Elderberry Jelly Recipe

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Serve warm muffins and Elderberry Jelly when the youngsters get home from school. Lori Dunn

Pam Halbach, New London, Iowa, responded to Beverly’s request for an elderberry jelly recipe. “Just so happens I have an older sheet of jelly recipes from Sure-Jell. It has a recipe for elderberry jelly,” Pam writes.

Main Story:
Recipe Box: Jelly and Jam Recipes and More

“I have had trouble finding elderberries for several years. This last summer we were talking to a friend about elderberries and showed him a small patch near our house. He said he had lots of those plants at his place but never knew what they were.

“My husband went over and picked enough elderberries for me to make five batches of jelly! I was in heaven.” 

Elderberry Jelly

For juice:
6 quarts elderberries (about 3 pounds) 

Discard stems and crush berries. Place in saucepan. Slowly bring to boil until juice starts to flow. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Place jelly bag or 3 layers damp cheesecloth in large bowl. Pour in fruit. Hang bag and let drain until dripping stops. Press gently to get all the juice squeezed out.  

For jelly:
3 cups juice
1⁄4 cup lemon juice
4 1⁄2 cups sugar
1 box powdered pectin
1⁄2 teaspoon butter, optional 

Measure exact amount of juice into 6- or 8-quart saucepan. (You can add up to 1⁄2 cup water to get exact amount of juice needed if berries don’t make enough juice.) Stir in lemon juice.

In separate bowl, measure sugar.

Stir pectin into juice in saucepan. Add butter to reduce foaming, if desired.

Bring mixture to full rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in sugar quickly. Return to full rolling boil and boil for exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim off any foam with metal spoon.

Ladle hot mixture quickly into prepared jars, filling to within 1⁄8 inch of tops. Wipe jar rims and threads. Cap and process for 5 minutes in boiling-water bath. Yields about 5 cups.