Want to make your own elderflower juice? When summer has arrived and the flowers have started to bloom, it’s time to make elderflower juice. Elderflower juice is both delicious and easy to make if you can get your hands on old ones that are in nature.
It takes about 20 minutes to prepare and then store in the refrigerator for 5-6 days.
Elderflower juice can be mixed with water for a classic cooling drink or added to drinks for more festive occasions. Below is a great recipe for elderberry juice that you can make this summer.
preparation:
15 minutes
preparation:
5 minutes
Grace:
five days
total time:
five days 20 minutes
Elderflower juice is not only delicious, but also very easy to prepare. It takes few ingredients and is ready quickly in about 20 minutes. Then let it sit in the fridge for 5-6 days before straining the juice and serving.
material
-
2 liters of water
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2 kg of sugar
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50 large flower clusters
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3 organic lemons (choose lemons with thinner skins, they taste better)
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50 grams of citric acid
Instructions
- Clean the elders and remove all insects. If any insects or lice remain, they are filtered out later.
- Boil water in a pot and add sugar to it. Remember to stir until the sugar has dissolved.
- Put the cleaned large flowers in a pot or bowl with a capacity of at least 5 liters.
- Clean and thinly slice the lemon and place it on top of the elderflower.
- Pour hot sugar water over the elderflower and lemon. Add citric acid and mix.
- Cover with a lid or plastic wrap and let cool for 5-6 days. Shake every day.
- Filter the juice and bottle it.
Recipe for elderberry juice without citric acid/ascorbic acid
If you don’t want citric acid in your recipe, you can replace it with lemon juice squeezed from 2-3 lemons.
Elderflower jam recipe with mint and lime
There is another and slightly different version of elderberry juice if you add mint and lime. Follow the recipe, but instead of the 3 lemons in the classic recipe, add 4-5 sprigs of mint and 3 limes and 1 lemon.
More about elderflower juice
In Sweden, elderflower juice is made from elderflower, which is also known as Seljanmarja mehu Sknen.
Except for the flowers, all parts of elderberry contain a toxin called sambunigrin. Sambunigrin breaks down when boiled and the toxic effect disappears – so you use hot water and pour over the flowers while making the juice.
If you drink large amounts of nectarine juice, you may experience stomach pain, and this is caused by a substance that turns into hydrocyanic acid in the body. However, you need to drink a lot for this to happen.
How do you know if it’s a fake or a real elderberry?
The elders are often confused with two other species known as grape alder and summer alder. In the summer, the elderberry grows in a small bush about a meter high. This bush later bears black berries like a true elderberry.
It is a large flowering plant with flat flower clusters. However, you can tell them apart by looking at the anthers. In summer, elderberries are red in color, while true elderberries have bright yellow anthers.
The oldest of the grape is also commonly confused with the real old, which is why it is often called “false old”. You can tell the difference by looking at the indentations on the branches and stem. The old grape has a brown pith, while the true pith has a white pith.
Then you can even tell the grape elderberry apart by looking at the flower clusters. The old one has a more oval cluster with the flowers pointing outwards, while the true old one has a flat flower cluster with the flowers pointing upwards.
If you’re not sure if it’s really big, you can pick up a bunch of grapes and put it upside down on a flat surface – if it’s standing firmly, it’s really big, but if it falls, then this grape is big.
The back of the grape also blooms earlier (April-May), while the actual elder blooms in summer (June-July). The real elderberry also grows in a large bush or tree that can grow over 8 meters tall.
Have you tried my recipe? Feel free to leave a comment below!