Elderberry Jelly

Rinse the elderberry clusters: Rinse elderberry clusters thoroughly. I find the easiest way to do this is to put them in the basin of my kitchen sink and fill it up with water. If you've picked your own elderberries, often there are little squash bugs or spiders that will come to the surface, so keep an eye out for them.

Strip the elderberries from their stems: Working over a large bowl, work on one small cluster at a time, gently raking your fingers or the tines of a fork across the clusters to dislodge the berries from the stems. Use mostly berries that are completely blue or black. A few underripe green berries are fine; they have more pectin and including them will help the jelly set. For each batch of jelly, collect 3 pounds of de-stemmed elderberries (about 8 to 10 cups).

Put the elderberries in a pot and bring to a simmer: Place berries in a large pot and crush with a potato masher to release some of the juices. Turn the heat to medium and continue to crush as the mixture heats up to a boil. Once the berries and their juices reach a boil, reduce the heat to low and let the berries simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

Strain the juice from the elderberries: Place a large fine-mesh sieve, or 4 layers of cheesecloth, over a pot. Slowly transfer the mashed berries and juice over the sieve to strain the juice out into the pot. Let strain for 1 hour.

Prepare jars for canning: You'll need 5 to 6 (8-ounce) canning jars and lids. Put a steaming rack at the bottom of a large, tall pot. Add the jars and fill the pot with enough water to cover the jars with 1 to 2 inches of water. Once the water reaches a full rolling boil, boil the jars for 10 minutes to sterilize them. Wash the lids in hot, soapy water.

Measure out the juice: Measure out the strained juice. You will need 3 cups of juice to make one batch of jelly if using SureJell pectin. Any amount more than that you can reserve for making syrup, or add to another batch for jelly.

Add elderberry juice, lemon juice, pectin to a large pot, bring to a boil: Place 3 cups of juice into a large, high sided, wide pot (8-quart). Add the lemon juice and pectin. Bring to a boil on high heat.

Add sugar, butter, bring to a boil again: Add 4 1/2 cups sugar and 1/4 teaspoon of butter. (The butter helps keep the mixture from boiling up too high.) Stir with a wooden spoon. Bring to a boil again. Watch the pot as the mixture will foam up considerably. You may need to lower the heat a bit to keep the foam from boiling over the pot.

Boil the mixture, then pour into canning jars: As soon as the mixture reaches a rolling boil that you cannot diminish by stirring, watch the clock. At exactly 1 minute, remove from heat and pour mixture into canning jars to 1/4 inch of headspace from the rim.

Secure canning jars with lids: Wipe the rims with a damp paper towel. Place lids on jars and rings to secure. Process the jars in a water bath for 5 minutes. Remove from the water bath and let cool. As the jelly cools you should hear a popping sound as the lids seal. Once you open a jar, it can last for several months in the refrigerator.