During the summer, like everyone else in Paris, I get outta town for a long break. Even though this year was cold and dreary (although on a bright note, I finally got my Vélib' bike pass), Paris just peters-out; stores close and the markets are virtually empty. So I visit friends who live in the country in nearby in the Seine-et-Marne, a region a little over an hour from grey Paree.
You probably know about the famous cheese from there, Brie de Meaux, which is sold in big, gooey rounds at most of the markets in the area. There's a big one on Sunday mornings in Coulommiers, but I prefer the smaller but better market on Saturdays, in the town of Provins, which features actual producteurs, the folks who grow and sell their own fruits and légumes.
When I asked one of the local producteurs why they didn't bring their beautiful produce to Paris, he told me, "I don't like Parisians."
So I guess that explains this.
Ouch!...
Even if you're a cheese whiz and you think you know Brie de Meaux, you may not know its Dr. Jekyll side—Brie Noir. Instead of being smooth and creamy, it's dry, crumbly...and very rank-tasting. It's like eating a mouthful of b.o.
One tiny nibble and one can feel every cell in their body seizing up in revolt. Although since I've mastered the 'I'm not the-deer-in-the-headlights' look around here, when offered a taste I politely chew and chew and chew, then swallow. Yuck. Even the fly off to the right in the photo didn't want any. When the flies won't eat it...well, you can draw your own conclusions. But flies will land on and eat anything. And I mean anything. So if they're even staying away, you know it's a tough sell.
There's not much to do in the country but eat its younger cousin, the extraordinarily delicious Brie de Meaux and try to drink all the cool rosé in the fridge before it goes bad. And you know how quickly wine spoils and needs to be drunk soon after you buy it. Right?
But I need to keep busy even when I'm relaxing on vacation, which is my very own French-American paradox, and when I saw the giant elderberry tree practically awash with tiny purple berries behind the house I was staying at, I couldn't resist hauling out the ladder and spending a good couple of hours clipping away. Unfortunately the berries that caught my eye were higher up than I thought from down below, and I ended up perched too-high up on a rickety ladder with a saw and clippers, risking my life for the little buggers. But what a sweet reward!
Once I got back on solid ground, and back home, I searched the internet for inspiration and only found medicinal recipes and goofy claims for elderberry syrups that promised natural-relief from illness. And curiously, one that claims; Elderberries May Kill Avian Flu. While I'm not so convinced of their wondrous, life-affirming powers, I'm happy to drink a shot of the syrup in a glass of sparkling water over ice, drip some over plain yogurt or a bowl of vanilla ice cream, or use it to make an lively kir. And hello pancakes!
It's also fabuloso with aged goat cheese, like the ash-covered, tangy round of Selles sur Cher from the Loire that I had after dinner last night with some baked quetsch, better known as Italian prune plums in the fifty states. Or forty-eight, depending on availability.
Elderberries are pretty prolific and if you have a tree and you're a spry climber (even if you're a near-ancient 48 years old), you probably can pick more than you know what to do with all at once. So for all you freezer-queens out there, and you know who we...er...I mean you are, they can be stored in heavy-duty zip-top bags in your deep-freezer for at least six months.
But back to fresh, I used a handful last weekend scattered over some fresh apricots, sprinkled it all with a fistful of cassonade, granulated brown sugar, and a pour of rosé (gotta use it up, remember?), then baked the whole she-bang covered with foil until the liquid was bubbly and the apricots and elderberries were warm throughout. It was delicious, and almost worth risking my life for. Like riding a bike through Paris—which is a whole 'nother story, let me tell you...
The difficulty in preparing elderberries, or as they call them in France, sureaux, are picking the tiny berries off the microfiber-like stems. (Earlier in the season, the blossoms can be turned into fritters.) The berries appear in spidery tufts on the farthest end of the branches and I nearly chopped down my friend's tree trying to get the ripest berries way-high up at the top. And I almost killed myself using their pre-war ladder...and that's pre World War I, mind you, trying the earn the respect of you, dear reader.
Once you get them down off the tree, the fun just keeps coming and coming. You need to pluck the little purple berries off the branches. But too often un petit peu of the delicate stem usually comes off with them and that needs to be removed if you're going to toss them in a compote or a crisp. It's annoying work for most people, unless you're like me and get into that kind of thing.
When I lived in the states, I'd set myself down in front of E! Television, tune into some respectable fare like 'The Making of a Supermodel', and sit in rapt attention—then I could do even the most mundane of tasks for hours and hours on end. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately...) we don't get E! Television in Paris. But I can dream, can't I? And really, it's a great way to pass the time. Is there anything better than pitting cherries or plucking elderberries while watching a two-part special on the history of the Olsen twins or ambushing band members from the 80's at their jobs pushing papers in some office in the middle of nowhere to see if they'll make up after stupid dust-up over something so trivial it even makes even the Olsen twins look substantial and play together again at some half-deserted club in on Sunset Strip where no Los Angleno would dare...no double-dare...set foot in. Good God, have those people no respect?
Anyhow, back to the elderberries. If you're making syrup, with all due respect to the Olsen Twin or Frankie Goes To Hollywood, there's no need to find some mind-numbing television to watch while you pull off those little teensy, filament-like stems attached since the cooked berries gets strained through a food mill. So syrup rocks.
Even if Frankie doesn't anymore.
Elderberry Syrup/Sirop de Sureaux
Makes 1 quart (1 liter)
One caveat: Make sure the cookware you're using is non-reactive and your clothes are stain-friendly. If you use an aluminum pot, it'll get stained and the next batch of mashed potatoes you make may come out pink. Ditto for spatulas and anything else to plan to use to stir the syrup while it's cooking.
If you live somewhere where huckleberries are available, you could use them instead.
2-pounds (1 kg) elderberries (see note below), woody stems removed and rinsed
4 cups (1 liter) water
2½ (500 g) cups sugar
one nice-sized squirt of freshly-squeezed lemon juice
1. Put the elderberries in a large, non-reactive pot with the water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a low boil and cook for 15-20 minutes, until tender and soft.
2. Pass through a food mill, then discard the skins.
3. Pour the juice back into the pot (I use a fine-mesh strainer again at this point, but I'm crazy...), add sugar, and cook at a low boil over moderate heat for 15 minutes, until the syrup has thickened. Add a spritz of lemon juice. Cool completely.
4. Pour into a bottle or jar and store in the refrigerator.
Note: Some varieties of elderberries are not meant for consumption and none should be eaten raw, especially the leaves. I remove all of the hard, woody stems as well before cooking. For more information, Cornell University's Department of Horticulture has guidelines, noting the fruits are used in "...pies, jellies and jams." There are a few more guidelines on Wikipedia. If you're unsure if your elderberries are edible, consult your local cooperative extension before consuming.
Storage: I can't tell you how long it will keep since I don't make it often enough to know. But common sense will surely prevail and if you do make it, I would say a week or two in the refrigerator is the maximum. I've never frozen it but if you're worried about what to do with any excess, I say how about a respectable batch of Elderberry Cosmopolitans?
Hehe, I like the title! Even in some of the pictures, the berries look old and wrinkly :) Your recipe is awesome...thanks for sharing it! And that picture of the elderberry yogurt is beyond mesmerizing...
Oh yes we do get E! Entertainment Television in Paris. ("E!" is still pronounced "eee!" rather than "euh!") It's very educational. Shows are sometimes dubbed, sometimes subtitled. That's where I learned that a six-pack - as in abs - is called une tablette de chocolat.
I have a ready supply of elderberries in my garden, courtesy of the Norfolk hedging we planted a few years ago, but I tend to use the blossoms more - they're just so headily fragrant and delicious... if I'm organised enough (I wasn't this spring) I make enough elderflower cordial to last a year, make fritters as you suggest, jam them with gooseberries - in fact marry them up a lot with gooseberries, including sorbets, ice creams and fools. Very refreshing.
You've sold me on the apricot/elderberry combination though - the colours look so beautiful.
I saw a repeat Naked Chef episode recently where he took elderberries and other fruits and suspended them in prosecco gelatin. They looked gorgeous once popped out of the ramekin molds. Jamie offered this little tip: he said that it was easiest and least messy to remove the berries by using a fork and running it down the length of the stems. I have yet to try this little trick though. Your desserts look equally beautiful too!
Had a discussion with my husband lately about why he was quite sure that elderberry trees were toxic, despite recognizing that he'd heard of cordials, even wine, made from elderberry, and after all, their Latin name is Sambuccus, surely related to the liqueur Sambucca, no? I just did a bit of googling and found that while the berries are edible, other parts of the plant can be very toxic, stems included -- symptoms include fun stuff like diarrhea and profuse sweating. Anyone know more about this? We have an elderberry tree in our yard and I'd love to harvest some of the berries.
So beautiful and intersting to read about. I haven't seen elderberries in ny, but I have been drinking plenty of rose.
P.S. don't know if you've seen the ice cream series on my site, but thought you might want to check it out since I've referenced you and your book often.
david, i'll be slightly off topic as this comment is not on elderberries but on french fries. I read the barrage of comments on the battle vs the integrity of french food, and wanted to let you know about an excellent brasserie "Pipo" for fries. my boyfriend is french and took me to his fav spot, just down from the Pantheon towards the Seine. Try them for yourself :)
Funny! Yummy! Does that make fummy or yunny?
Louisa: In that case, I certainly qualify as having a 'tablette of chocolat'. Although it is possible to have two...or more?
katie: Will check it out. Had some very good, nicely-browned frites at Ma Bourgoune for lunch yesterday. But minutes later, all the subsequent fries coming out of the kitchen looked pale and limp. They must be reading my blog : )
Mercedes: Looks like you've got almost as much ice cream on your hands as I do!
Ellen: Like red currants, you could use a fork, but the teensy-weensy (yet tough) little bits of stem that attach to the berries still need to get plucked off the old-fashioned way—by hand.
materfamilias: I remove as much of the woody stems as possible. I certainly wouldn't eat the leaves, branches or raw berries, nor advise anyone else to.
Many people do make fritters out of the blossoms, and the venerable Blue Ball Book of Conserving has recipes using elderberries.
There's a few links to sources for more information at the end of the recipe, including Cornell's Dept of Horticulture, which notes elderberries use in various cooking applications but they should be cooked before consuming. If you have a local cooperative extension, I recommend bringing in a branch and some berries (unless you have an aversion to hunky farm-types...) or to a horticultural or agricultural expert for confirmation.
Oooohhhh - I'm so excited!!!! I've known about sureau for years, but I've always wondered what elderberries were!!!! (And am currently feeling a little like M. Jourdain, when he discovered that he spoke in prose...)
thanks for this info, David. And really, hunky farm-types, well, I can deal . . .
Christina, I think fummy.
Fummy should be when it's funny and then gets yummy. Yunny should be when it's yummy and then gets funny.
When I was a kid in Ohio my mother sent us off with baskets to pick elderberries. We came back, literally, with a bushel of the buggers. And then my great grandmother and I spent the afternoon picking the stems. Our fingers were purple for days.
We made it into jam. It's not bad. Better than the choke cherry jam we made the summer before but not nearly as good as the raspberry jams we made every year.
Dear David,
I enjoy reading your blog.
I've noticed that people with a sensitive digestion can still have problems with elderberry delights if the seeds are included in the end product. Otherwise, they are nice substitutes for currants in cakes, when dried.
Love the bit of country dust on the unwashed strawberries that will never see a Paris marche.
Beautiful photos!
As much as I love elderberries (I sometimes drink the health food store version of them mixed in white wine), elderflowers are the main attraction for me. I make an elderflower and melon sorbet that makes Summer actually tolerable, but here in Hawaii, I'm stuck using the dried blossoms. If you have access to the fresh version, bless your circumstances!
the title of this post alone, made me chuckle.
so now I will go back to reading the entire thing, and report back later. :)
My mother gathers elderberries, practically by the side of the road, in Berlin where they flourish. I've never liked her elderberry jams, but this post has me salivating for the way you've done them!
i've never seen let alone tasted fresh elderberries. but how totally beautiful...
BUT DAVID i am making the summer pudding. it's in the fridge now doing it's thing and will be eaten tomorrow. i got beautiful raspberries and blackberries and bought champagne grapes - or currents. but they weren't red - more purple and sweet. i hope it comes out well!
I grew up in Austria and we had that huge elderberry tree in the backyard. We made syrup from the blossoms! SO GOOD! And we batterned the berries and deep fried them.
I don't even know if there are Elderberry Trees in Illinois but I am craving some syrup now
Hello, I came to your blog via the mincemeat cake recipe. Love your writing and share the rosé-passion. I am German and there the elderberry tree is dedicated to Hera, the goddess protecting home and couple. It brings bad luck when you pull a elderberry tree out in your garden, it is said. My mother used to combine elderberry and apple juice to make jelly and confectionary. Delicious! In France, the elderberry tree is rather seen as a bad weed and pulled out everywhere...
The elderberries look lovely, but that word always reminds me of Monty Python, "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries!"
Also samite. Although that word doesn't come up as often.
I have been canning elderberries since the 90's-elderberry martinis rock. Best use to date is: stilton, foie gras and elderberry syrup served on a herb/olive oil toasted baguette.
OK Mister. Go easy on the maliging of elderberry for medicinal purposes. An efective winter tonic has been made for generations in the American South (US).
Your elderberry syrup would be fantatsic made with agave syrup.
You know, David, I've never been much of a fan of elderberries - I love elderflowers, though, VERY much. on my recent visit to Austria, i noticed that lots of chalets in the alps have elderberry bushes around them, apparently they're a good protection against lightning... not so much anymore once they're all jarred up, I guess.
My gran never used to pick the berries off their stems, in they went with the stems and she'd remove them when the berries had come off naturally in the cooking process. Not the neatest method, I believe, but once put through a passoire, nobody will notice!
Thanks for submitting this to SHF#34!
My dear man! There's nothing particularly goofy about "claims" that elderberry syrup can help cure colds; there are supporting studies Here's the link for the avian flu study:
here.
Love the blog!
I am in the middle of making elderberry syrup. My grandmother used to make it and we took it as children as a tonic against flu and cold.
I have spent at least six hours stripping the berries from the stems. Yes I know I could use a fork, but I am a stickler for quality control!
Each year I panic that I miss the best fruit, but for the past two have managed to get out there and make the most of the season.
The recipe I follow includes cloves and sugar and is much fun. I will be doing that bit tomorrow.
I store the syrup in green screwcap glass bottles and it seems to keep well for quite a few months.