Elderberry Wine Recipe

Even though, most of the edible elderberries are mildly toxic when unripe, ripe ones are usually used for consumption. You can also make wine from ripe elderberries and it is said to be really delicious. This wine is deep red in color and is almost similar to the regular red wine.

How to Make Elderberry Wine

Elderberry plants belong to the genus Sambucus in the family Adoxaceae. These plants can be found as both shrubs as well as small trees. There are around thirty species of elderberry bush and the fruits of the edible species are used for consumption. Only the ripe fruits of the edible elderberries are used for human consumption, as the unripe ones as well as other parts of these plants are found to be toxic. While elderberries are mostly consumed after cooking, these fruits are also found to be ideal for wine making. But some of the elderberry species are preferred to others, for making wine. They include blackberry elder (Sambucus melanocarpa) and the red-berried elder (Sambucus racemosa). Elderberry wine is said to be like grape wine and very rich in flavor. While some people cook the berries for wine making, it is not actually necessary. Here are some elderberry wine recipes that can be tried at home.

Recipe I

Ingredients

• Fresh Ripe Elderberries - 4 pounds
• Lemon - 1
• Ginger root - 1 piece
• Campden tablet
• Citric acid - 0.25 ounce
• Raisins - 8 ounces
• Sugar - 3 pounds
• Yeast nutrient
• Pectin destroying enzyme
• All purpose yeast

How to Prepare

Start with cleaning the elderberries, after removing the stalk. Once it is done, you have to boil the berries in a gallon of water, for around ten minutes. As the water boils, you can get the other ingredients ready. So, remove seeds from raisins, extract juice of one ripe lemon and slightly beat the ginger (make sure to retain the ginger as a single piece). The next step is to strain the juice from the boiled berries and keep the juice in the pan. Add lemon juice, sugar, raisins, ginger and citric acid to the pan with elderberry juice and allow it cook the mixture on low heat, for around twenty minutes. After twenty minutes, remove the pan from heat and let the mixture cool. Once it is cool, pour it into a pail and add some pectin destroying enzyme and keep the pail covered for the next 24 hours. After that add the yeast and yeast nutrient to the pail and keep it in a warm place for around three weeks. During this time, you have to stir it on a daily basis. After three weeks, strain the mixture into a fermentation vessel and fix the air lock. Once the fermentation is complete, transfer the wine to a clean container and add a crushed campden tablet into it, before sealing it with an airlock. Rack the wine, every two to three months, till it becomes clear before bottling. You can enjoy your elderberry wine, once it is ready for use.

Recipe II

Ingredients

• Fresh ripe elderberries - 3 pounds
• Sugar - 3 pounds
• Citric acid - 1 teaspoon
• Water - 1 gallon
• Yeast

How to Prepare

Clean the berries and remove the stalks. Crush the cleaned berries and place it in a bucket. Boil one gallon of water and add half of it to the bucket with crushed berries. Add the sugar to the remaining water and let it dissolve. After some time, strain the crushed berries into the vessel with sugar solution. Add yeast and citric acid and mix well, before transferring the mixture to a demijohn. Seal the demijohn and place it in a warm place for fermentation. Once the fermentation is complete, transfer the wine to a clean container and keep it in a cool location. Rack the wine every three months, till it gets clear. After that pour the elderberry wine into bottles and use it when it is ready.

So, making this wine is not a difficult task. Try these elderberry wine recipes and enjoy your homemade wine. You may search for other recipes and try them too.