Last Updated on August 3, 2022 by Aaron von Frank
If you grow elderberries like we do, you may also dread elderberry season and the many hours of time it takes to remove the small berries from the stems after harvest. Good news: a steam juicer can cut your elderberry processing time down from multiple hours to a few minutes. In this article, we’ll show you how!
Elderberry nightmares
We’ve been growing Sambucus canadensis elderberry varieties for over a decade. We love the small yet delectable edible flowers and black-purple ripe berries elderberry plants produce.
Having jars of homegrown, homemade elderberry syrup on hand is one of our hacks for keeping our immune systems primed for virus battles throughout the year. (See How to make elderberry syrup and How to avoid getting sick & feel better.)
Nevertheless, we have recurring nightmares about elderberry season that go something like this: we’re surrounded by giant bowls full of ripe elderberries on the stems. A clock is ticking in the background as the fruit begins to degrade. No matter how fast and how many elderberries we pull off the stems, more giant bowls of elderberries pile up behind them.
Each year from late July through mid August, we awaken from this nightmare to find that the nightmare is in fact real…
Our toddler inspects a large bowl of freshly picked elderberries. We’re thankful he won’t have to grow up in a world where such sights evoke nightmares.
Terrifying bowls full of unprocessed elderberries haunt us from their perches atop our kitchen counter while we stay awake deep into the night frantically pulling them off the stems with purple-stained fingers while putting them into freezer bags.
Each 1 gallon bag of elderberries in our freezers takes about 4 hours to process by hand. We usually finish out the season with about 10 gallons of elderberries so that’s a lot of extra hours to find over a few weeks.
If you’re like us, you might also wonder if there’s a better way to remove elderberries from their stems?
Standard methods to remove elderberries from the stems
Commercial elderberry operations have expensive equipment to help process elderberries. Such equipment is cost-prohibitive for small home producers though.
In addition to hand-pulling elderberries, we’ve tried two other methods to remove elderberries from their stems:
1. “Bucket smack” elderberry removal
With some elderberry varieties, you can hold the base of a freshly cut stem of raw elderberries and smack it back and forth against the inside of a 5-gallon bucket, forcing the berries to drop off the stems (at least most of the berries).
With other elderberry varieties, this method simply pulverizes the berries and makes a giant mess.
Is this method faster than hand-pulling the berries? Yes. But it’s not better.
2. Freeze whole stems then remove elderberries
Another recommended elderberry removal method is to put the stems (with berries on) in bags in the freezer. Once frozen, the berries can more easily be pulled from the stems or whacked against the inside of a bucket to remove them.
Here are the problems we’ve experienced with this method:
- We don’t have enough freezer space to accommodate as many stemmed elderberries as we harvest each night.
- Once frozen, a lot of the tiny elderberry stems also snap off along with the frozen berries (at least with our elderberry varieties). As you probably know, you don’t want to eat anything other than flowers or fully ripe elderberries since other parts of the plant contain cyanogenic glycosides, which are poisonous.
- Since they’re so small, frozen elderberries thaw quickly once out of the freezer so they soon start turning to mush as you proceed.
- Your fingers quickly turn numb from cold.
If you only have a small quantity of certain types of elderberries, the freeze-first method may be ideal. In our trials, it wasn’t a great solution.
Our public plea for elderberry processing help
We’re connected to a lot of other foragers and food producers through our social media channels. (If you haven’t already, connect with us on Instagram and Facebook!) Thus, we put forth a public complaint about our elderberry nightmares which received quite a few responses.
Mostly, people commiserated. A few other folks recommended the freeze-first method, which we’re not fans of.
However, two people recommended something we’d never heard of or considered for processing elderberries: a steam juicer aka steam extractor. What newfangled contraption is this, we inquired?
A steam juicer makes it infinitely faster and easier to process elderberries into juice and syrup without having to pull the berries off the stems.
What is a steam juicer?
As it turns out, steam juicers are actually old-fashioned contraptions that likely long predate electricity. A steam juicer is a three chambered stacked pot with the following design and functionality:
- The bottom vessel is where the water boils, which creates steam.
- The second/middle vessel has a centrifuge in the center which allows steam to pass through and up to the top level. It also collects the juice and has an opening with a hose attached where you can pour the juice out.
- The top vessel is basically a lidded strainer where the fruit sits. As the steam heats the fruit, the juices come out and drip into the lower holding pot.
The middle centrifuge section of a steam juicer allows steam to rise up while juice flows down and collects.
A steam juicer sounded to us like a perfect tool for quickly processing elderberries (with stems still attached) into elderberry syrup. Only problem: we didn’t have one.
After a bit of product comparison, The Tyrant quickly remedied that problem and a new Cook N Home 11 quart steam juicer was ours.
Steam juicer: the easiest, fastest way to process elderberries
Before steam juicing elderberries, we cut off the large base stems that hold up the berry clusters. This allows for more room in the steam juicer and reduces the risk of cyanogenic glycosides being steamed out of the larger vegetative parts of the plant. (This is actually a very low initial risk since the stems have very low water content.)
Elderberries with stems on in our steam juicer. You can actually put in about 2x more elderberry clusters than seen here. This quantity of berry clusters produced a little under 2 cups of elderberry juice.
Total time required to get everything set up and on the stove is about 2 minutes. 30 minutes later (including the time it takes the water to start boiling and creating steam) and you’ll have a chamber full of elderberry *juice.
(*Note: The extracted elderberry juice is too watery to be considered elderberry syrup. For our preferences, it then requires cooking down by about 40-50%, sweetening with a bit of stevia, plus boosting acidity levels with citric acid.)
Elderberry juice after steam extraction. This amount of juice will need to be cooked down to about 1 cup in order to make elderberry syrup concentrated to our liking.
Removing the same quantity of elderberries from the stems by hand would take us 2 hours, and then we’d still have to cook and strain them, which would take another 30 minutes. So with each batch of elderberries in our steam juicer, we put 2-4 hours of time back in our pocket depending on the starting quantity of berries (ranging from 1/2 – 1 gallon measured stems on).
Not bad!
So, if you’ve been wondering what’s the easiest and best way to process elderberries or quickly get elderberries off the stems, we can now confidently say that a steam juicer is the answer. Thanks social media friends!
How to process elderberries in a steam juicer
Find out how to use a steam juicer to process elderberries into juice and syrup, saving a huge amount of time and work.
Ingredients
- 1/2 gallon elderberries, measured with stems on (or maximum 1 gallon per session with a standard 11-quart steam juicer)
- 1/3 gallon water, poured into base of steam juicer
Instructions
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Remove thick primary base stems from elderberry clusters (optional but recommended). Then place elderberry clusters into top chamber of steam juicer.
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Pour water into base of steam juicer and place on burner over high heat on stovetop.
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Set timer for 30 minutes. (Once water reaches a bowl, it takes about 20-25 minutes for all the elderberry juice to be extracted.)
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Remove steam juicer from heat. Pour elderberry juice into storage jars until ready to use for recipes. If making elderberry syrup (which is much more concentrated than juice), see link to recipe in article!
Limitations
Most elderberry recipes use either elderberry juice or syrup as a foundation. However, sometimes you might need actual elderberries (with no stems) for a recipe.
In that case, a steam juicer wouldn’t be ideal. Instead, you’d need to either use the raw berry hand pulling method or the freezer method detailed earlier.
Regardless, thanks to our steam juicer, we’re now happy to say that our elderberry nightmares have disappeared. Henceforth, we will look forward to ripe elderberry season without a hint of dread!
Again, our pick was the Cook N Home 11 quart steam juicer which has a 5 star rating across thousands of reviews. It’s also priced lower than the competitors we considered. Thus far, it’s been worth its weight in gold — or elderberry syrup!
KIGI,
Other elderberry and elder flower articles you’ll love:
- How to grow elderberries and elder flowers organically
- Recipe: How to make elderberry syrup
- Recipe: Sparkling elderflower cordial
- Recipe: Raspberry-elderflower-honey sparkling cordial
- Recipe: Elder flower kombucha
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16 Comments
Jonty
November 23, 2024 at 4:53 pmI had heard that the heat from the steam method reduces the medicinal qualities of the juice quite a bit which is why cold pressing is recommended, or do you think this is not the case?
Aaron von Frank
November 25, 2024 at 7:43 amHi Jonty! There are multiple compounds in elderberries that have medicinal qualities. I’m not sure anyone knows the degree to which any of those compounds are degraded by heat. My guess is not much. However, if you want to go with an uncooked elderberry syrup recipe that is also probiotic, check out our fermented elderberry syrup recipe here: https://www.tyrantfarms.com/fermented-elderberry-syrup/. I’d be a little wary of cold-pressed elderberry syrup depending on the dose and frequency with which you plan to consume it, since the uncooked seeds are relatively high in cyanogenic glycosides (assuming the seeds are also smashed in the process).
Marilyn T
October 2, 2023 at 3:23 pmI prepared my elderberries in my steam juicer last year… and then threw it all out after reading about the poisonous compounds in the stems. I was worried that they may have been released into the juice during the steaming process. It sure is a lot easier than picking it off the stems, but are you really sure that it is safe?
Aaron von Frank
October 2, 2023 at 9:53 pmGood question, thanks Marilyn! We do trim off the larger stem pieces on our elderberry umbels (see pictures in article) just out of an abundance of caution, but that might not be necessary. There’s virtually no liquid in the elderberry stems, therefore nothing (or only trace amounts) of liquid from the stems is going into the final elderberry juice. If we were boiling the whole stems in the juice then straining them, that might be a different story.
Do note that all parts of the elderberry plant including the ripe berries contain some cyanogenic glycosides (CNGs). So do many other plants people eat — stone fruit, apples, cashews, lima beans, etc. Dosage is key to toxicity. In fact, certain CNGs at low dosages are actually being used and tested in modern science as medical treatments! Also, whether or not the specific types of CNGs found in elderberries hydrolyze to become hydrogen cyanide (HCN) depends on the specific type of CNG and the processing method. Steam juicing seems like a very safe method of processing since it’s only extracting liquid from the ripe fruit, which is the part of the plant shown in research to have the lowest amounts of CNGs relative to any other part of the plant.
Note this rather remarkable statement in a recent review on the safety of elderberry products, both commercial and homemade: “A review of the medical literature revealed no reports of elderberry juice poisoning in the past 30 years.” That’s an amazing track record. People being people, if no person has managed to poison or kill themselves on elderberries in that timespan, that means they’re a very safe plant for human use.
Finally and anecdotally, note that our family has been regularly consuming our steam-juiced elderberry juice for two years. Our son has had an elderberry popsicle every day for the past 2-3 months. We’re all thriving and experiencing zero ill effects from our elderberry habit. 🙂
Beverly
September 19, 2023 at 8:44 pmI also use my steam juicer for those small plums that grow on the “decorative” plum trees with the red leaves. The plum juice is so tart and delicious. Otherwise the pits are a huge hassle to deal with so those plums don’t get used.
Aaron von Frank
September 20, 2023 at 10:07 amGood call, thanks for the tip Beverly!
Laurie
September 13, 2023 at 1:07 pmThank you for sharing your experience with steam juicing elderberries. Almost all the berries ripened at once this year, and we are buried in berries. I agree with your descriptions of the other “speedy” methods – they don’t work well with our berries.
After gifting boxes of berries to friends and picking them over for hours, we’re stilled swamped, so we’re going to try the apple press on the remaining berries to process them before they spoil. I ordered a steam juicer to try for a later picking.
On an unrelated note, we are duck people, too. The Duck Patrol has run of the gardens and orchards and makes an amazing difference in pest control. We have a mixed flock of runners and khaki campbells, and the youngest khaki mixes laid their first eggs today.
Aaron von Frank
September 13, 2023 at 1:30 pmElderberry overload is real — and stressful! We were reminded again this year how much we love our steam juicer for elderberries. We were bringing buckets of elderberry clusters in each night during peak season and it only took a few minutes to process them instead of many, many hours like previous years. Granted we still have to boil down the juice and can it, but the actual juice removal process is ridiculously easy now.
Another little tip is not to do your elderberry juice/syrup canning every night. Instead, build up jars of steam-juiced elderberry juice throughout the week in your fridge, then cook it down and can it about once every 7-10 days.
We should also note that elderberries are pretty much the only fruit that we recommend juicing. With other fruit, we prefer to eat it fresh and whole or keep it whole with whatever processing and/or storing technique chosen.
Dawneen Dostert
August 7, 2023 at 9:41 amMy sister ended up with Mom’s old steamer juicer. Sis was going to get rid of it and I said I’d take it. Sis said the hose was no good so I simply got a replacement hose. I’ve used it to make many jars of elderberry and aronia berry juices. We are going to have a bumper crop of grapes this year, too. I appreciate this article on juicing without full stem removal. It gives me hope that I can process the berries without taking all my very short time available for canning. I have pretty much taken over gardening and canning for my 91 year old mother. She has been a Master Gardener, Food Preserver, and other related things. I’m blessed to live on her property and benefit from her knowledge, but there are always others, like yourselves, to learn from.
Aaron von Frank
August 7, 2023 at 10:26 amThanks for your kind note, Dawneen! Sounds like a great place to live. Frankly, I used to dread elderberry season because separating the berries from the stems was so time-consuming and it would take me hours each day while the berries were in season. Now, I love elderberry season because extracting the juice to make elderberry syrup or other elderberry treats is so easy. We simply cut the berry clusters from the plant and stick them in the steam juicer, stems and all. The stems have no juice in them so the only thing that ends up in the juice compartment is juice from ripe berries. Hope you and your mother enjoy your bountiful harvests!
Julie
January 30, 2023 at 12:40 pmHi! I have a steam juicer and rarely use it because I don’t like the tube part. I notice you say you remove from the heat and pour out the pan of juice. Is that correct? Thank you! Might inspire me to try it again!
Aaron von Frank
January 30, 2023 at 2:11 pmHi Julie! Whether or not you utilize the tube on your steam juicer during the steam extraction process depends on: 1) the ingredients you’re steaming, 2) the quantity of the ingredients, and 3) personal preference. We prefer to clamp the tube on our steam juicer during cooking and pour out the juice once the steaming process is done. The less our ingredients can touch plastic, the better, as far as we’re concerned. But bottom line: you don’t have to use the tube on a steam juicer if you don’t want to, assuming your juicer comes with a clamp or plug.
Suzanne schreiber
September 2, 2022 at 10:29 amI have a steamer juicer which I use mainly for making my Concorde grape juice. This will be the first year I use it for my elderberries which I began growing. I do have a question why is there part of the flower/brown left on the end of the tiny berries. Wondering if I am doing something wrong during the growing season.
Aaron von Frank
September 2, 2022 at 11:08 amYou’re not doing anything wrong per se, these are just the desiccated elder flowers that didn’t get “pushed off” the berries as they matured. A few ways you can help make that happen: irrigate your elderberry plants to make sure the berries reach maximum size. The larger the berry, the more likely they are to pop the old flowers off. Also, if you don’t get much rain, you might actually want to use overhead irrigation on your elderberry plants in order to ensure that the berry clusters (and the drying flowers) get wet a couple times per week. Water will help decompose and loosen the old flowers. Small elderberries + relatively dry conditions = higher likelihood of the desiccated flowers staying on the berries.
We should also note that this is simply a cosmetic issue. Even though they may look unattractive, those old flowers won’t negatively impact the flavor of your elderberry juice/syrup. Best of luck steam juicing your elderberries this year – it made such a huge difference to us and put countless hours back in our pocket.
April Gordon
August 4, 2022 at 7:54 amGreat news! I have also processed elderberries the laborious way you discuss. The time it takes has led me to forego picking the berries and leave them for the birds to enjoy. This new steamer sounds like a great way to solve the problem. Have you discovered any other uses for the steamer for other fruits or vegetables. Anyway, thanks for this welcome information.
Aaron von Frank
August 4, 2022 at 11:14 amApparently, it works on a wide range of fruits and even other edible plant parts. Thus far, we’ve only used it on elderberries. We generally don’t drink a lot of juice, so elderberries might be the only thing we use our steam juicer for. However, with muscadine and scuppernong grape season on the horizon, we might be breaking out the steam juicer again for a few small batches of homemade grape juice!