PEAR TREE LOG

pear tree log: I started this blog to keep my younger son, Jonny, in touch with life in Lincolnshire, while he spent a year working in China. That year turned into five! Now he is home and training to become a physics teacher. This is simply a patchwork quilt of some of the things I enjoy - life in rural Lincolnshire, our animals, friends, architecture, books, the gardens, and things of passing interest.



Thursday 6 September 2012

Elder Rob

We may try to fool ourselves, but nature knows.  Autumn is almost here - just look at all the wonderful hips and berries which are glowing red and luscious in the hedgerows.   It is time to pick up our baskets and do a little harvesting.

These huge sloes are ripe and ready for the picking, think sloe gin, sloe brandy, or add a few sloes to a fruit pie.

Around our area it is always a race to pick the hedgerow bounty before the farmers cut the hedges back and all is lost.

Too soon and the berries are not ripe, too late no berries to pick!
So, I have to get out in the lanes,  check the field hedges, walk through meadows and keep my eyes peeled looking for these wonderful jewel-like gifts.   It is the season to get busy gathering and preserving, making jellies, jams and chutneys ready for the dark, cold days of winter.  By the time I have finished the pantry shelves will be lined with pots and jars of all shapes containing preserves, pickles and cordials.

It is the most exciting season of the year.

I love the fact that preserving has changed so little over the years, traditional methods are still in use today. This is when my really old recipe books come into their own...although in this case I would advise using the modern method, unless you have a supply of bladders.

Today I thought I would share an eighteenth century recipe, for Elder Rob; you will need lots of elderberries and sugar, cloves or ginger are optional.    This particular cordial is very useful for helping to fend off influenza and can help fight colds.   There is some very good science behind it, regrettably I have lost the original link - although I will add it when I find it again!

Elder Rob

Gather your elderberries full ripe, pick them clean from the stalks, put them in large stew-jars and tie paper over them.  Let them stand two hours in a moderate oven.  Then put them in a thin, coarse, cloth and squeeze out all the juice you can get.

Put eight quarts into a preserving pan, set it over a slow fire, let it boil till it be reduced to one quart.  When it is near done, keep stirring it, to prevent it burning.  Then put it into pots, let it stand two or three days in the sun; then dip a paper, the size of your pot, in sweet oil, lay it on, tie it down with a bladder, and keep it in a very dry place.  Black Currant Rob is made the same way.

These are excellent diluted with water for use in feverish colds.


Modern version: (no bladders required)

Give the elderberries a brief wash to remove insects and dust, strip the berries from the stalks, using a fork, then weigh the berries.

For each 1lb of elderberries add 12oz of brown sugar,  add a few cloves, or fresh ginger if you wish,  bring them to the boil and pass through a sieve to get all the juice out.

Cool,  and then pour into sterilised bottles.  Store in a cool, dark place.  Dilute a little in hot water.  

Old wisdom, in a soothing drink.

16 comments:

  1. Mmmmm...sounds delicious...I think I'll give that a try. All of that vitamin C just HAS to be good for you. I really like the idea of hedgerow brews to keep colds at bay.

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    1. Hello KittyKittyWeaselFish, We picked about 10lbs of elderberries today - so our afternoon and evening have been spent cleaning them and making the syrup - a slow process, but so worth while! I hope you give it a go.

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  2. my raspberries are not even showing yet!

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    1. Hello John, Goodness, that is late! I should skip the raspberries and move on to elderberries and blackberries.

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  3. Gosh, that sounds yummy (sans the bladder part).I don't think I could find even one pound of elderberries.
    Jane x

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    1. Hello Jane, If it were possible, I would have some couriered over to you. We spent a couple of hours picking elderberries this morning then much of the day was spent making elderberry rob. We now have almost 6 litres, so that should be enough for us...and the neighbours!

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  4. Hi Elaine....as I'm reading the recipe, I'm saying to myself, "A bladder from where??" Thank goodness, I continued reading to see the modern-day recipe !!

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    1. Hello Meggie, Ugh! I am so thankful that we don't have to resort to that kind of thing now. I have made our first two batches - using modern equipment and methods!

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  5. I don't think I could give up elderberry jelly or elderberry pie or elderberry crumble for elder rob.

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    1. Hello Joanne, I love the fact that the old wisdom about elderberries was so spot on... I could probably be tempted to spare a few elderberries for a crumble though, it is one of my favourite puddings.

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  6. It's Blackberry and Rose-hip time here. But I do have a good stock of Elderflower Champagne!

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    1. Hello Cro, Next year I really must make some Elderflower Champagne. I can imagine it is wonderful. The elderberry rob is ruby red and definitely a winter warmer.

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  7. Hello Elaine:
    We love the idea of harvesting from the hedgerows something which, of course, is not possible in a city. Last year a friend gave us a bottle of sloe gin, absolutely delicious, and we are rather hoping that on our next trip to England we might become recipients again!

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    1. Hello Jane and Lance, Sloe gin was the very first thing we made as hedgerow harvesters. Since then we have gone on to blackcurrant vodka, blackberry gin. blackberry whisky...they all make excellent gifts and, of course, quality control testing is so much fun! The elderberry rob is non-alcoholic, purely medicinal, but efficacious.

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  8. Just yesterday, I saw a doctor on TV extolling the health benefits of elderberries!
    I have no idea where I would get some around here, however.

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    1. Hello Ms Sparrow, Some of the elderberry remedies on offer in the pharmacies cost a small fortune, I am very grateful that we live in an area where they are fairly abundant. What a shame they don't grow around your area.

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