Evidently the elderberries you mention are nothing like the elders here in the US. I just finished canning mine, strictly for pie. I don't know what you mean by the pip being like lead shot. The seeds are no bigger than a berry seed.
There is another shrub that grows here which looks like an elderberry, is bluish more than purple but they are not edible.
When I take a elderberry pie to a function, folks beg me to save them a slice.
The only way to get the real thing is to live on a farm with establishes bushes or know someone who will let you pick theirs.
I don't know the name of this other bush, but I will find some and take a sample to our extension service and ask the Master Gardener there.
We find elderberry bushes in plant catalogues. I'm hoping to get some for my son who just bought 7 acres of land with a little wet spot way in the back. Elders love wet feet.

I've got a Sambucus nigra in my little garden, and the berries have lots of tiny little seeds, much like those in a gooseberry. I ignore them completely. I've made syrups and jams and jellies and pies and all sorts of things with them. I try to take care not to crush too many of them when doing pies, or adding them to cake or muffin batters or whatever.

I collect the berries, strip them from the stems, and freeze them for future use.

I don't get any lead shot!

Well Daisy, it must just be a matter of taste then. As I said we use them for things which require only the juice, like jelly, syrup and wine, but a lot of people consider them too seedy to eat otherwise. Although we eat lots of gooseberries and currants it seems that elderberries are just not so acceptable to the Brit palate. Although the seeds are not bigger than a berry seed the elderberries themselves are small, so the pip to fruit ratio is very high. Maybe I'll try a pie and see if people will eat it. I've found some recipes but has anyone got a favourite to share? If I can find a good one there is no shortage of berries. Nobody bothers to grow them in their gardens because they are virtually a weed here.

Hey Shirley, care to share that recipe please? I make mostly canned goods with them but I have tried a few pies, not bad but not smashing yet either. My kids adore the elderberry apple jam I make and eat it with peanut butter! I pick my berries mostly wild, though I have an elder here, but I also know a grower and their berries are sweeter and fatter, being bred for picking purposes. I don't know where you can get the grow variety in the US, being in Canada but I can give you their name if you want references.

Marie

Marie,

This first recipe uses a quart of canned elderberries.
I can mine using syrup of 1 part sugar to 5 parts water.

In a 2 qt saucepan, drain juice using a small sieve, keeping berries in jar.
Mix 1/2 or 2/3 cup sugar with 2-1/2 Tbls. cornstarch.
Add to juice in pan.
Add 2 Tbls. lemon juice.
Place over low heat and stir until thickened.
Add quart of berries and stir.
Remove from heat. Your pie filling is ready.
This take only a second as the berries are cooked in the canning process.
Proceed with your favorite 2 crust pie recipe.
Don't overfill the crust as it may seep some. I always use
cloth tape around my seepy pies.
Tear a 2 inch wide cotton strip, dampen it and wrap it twice around the pie. It will cling to itself. This works great.

Bake at 425 for 20 minutes, reduce to 375 until crust is nice and golden. This may be 25 or 30 minutes more.
I always bake in glass as the bottom crust browns better.

Elderberry Pie
Using thawed out frozen berries

3-1/2 cups elderberries.
Place berries in a 2 quart saucepan.
Add 2 Tbls lemon juice.
Mix 3/4 cup sugar with 2-1/2 Tbls corn starch.
Add to berries.
Place on low heat and stir until thick, 10 or 15 minutes.

Proceed using your favorite crust.

I have elderberries and for the first time they are loaded with berries. My question is judging ripeness, as I've never had them before, but would love to try that pie recipe! Any advice is appreciated greatly!

Mabel

The ripe berries are deep purple. You want to get them before the birds. Just pick the umbrel stems. Take the umbrels back to your house where you can sit down with a bowl on your lap and have fun taking the berries off. I dunk a handful of umbrels in a bucket of water to wash them. I like to do this outdoors as the berries will leave stains on carpets and clothing.
The berries here in WNY were 2 weeks early this year because of the extreme heat and draught.

Well, Flora, for your pernickety Pommie preferences :-) I offer this recipe!

Elderberry Syrup Tart
Pastry:
250g flour
125g butter
1 egg
pinch salt
90ml water

Combine all ingredients. Line a flan tin with half the pastry and prick the base with a fork.

Filling:
300ml elderberry syrup
30g cornflour
90g ground hazelnuts
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

Boil the elderberry syrup and cornflour, then slightly reduce for 15 minutes and leave to cool. Sprinkle the ground hazelnuts on top of the pastry base and then pour in the cooled thickened syrup. Cover with the rest of the pastry and use the egg yolk to seal the edges thoroughly and to brush over. Bake for 50 minutes at 180°C. Serve warm with sweetened whipped cream.

Elderberry Syrup
Pick berries when thoroughly ripe from the stalks and stew with a little water in a jar in the oven or saucepan. After straining, allow 15g of whole ginger and 18 cloves to each 4 litres. Boil the ingredients an hour, strain again and bottle. To about a wineglassful of Elderberry syrup, add hot water, and if liked, sugar. This is an excellent remedy for a cold.

For those who don't mind the seeds:

Elderberry Pie
2 sheets unbaked shortcrust pastry
2 1/2 cups elderberries (reconstituted dried berries can be used)
1/2 cup sugar
pinch salt
2 tablespoons plain flour
3 tablespoons lemon juice

Line a pie dish with one sheet of the pastry. Mix elderberries, sugar, salt and lemon juice. Sprinkle with flour and dot with butter. Spoon mixture into pie shell, cover with remaining pastry. Bake at 200°C for 10 minutes, reduce heat to 180°C and bake for another 30 minutes. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

And for everybody (you shouldn't notice the seeds in a recipe like this):

Elderberry Cobbler
1 cup elderberries
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornflour
1/2 cup margarine
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
2/3 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Stir elderberries, sugar, water and cornflour until thickened. Melt margarine in bottom of a 20cm square cake tin. Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add milk and vanilla and stir to mix. Pour berry mixture into pan and drop flour mixture on top by spoonfuls. Bake at 180°C for 35-40 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream.

Shirley, how do you can the elderberries? Do you boil them or cold pack them and how long do you process quarts. I need to can some stuff as my five freezers are all full. Also, I want to know more about the cloth tape. Do you sandwich the pie crust and plate in the cloth? Does it keep the pie from leaking? I have cherry pies that always leak and make a mess no matter what I try, I am thinking pie birds now. thanks so much for the info, and the yummy recipe, I am sure to try that, as I have over 20 lbs of elderberries frozen just waiting and full bushes to pick too.

Marie

Marie,

The pie tape is the best thing I ever invented. Have been using it for over 50 years. I know they sell those aluminum contraptions that you place around the pie to keep the crimped edge from browning too much but, the pie tap does the same thing.
If you have an old sterile bed sheet, tear it into strips about 3 inches wide and long enough to go around the pie two times.
I tear several of these and wind them up and store in a sandwich bag in my towel drawer.
Take one strip and run it under the faucet and squeeze out excess water. Position the tape around the pie edge so half is above and half below the crimped edge. Just keep wrapping around itself. Being damp, it will cling. Gently fold the top edge down over the crust edge.
I've even used old t-shirts. White only on the t-shirts.

Thanks Daisy - that should keep me busy for a while. I was out on a walk yesterday and saw tons of berries. It IS strange that they are so common here and so suited to the climate and yet hardly anyone grows them. I have had a bit of a Google and come up with one UK reference to a named variety of culinary elderberry (there are several ornamental ones) and it is described as 'new' and 'unusual'. We just don't seem to have a taste for the bounty on our doorsteps.

Pernickety Pommie

(my new web name - now to dream up a suitable one for Daisy - Wizard of Oz? The Omniscient Antipodean? ... :)

Marie,
Sorry I forgot to tell you how I can the elderberries. Place washed and stemmed berries in quart jars only to within 2 inches of top. Fill with hot syrup [1 part sugar to 5 parts water], sweeter if you like. Leave 1 inch head-space.
HWB for 20 min.

Flora - heeheehee! I can think of a few!! My best jokes are against myself. Shall we start with the Mad Maven of Herbs?!

flora uk, my Oma in Germany used to make an Elderberry soup which most everyone in my family loved. However, for me, the smell and taste of that soup instilled such a gag reflex in me as a child, that I have never tried an elderberry since.

It never occurred to me that the flavor might be different here in North America. Perhaps I need to give the elder another shot.

We have what I assume are elderberries all over the place here in the netherlands. But because I don't know who to ask to verify that they are indeed elderberries (and are edible) I leave them for the birds.

Melly - I suspect that what you think are elderberries ARE elderberries. I can't think of any black berried shrub look-a-likes that would be growing in Holland except Sambucus ebulus which is a herbaceous perennial, not a tree. Check the link for what they look like?

Here is a link that might be useful: elderberries

That's what they look like all right. I have never anywhere with elderberries before here. Is elderberry jelly nice?

It is rather cloying, too sweet and bland for me straight, although many people like them. I use elderberries in my grape jellies. It adds a wonderful dimension to the taste. The grapes for the piquancy. I have made straight elderberry jelly, and it's nice, but not as vibrant as the grape/elderberry mix.

To reduce that cloying sweetness, add some of the acid blend I suggested in other posts. It really brings up the flavor of some bland tasting fruits. I always use it in blueberry, apple and all other fruit jams and home canning.