Elderberry Jelly

Time for me to conquer ELDERBERRY JELLY!  I do not want to lose all this information - so I am putting it here for future reference.

So for 3 years, I have collected elderberries and froze the berries in my freezer.  When we first found them...my husband and oldest daughter dissolved into quoting "Monty Python"!

Here is a meme of the quote:

2 weeks ago - I found canning jars at a local thrift store (new in box). Bonus!  Then I bought pectin sure jell and cheese cloth.  It was time to try some thing new!  

STEP 1: Prepping the berries:

Okay - so I start processing the frozen berries...this means removing stems, sticks, and other bits.  It takes about 3 lbs or 4 quarts of elderberries.  An elderberry is small than an eraser on the end of pencil for comparison!  This was a bit painful since I had just shoved them in a bag over the past few falls since back to school and elderberries overlap.  My husband had tackled a large amount last year which was a great find.

STEP 2: Finding a recipe...

First, I do not have a fancy canner and have NEVER done this...so I reached out to my facebook family and friends.  Thank goodness for lots of great ideas and recommendations :)  I used mixed of many ideas out there!  Pinterest was overwhelming me!

Plus I found these two recipes online plus the ones my friend's posted:

https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/elderberry_jelly/

https://www.myfoodandfamily.com/recipe/060866/surejell-elderberry-jelly

STEP 3: JELLY MAKING

First I brought about 3 lbs of berries to a boil from frozen.  I mashed with a potato masher (found that at the Dollar Tree yesterday) and then simmered as directed in the links above.   I used the bag of berries that my husband processed last fall!  I still have more in the freezer plus they are almost ready to pick this year.  So I am hoping for a second batch soon.

Here are the berries after I boiled, smashed, and simmered.  Hanging out in the strainer/cheese cloth!

The elderberry juice

Next was the "scary" part.  I had to follow the recipe and work with jars and actually "can" the jelly.  

To make the jelly, I began by combining the pectin, juice, and lemon juice in a stock pot.  They warned me that this can get frothy.  These were brought to a BIG boil then we added the 4.5 cups of sugar from the recipes and a bit of butter.  Again get it to a BIG rolling boil for 1 minute.  We then moved it to our table to make it easier.  

My friend, Jamie, gave me directions on canning without a canner.  Here is what she said "We did not do the Water bath any longer when we make jelly. Follow the recipe on the Sure-Jell package for sugar lemon juice pectin and berries bring to a boil skim off the foam. Keep jars hot in oven set at 200°. Pour hot jelly, into hot jars. Sanitize lids, dry, put on jars, put on rings, tighten, flip upside down on towel. Leave set for 15-20 minutes. Flip over and check for the seal by pressing on center of the lid. NO NEED FOR COLD PACKING"

So here is what we did!  Hot jelly on the table on a towel still in the pot...jars in the oven on a cookie sheet...lids in a deep skillet in boiling water.  I grabbed a hot jar out of the oven carefully.  Handed that to my husband at the table. He added the jelly.  While he did this, I got the seal part out and DRIED (it is the flat part of the lid).  Handed it off then I went back for the ring and dried it off.  He put on the seal and lid then flipped them over. 
Repeat....

Here are the cute little jars!

YUM!

Tips that we learned.  Fill the jars fuller than you think.  Okay - I am corrected - you have to lead some "head" space.  There is a "neck" on the jars to fill up to.  I think that we guessed about right! 
Two adults working together worked well.  Any that don't seal, you put those in the refrigerator first and use them up!  Mine all seemed to have sealed!!!

So hopefully, I inspired you to try a new recipe or process.  It seems to have worked! Even my non-jelly liking husband tried a bit.  

Updates:

My grandmother made jelly with me when I was 5....I wish that I had a memory or a picture of this experience!

Plus I noticed that it was time to start the process over again - back to picking!  I decided to not just freeze a mess but actually process after picking.  I am up two out of the need three pounds already and the trees are super full of more berries.  You want berries to be closer to a deep purple than a light green!

Some of them off the branch!

Clipped off tree