Elderberries in the Czech kitchen: For meat and desserts
It blooms in spring, ripens in late summer, and if you handle the harvest well, you can work with it all year round. Under the influence of its intoxicating aroma, we have written down some distinctively aromatic tips for you to enjoy elderberries this year - a shrub that spices so deeply in Slavic culture that it simply cannot be denied a place on the plate. Just copy the recipes of our ancestors and add a little novelty. Get inspired!
Flowers in a hundred ways
Just before flowering, the elderberry buds are pickled like capers, but the flowering phase is a little longer and more culinary interesting. In May and June, the fragrant flowers are processed into syrups, (tibi) lemonades and kombucha, which are primarily drunk but also used to flavour sauces and salad dressings. Specifically, elderflower syrup can be whisked with, for example, olive oil, yoghurt and apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper - and mixed with salad leaves, caramelised rhubarb and goat's cheese. In the sauce with yoghurt, lemon juice and a pinch of salt refreshes grilled green asparagus.
Asparagus goes well with Hollandaise sauce, acidified with elderflower vinegar or pickled flowers. These are pickled in a classic vinegar brine and added to mayonnaise or beurre blanc as they do at Buffet in Prague's Karlin. The butter sauce (for fish) is made from fish stock, and at the end they mix in the pickled elderflowers and whisk in butter to soften it. Sweet and sour flowers can be used in salads and to finish (cold) soups, with fresh (goat) cheese and grilled meat, in a toasted sandwich and on linguine or simply on bread with cottage cheese.
Collected flowers are are left to ferment along with vegetables and fruit, v kimchi or in honey, they are present in chutneys and contribute to the aroma of jams. In some recipes they are first macerated in apple juice, then stirred into the cooked fruit.
From the kitchen and herbarium
Liqueurs. Elderflower liqueurs have a long history! The Landcraft Distillery has created unique Elderflower, a liqueur made from elderflowers that have been leached and finely distilled. The recipe was completed with fermented and then burnt elderberry syrup from Anička Grosmanová alias Foodpioneer and birch sap from Honza Klimeš.
Sekt and beer. In Dobrá Vinice they bet on the tradition of elderflower sparkling wine and bottle HERB-NAT Elderberry Bubbles or low-alcoholic pet-nat. Obora Brewery has paired elderflowers with Premiant hops and cans a semi-dark, bottom-fermented Elderflower lager.
Kecanda, otherwise known as elderberry jam. The berries are washed and strained, gently boiled with sugar to a thick consistency and spiced with cinnamon and cloves. There is ¾ kg of sugar per litre of jam. The so-called 'dryaders' used to sell dryak - a drink made from elderberries, honey and herbs.
Porridge and soups. Elderflowers lent their aroma to a porridge called varmuža, but elderflowers were not left behind. In Slovakia, they remember elder soup - boiled elderberries simmered in milk with a little flour, while in Moravia they knew a porridge of boiled elderberries, semolina and sugar, served with butter and cottage cheese. In Germany, they are still cooked today sweet elderflower soup with semolina dumplings.
Kosmatice. Fried elderflowers need no introduction! The batter is mixed from sifted flour, salt and beer, milk and eggs, the coated flowers are fried in lard and finally sugared. Another version archives St. Paddy's day kosmatice that require a kilo of flour, not quite a litre of cream, 7 deca of butter, 3 egg yolks, 4 deca of yeast, some lemon zest and pounded ginger, 7 deca of sugar and some salt. The risen dough is made into a baking tin, which is cut into longitudinal pieces the next day. These are dipped in milk and beaten eggs, rolled in elderflowers and fried in butter.
For lamb and desserts
In Eska, fresh flowers are roasted with lamb, and the blooming harvest is not only preserved, but also vacuumed, frozen and served beyond their short season. Venison used to be accompanied by a simple sauce made from the flowers, which were simmered in butter and stirred into a buttery roux, with a little mace, salt and sour cream. Extra white flowers flavour the butter (ideal for roast fish or poultry) and flavour salads or pasta.
The creamy aroma of elderflower suits desserts and so the flowers are usually shelled in milk or cream, which then form part of recipes for ice cream, creams or semolina. The flowers themselves also bring flavour to dishes, and are used to decorate a variety of desserts. The syrup sweetens, for example strawberry dumplings, doughnuts and buns or cake batter.
Tips from the past: Older cookbooks advise picking undeveloped flowers without stems to make vinegar, whereas for elderflower oil 10 bunches of flowers are immersed in 250 ml of good quality oil and left in a cool, dark place for about 3 weeks without leaching. After that, the oil is strained and consumed mostly on salads or fish. By the way, the dried flowers can be mixed flavoured sugar or salt.
Berries, berries
Elderberries should not be eaten raw - they are too acidic, have a laxative effect and contain antinutritional lectins that are only inactivated by heating. The berries thus require cooking, processed into jams, puddings and ketchup or compote - ripe berries end up in a sweet and sour or sweet pickle, often in combination with blueberries, blackberries, plums or other fruits. The concoction is then added to pancakes or dumplings.
In Eska, elderberries are preserved in the style of cranberries with cinnamon and star anise and are added to pigeon meat or venison. They can also accompany pâtés, cheeses and grilled meats. Chefs also welcome lacto-fermented elderberries, which develop an interesting acidity.
Elderberry juice has always served as a base for syrup or wine, but the juiced berries are worth drinking fresh - usually sweetened with fruit juice, mixed with soda or incorporated into drinks. Juiced elderberries are also suitable for flavouring sauces. They are considered a superfood dried berries. After a short heat treatment, you can enjoy them in tea, cocktails, desserts or granola and use them as a spice or natural colouring.
Something extra:
Homemade pharmacy. Every part of the elderberry is medicinal, from the root to the leaves. We're running out of lines to list all the beneficial substances and vitamins, but you might be interested in anthocyanins - not only do they colour the berries, but they also act as antioxidants and, among other things, have a positive effect on the intestinal microflora.
For collection. Elderflowers are picked around midday, when they are not fully developed or wet from rain. The whole bunches and stems are cut off the bush and spread on baking paper or a tablecloth. This is so that any beetles present can run out. Do not rinse the flowers before processing - they will lose their aroma and the desired pollen!
Sacred bush. The Slavs revered the black elder as a symbol of protection and health. They believed that the idols dwelt beneath it, protecting the farm and the family, and when they moved, they took elder seedlings with them on their journey. The herb still grows in every garden today and does particularly well in partial shade and nutrient-rich soil.
Red elder. Red elderberries (Sambucus racemosa) also grow in the Alpine and Bohemian lands, and in the past they were crushed and pressed for oil or boiled until the fat rose to the surface and could be used for cooking. The berries also make jam, but beware! The grains contain toxic substances which are not removed even by boiling and must therefore be carefully removed. Herbologists also warn against confusing them with dwarf elder, which is easy to recognise - it's not a shrub, but a herb with a soft stem.
Source: Ambiente chefs, Das kulinarische Erbe der Alpen (Dominik Flammer), Steffen G. Fleischhauer: Essbare Wildpflanzen
