Elderberry Jelly

Well, I went home to visit my parents at their lovely farmhouse in the country. They have a pervasive growth of elderberries beside their barn, which has been mowed over several times in my memory yet still persists. Occasionally, the berries would flourish and we would enlist my dear grandmother to make some jelly, but this year, we tried it on our own. And it was, at first, an extravagant failure! We followed the recipe to a T, and after the canning process we discovered, to our dismay, the jelly was the consistency of maple syrup. We had written out fancy little labels for the jars and everything. We studied the richly colored, beautiful syrup, tapping our chins as we tried to think of a solution. Finally, we decided to open all 32 jars, dump the syrup into a pan, add some more pectin, and give it another go. Success! The jelly turned out beautifully, and we didn't have to write out 32 new labels! The recipe we used is as follows, including our belated addition of more pectin:

7 1/2 cups of elderberry juice

1/2 cup lemon juice

3 pkgs pectin (we used Sur-Jel)

9 cups sugar

If, like us, you are working with freshly picked elderberries (and let's face it, who buys elderberries?) they need to be cooked, crushed, and strained to separate the juice from the seeds and skins. Then, heat the juices and pectin until boiling. Add the sugar and continually stir until boiling again. When it is at a full, rolling boil time it for two minutes. Remove from heat, fill clean jars, cap them, and boil in a hot water bath for five minutes. As they cool they will seal. Oh, and we boiled the tops also to sanitize and soften them before we capped the jelly. The jelly has a rich flavor that, in my humble opinion, surpasses grape jelly, which my grandma also made yearly as I was growing up. I feel like I resurrected a dying art! I feel independent and capable, knowing that if our world had an apocalyptic disaster, I would still be able to produce a sumptuous sweet treat that would last the winter...or rather, would be able to if I knew how to procure pectin independently. And also sugar...but in any case, I have no doubt that if that sort of thing happened, Mom's elderberry bramble would endure.

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving! I certainly did. I made two apple pies as my contribution to the family repast, and also created lots of ornaments. My sales on etsy are now up to 20, which pleases me. But, I must say, I have been spending so much time on ornaments that I haven't had time to draw or paint anything else! So, I've decided to dedicate some time today to painting another landscape. I don't know what yet, but it will be something to do with trees, since that seems to be the one obsession in my life that remains constant.
On another note, back in October I blogged about learning to make yogurt. I have since made it twice, and it turned out spectacularly both times! It is creamy and delicious and mild, not too tart. I like to eat it with a drizzle of maple syrup to sweeten it, although I'm sure it would be good with fruit or jam or some other such thing. My elder brother, upon his first taste of plain yogurt (which, incidentally, he thought was vanilla) exclaimed vehemently his dislike. Then he tasted mine, which had maple syrup in it, and said, "That's not so bad." I will take that as a compliment, and a recommendation for everyone to try it. Here is my recipe for yogurt:

Make sure all containers and utensils are sanitized in the dishwasher or with boiling water.
Heat 2 cups of milk on the stove to 170 degrees. Pour into a bell jar and allow to cool to 120 degrees. Add 1/4 cup of dry milk powder and 1/4 cup Stonyfield Farm plain yogurt. Put into a small cooler with two other jars filled with boiling water, and allow to set for several hours, not more than twelve. You can use other plain yogurt as the starter, but make sure it doesn't contain gelatin. After you start making yogurt, you can use your own as the starter. The measurements are approximate, since I don't really measure. Milk is much cheaper than yogurt, so it makes sense to me that this would be cost effective.