Elderberry weekend
Ever since I was a little kid, peanut butter and elderberry jelly sandwiches have been a household staple. Making the years-worth of jelly was an annual ritual, taking over the kitchen this time of the summer.
After mom died, I make sure that the ritual continued. In recent years, the younger generation has embraced the tradition!
After braving the poison ivy, green briar, and brambles to collect the umbels of ripe berries, the second step is to meticulously remove the tiny berries from the bitter stems, and render the juice.
We’ve been using the Certo’s recipe as long as I can remember. (One year, I made the jelly with the tiny seeds—let’s say it was an experiment I never repeated!)
Final count: four batches of eight jars each. From start to finish, about six hours of work—that even includes picking the berries!
