My first try fermenting elderberries with honey and only wild yeast.
We just finished our second year of growing elderberries at the garden. The first year's harvest was rather small, but this second year, with more elderberry plants, we had a more sizable harvest. I kept this year's harvest in the freezer until I could figure out what to do with it. I remembered Dean at Seed St. Louis telling me that elderberries ferment readily on their own and could be made into wine fairly easily. I was up for trying it, but only if I could keep it simple. I found a lot of recipes that required buying commercial yeast and equipment like bottles with air locks. I wanted to approach this in a much simpler way, like olden days before this stuff was around.
I found the guidance I was looking for when I came across the recipe blog "How to Make Elderberry Mead." This was just what I was looking for -- something simple that allowed me to use what I already had.
I started with a half gallon jar that I filled with 3 parts spring water and 1 part honey, leaving enough room to add between 2 and 3 cups of elderberries. I smashed up the elderberries and mixed them into the honey water mixture. Then I covered it with a towel and rubber band and put it in a dark cabinet. I'd pull it out a few times a day to mix it together, smell it and observe the bubbling of the fermentation process. I made sure to sanitize the jar and spoon with vinegar before using them. I followed the link in the blog to "How to Make a Wild Yeast Starter" for guidance about using only wild yeast. I didn't make a starter to be used in making another ferment, though. This was the making of a final product for me, mostly because I had already put in all of the elderberries so I didn't have any more to start a new batch.
I was off to a good start, but I was still confused about how long I should leave this to ferment before racking it, which is just straining the liquid. Then, how long should I leave it to ferment after it's racked? These questions led me to a great YouTube channel, City Steading Brews. The video "How do I know when my Mead or Wine is Finished Fermenting? Is it STALLED?" helped answer these questions. My mead had been fermenting for more than two weeks at this point. After watching the video, I strained a small amount and had a taste. It was delicious, like a sweet red wine. I didn't get around to racking it for a couple more days. I think it would have been best if it was all strained after two weeks.
One of the things I learned is that if it ferments too long, it begins to turn into more of a vinegar. It definitely tasted more and more like a kombucha the longer it was left to ferment. When I racked my mead, I drank some right away, and bottled the rest to see if it might become more bubbly or more tasty with time. I did not use a sealed bottle, but just a simple jar with a lid twisted on, sanitized with vinegar before filling. This sat in my refrigerator for about 4 weeks. The final product tasted like a kombucha to me. If I were to do this again, I would rack it at two weeks and drink it right away. I can't wait to do this again next year!
Any worries I had about consuming my homemade ferment were eased by another City Steady Brews video, Can Homebrew Kill You? (Dangers of home-brewing wine, cider and mead) Info for 2020. What a great channel!
I haven't even mentioned the nutritional/medicinal benefits of fermenting elderberries and honey. But I think it's pretty common knowledge that this can have some really great benefits for you. How blessed are we that all of this information is at our fingertips!
At the garden, we love to learn by experimentation. There will be more blogs to come sharing our experiences with different experiments in the garden and in the kitchen. Make sure to check back here for more!
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