TEST OF ELDERBERRY SYRUP RECIPES

The dark purple berries can be eaten when fully ripe but are mildly poisonous in their unripe state. All green parts of the plant are poisonous, containing cyanogenic glycosides (Vedel & Lange 1960). My advice is to remove green unripe berries as well as the stems already while picking them, so you don’t have double job later on. I was picking berries in Prekmurje near river Mura in pristine nature. While picking, I removed the stems and the green berries. Since elder trees are usually growing near rivers, stream or swamps, these locations are often full of mosquitoes. To avoid mosquito wars that I experienced today, don’t forget the mosquito repellent 😉 Elderberries are edible after cooking and you can use them for immune boosting syrup, jam, chutney or something else. Elderberries contain 87 percent of the daily value in vitamin C, and high amounts of vitamin A, potassium, iron, vitamin B6, fiber, and betacarotene. High value of vitamins was my main concern when reading recipes that were making the syrup with cooking it for 30 minutes or longer. Somewhere back in my memory was that these vitamins aren’t stable at high temperatures. I did some research regarding vitamin C and came to interesting results. Some studies like this one from 2012 are saying that vitamin C is highly thermolabile and it denaturated with heating and proportionally to the time of heating. In another study from 2010 they concluded that denaturation of vitamin C is not related to heat, but to oxidation process. Based on this study, a thermal treatment above 70 degrees C is recommended for crushed vegetable products to prevent oxidation of l-ascorbic acid = Vitamin C to dehydroascorbic acid, the onset of vitamin C degradation. Let’s say that vitamin C is stable at high temperature, however vitamin A and B6 and not, if we believe this study. What to believe now?? Is hard to say, I guess I will leave this decision to you. I made the syrup by 3 different recipes, two of them I found on internet and one I made up myself J I think I will use the recipe without cooking next time. Perhaps the best way is also to prepare fresh syrup from dried berries every time you need it.