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It turns out that it's harder to get pureed cherries into a bottle of brandy than whole ones - who knew? Perhaps I should have dug out the liquidizer. Anyway, that needs to macerate for another month before being strained and becoming drinkable.
The rain was a blessing - the wearing of a leather jacket in August protected me from the worst of the bramble thorns and nettles, and I came away unscathed. Poor timing of buses meant I walked about two miles to my secret spot, where about half of the crop was ripe. There were also various haws or hips, and what looked like blackcurrants. I managed to pick 800 grams before it looked like I was running short of time and energy, then plodded back via Morrisons, where I bought double cream.
To jump ahead of myself, I tried to turn half of this into jam, but it looks like I boiled for too long and it has gone very thick. Need jam thermometer.
I turned a goodly part of the elderberry syrup into ice cream - basically syrup, sugar and double cream, whizzed and frozen. It is a pleasing purple. I have yet to taste. I will defrost the rest of the elderberries - and will find a pair of scissors in the process - to make more syrup, to add to vodka. It turns out that mashing the lemon and berries makes a thicker syrup.
This morning I made cheese and bacon scones, which seemed to go down well with their intended audience.
I have 4 lb of elderberries promised. This needs more thought.
The rain was a blessing - the wearing of a leather jacket in August protected me from the worst of the bramble thorns and nettles, and I came away unscathed. Poor timing of buses meant I walked about two miles to my secret spot, where about half of the crop was ripe. There were also various haws or hips, and what looked like blackcurrants. I managed to pick 800 grams before it looked like I was running short of time and energy, then plodded back via Morrisons, where I bought double cream.
To jump ahead of myself, I tried to turn half of this into jam, but it looks like I boiled for too long and it has gone very thick. Need jam thermometer.
I turned a goodly part of the elderberry syrup into ice cream - basically syrup, sugar and double cream, whizzed and frozen. It is a pleasing purple. I have yet to taste. I will defrost the rest of the elderberries - and will find a pair of scissors in the process - to make more syrup, to add to vodka. It turns out that mashing the lemon and berries makes a thicker syrup.
This morning I made cheese and bacon scones, which seemed to go down well with their intended audience.
I have 4 lb of elderberries promised. This needs more thought.
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