Ingredients
- 3-1/2 cups sugar
- 1 package pectin
- 5-1/2 cups elderberry juice
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
Directions
- Measure your sugar in a bowl, removing 1/4 cup to mix in another bowl with the powdered pectin.
- Combine juices in a pot, and add sugar-pectin mixture.
- Bring to a boil and add remaining sugar, and cinnamon,
- if desired.
- Return to a boil and boil hard for 1 minute.
- Remove from heat. Allow to set for a few minutes. A solid skim will form on top, and you can easily remove this with a spoon. This is delicious in muffins or on a biscuit!
- Pour into hot, clean jars to 1/2-inch headspace and process in a boiling water bath canner for 12 minutes (or 5 minutes if jars are sterilized).
- Remove and allow to set for 5 minutes. Remove jars and allow to cool on a towel in a warm, draft-free area for 16 to 24 hours.
- Check seals, clean and label jars, and remove rings.
Cook up an Elderberry Jelly recipe that is delightfully sweet-tart and allows you to eat your medicine.
Elderberry Safety: Can You Eat Elderberries Raw?
Please use caution to avoid cyanide toxicity. Only the flowers and ripe, cooked berries are edible; no other part of the elderberry plant is safe for human consumption. Boil or pressure cook berries for at least five minutes to reduce cyanide compounds.
Elderberries: A Wondrous and Wild Fruit
Jenny Underwood is a home-schooling mama to four lively blessings. She makes her home in the rural foothills of the Ozark Mountains with her husband of 20 years. You can find her reading a good book, drinking coffee, and gardening on their little fifth-generation homestead. She blogs at Our Inconvenient Family.
Originally published as part of “Elderberries: A Wondrous and Wild Fruit” in the August/September 2023 issue of MOTHER EARTH NEWS magazine and regularly vetted for accuracy.
