Best elderberry recipes for syrup, wine and baking

As summer draws to a close, it’s time to dust off your elderberry recipes and whip up delicious batches of elderberry syrup, wine and muffins.

These small but flavour-packed berries are in season from around August to October – perfect for foraging on late summer walks. They grow in clusters from elder trees in woodlands, hedgerows and scrubby environments – even gardens, if you’ve been enterprising enough to plant your own supply!

Are elderberries poisonous?

Yes, raw elderberries are mildly poisonous and can cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. The branches, bark and leaves of elder trees should never be consumed. Cooking elderberries removes the toxins lectin and cyanide, making them edible to humans.

Cooked elderberries are rich and tangy and full of health properties. They’re packed with vitamin C and antioxidants, earning them a reputation as a natural cold and flu remedy – you can even buy elderberry syrup over the counter in pharmacies and health shops.

Elderberry identification: a quick guide

• Shrub or small tree.

• Pinnate leaves with five or seven toothed leaflets.

• Leaflets oppositely arranged.

• Pale, corky bark.

• Clusters of small purple-black berries on red-pink stalks.

• Berries ripen August–October depending on where you live.

Recipes

Elderberry syrup recipe

Once you know how to make elderberry syrup it will become a food cupboard staple. Drizzle it onto porridge, yoghurt or desserts, dilute it with hot or cold water for a delicious, alcohol-free drink or add a dash to fizzy wine or cocktails.

Ingredients

• 500g elderberries

• 100ml water

• 500g white sugar

• 1 cinnamon stick (optional)

• Sliced ginger (optional)

Method

1. Strip the elderberries from their stalks using your fingers or the prongs of a fork.

2. Put the elderberries into a pan with the cinnamon stick and ginger (if using) and cover them with water.

3. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

4. Pour the mixture through a jelly bag or muslin (fine cloth) and allow the juice to drip through into a measuring jug. Extract as much liquid as possible.

5. Add equal parts sugar to the liquid mixture – so if you measured 500ml of juice, add 500g of sugar.

6. Pour the sugar and liquid mixture back into a clean saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer for five minutes, or until all the sugar has dissolved.

7. Leave the elderberry syrup to cool completely and then pour into sterilised bottles.

Elderberry wine recipe

Like red wine grapes, elderberries are high in tannin and so elderberry wine needs time to mature, but it’s worth the wait.

Ingredients

• 2½lb elderberries

• 2 Campden tablets

• 2½lb sugar for dry wine, 2¾lb for medium dry or 3lb for medium-sweet

• 6kg wine yeast

• Yeast nutrient

• Water

• Gloves – particularly when handling the berries as they can dye your skin purple!

Method

1. Strip the elderberries from the stalks and wash well.

2. Put into a fermenting bin and crush, either using gloved hands or a potato masher.

3. Pour on 4 pints of water.

4. Add 1 Campden tablet, crushed and dissolved in a little warm water, to kill off any wild yeasts.

5. Boil half the sugar in 2 pints of water for 2 or 3 minutes and, when cool, mix into the pulp.

6. Add the wine yeast and yeast nutrient, cover and allow to ferment for 5 days, stirring daily.

7. Strain and press and return the liquid to a clean fermenting bin.

8. Boil the rest of the sugar in 1 pint of water for 2 or 3 minutes and when cool, add to the liquid.

9. Cover again and leave for 3 or 4 days.

10. Pour carefully or siphon into a gallon jar. Try and leave as much of the sediment behind as possible.

11. Fill the jar with cooled boiled water up to where the neck begins.

12. Fit a fermentation lock and leave until fermentation has finished.

13. Move your wine to a fresh container (a process called ‘racking’), adding a Campden tablet after the first fermentation. Allow to age for at least three months.

14. Rack the wine again as needed until it is clear and free of sediment.

15. Once the wine has cleared, siphon into sterilised bottles.

16. Let the wine age for six months to a year before drinking.

Elderberry muffin recipe

The tangy tartness of elderberries pairs perfectly with the bitter edge of dark chocolate and delicate sweetness of vanilla. This elderberry muffin recipe is also vegan – perfect if you’re living with food allergies or eating a plant-based diet.

Ingredients

• 150g washed elderberries

• 300g plain flour

• 200g ground almonds

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

• 250ml almond milk (or other plant-based milk)

• 200ml maple syrup

• 4 tablespoons melted coconut oil

• 80g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or one pod)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C fan (gas mark 4). Line a 12-hole muffin tray with muffin cases.

2. Add the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda to a large mixing bowl and stir together until well combined, with no lumps.

3. Pour in the almond milk, maple syrup, melted coconut oil and vanilla extract. Mix well until the batter is thick and smooth.

4. Once thickened, gently stir through the elderberries and dark chocolate pieces.

5. Divide the mixture evenly between the muffin cases and bake for 25–30 minutes until golden, risen and cooked through. Test the muffins by inserting a skewer or knife into the middle – if it doesn’t come out clean, pop the muffins back in the oven for 5–10 minutes.

6. Once cooked, remove the muffins from the oven and leave to cool completely.