Elderberry jelly

One of the bedrooms has an elderberry tree outside the window.  It was laden with elderberries, so I picked two kilograms and found a recipe to make elderberry jelly.

The first step was to remove as much of the stems and occasional leaf material as possible.

Then to mash them lightly in a pan, and to heat it up and some other stuff.  Eventually straining out the juice removing the skins and stones.  The main thing was to not crush the stones too much because they're the toxic part.

I added sugar and a pectin mix from the supermarket.  This pectin mix is expensive and contains sugar already, but not enough sugar, so you need to factor in how much sugar they included with your own sugar.  I've since bought some pure pectin to use instead, so it's more straightforward in future.

Here's the result.  Four reused jars and seals.  The jars were heated in the oven, and the lids boiled.  None of the lids had damaged insides, where there are slight rusted bits, like there sometimes are in these lids.  And all the seals popped as the jars cooled.  There was some condensation inside the jars, but I read on the internet that this gets absorbed by the preserved fruit/vegetable and goes away.. which it did.

The juice tasted quite nice, and would be nice to try in a syrup next year.  I'll leave these on the shelf to try in the winter.