has a taste, but
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:elderberry
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:remarkable and less interesting to me personally than choke Chewy. I don't know. Yeah. I mean, it's good, but it's not the best goodness. I mean, maybe someone out there, if you love elderberry, great. I'm so glad you do. But it's just isn't, it's not a preserve that I would like
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:We're not.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:have to make every year. We're not hating on elderberry. We promise
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Yeah, we're not gonna yuck anyone's
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Yes.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:elderberry
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:No.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:like the best end all be all.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Yeah. Eat it.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Um, but you know what I would say,
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Yes.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:I would say that I actually love elder flour syrup.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Oh,
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Have you ever made that?
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:is that from the same? That is from the same plant.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Yes. The flowers have this gorgeous, really strong heady smell. It's beautiful in the spring, the Oregon State Extension has it near the bottom.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Ooh.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:like 10 to 20 elder flower, clusters and some lemon, some citric acid, and you make a simple syrup
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:ooh.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:gorgeous.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Oh,
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:And if you don't have access to elder flowers right now, you can go to IKEA and purchase elder flour syrup.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:What Ikea?
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:What? It's wonderful. I went and got
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:The furniture store.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Yeah,
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:The one that's like a maze.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:In their food department.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:What?
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:If you can find their food department, have like a blueberry syrup and a lingen berry and elder flower.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Wow, that is a surprise.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:If you wanna be the fanciest girl at the ball, you bring an elder flower syrup to your next get together and some club soda and some ice and maybe some lemons to cut into slices. And everybody will be like, what is this? It's delicious. it's wonderful.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:That elder flower recipe is on the Oregon State Extension website. At the bottom, it has like a blue, background on the recipe. And this not only looks delicious, it looks easy. See, like the dopamine you would get from making some fabulous drink with friends is probably gonna be better for your health. Like some tincture that some person on the internet sold you for way more than what it's worth. Sorry. that is a great recipe. There also is a recipe for elderberry vinegar, which sounds fun, and that probably has, some merit to it. That sounds awesome.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Mm-hmm. sounds awesome. Yeah, and it would be a really pretty color. It would be like that dark blue color
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:be beautiful. And then
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:the berries
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:there's elderberry syrup also.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Elderberry syrup
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:you know, if you wanna make elderberry syrup and serve it to your kids on pancakes, I feel like that was a fun and great idea. And I've done that in the past. And I just think my kids actually were, they were like, next time make blackberry syrup. Or it like, it's good. Wasn't their favorite, but there is a good recipe on this website for it.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:sure.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:okay. Talk to us about dehydrating. Did you ever dehydrate, elderberries?
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:I haven't. I imagine it would be pretty easy. You want'em to be bone dry, and then you can package them for later,
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:in a, I would say like a paper bag, not a plastic one, just in case there's any type of moisture. it's similar to like drying out seeds for the next season. You'll wanna make sure that there's good airflow and that they're dehydrated in that way.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:you could also hang the clusters and dry them out if you don't have a dehydrator.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:So when I dehydrated'em. it was kind of a lot of work for not very many berries, but, I just snipped off the big cluster head.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Like
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:They really look like some sort of anatomical, like clusters of nerves or something. They're kind of interesting, so it's like a big cluster. And then on them are smaller clusters. So I cut all the small clusters off so I could spread'em out on a dehydrator tray and. Then once they're crispy dry, then you can just pull up the crisp. Ooh, they're a lot like a dill head. That's probably a more sensible, comparison. Okay. Then I held up the, the head
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:It's
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:and then
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:shape
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Yes, and then kind of crumbled off the dried berries, and that worked great.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:The
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:a good, fast way of dehydrating that I'd say.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Nice. And how did you use them after you dehydrated them?
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:I don't know if I even did I,
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Or did you,
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:I think I did it and then it was like, it just took like a whole, a whole dehydrator full was like three quarters of a cup of berries. I mean, it was almost nothing. I remember being like, well, that was a lot of time for.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Wow.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:And I just also think of the dehydrated berries as something people may buy on the internet or buy from source unknown. And if you thought you were going to get them and then rehydrate them and can them, you need to know what variety they are and you may not be able to tell because they're dry as a bone, right? You wouldn't maybe know just by looking at them. So I just feel like there's gotta be some people victimized by people overpricing their elderberry out there. I just feel pretty sure of it. I don't like that.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Yeah. It is hard, like you said, people are looking for a health remedy and they might think, oh, if this is wild sourced or if it's this or it's that. some of those greenwashing.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Things that people say on their packaging or on their businesses. if you're not careful, you can get duped a lot of times by those
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Yeah.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:types of marketing strategies.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:we aren't here to yuck your yum or, harsh on your home remedy camp, you know, pantry shelf at all because we love all the ways that we can, feed our families and feed ourselves nourishing, delicious things. but I. I've thought a lot about how elderberry has been really hyped up to be probably more than what it really is. And we would hate for anyone out there to be like, oh man, I really gotta spend a lot of time and money getting my hands on these tiny little berries that don't have a lot of juice. Because one, there's different varieties that you need to be aware of, and two, the research is not there to make me think like, oh man, this is,
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:research is not
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:this is really worth a lot of work and money to get your hands on.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:right. Yeah, I think that is the big takeaway. let food be thy medicine and medicine, be thy food, said the famous Hippocrates, but have a variety, look for all different ways to get your vitamins and minerals
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:mm-hmm.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Have a varied diet. Don't just think that this one thing is gonna be the thing that is gonna be your end all cure all,
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:right, right. And if you can get into something delicious and enjoy it, then that's amazing. We're so happy to support that. Just be sure you're using the kind of berries that are the powdery blue and, all will be well.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Yes. For canning and everything else. put it in your fridge and that lasts how long, Jenny?
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Um,
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:six
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:yes. Long time. Mine lasted a long time.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Maybe longer than that you can also freeze
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Yeah.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:Yeah. So there's options out there, I think whatever you're gonna do, make sure that you're doing it safely. You can check out our show notes for the links to the articles that we have referenced, hopefully this was helpful for you.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:And not too highly controversial. It's like we should have a little, like a little micro list of like Anna and Jenny's most controversial episodes. This will be one of them. And then don't water glass your eggs. That would be the second one. And then, oh, the fermented garlic craze of post COVID or right during COVID. Everyone was trying to ferment garlic. That's also not a great idea. Oh yeah. We're not big fans of Meghan Markwell show. That was controversial of us. Yeah.
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:That's
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Okay. That's all we got, but
squadcaster-7310_2_08-04-2025_155418:All
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_145418:Happy preserving everyone.
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