EVERYDAY
DESSERTS

HOLIDAY
DESSERTS

INTERNATIONAL
DESSERTS

HISTORIC
DESSERTS

RECIPE HELP

SITE INFO

Subscribe To This Site

Elderberry Pie Recipe

Old-Fashioned Recipe For Elderberry Pie

Mom's old elderberry pie recipe is easy as pie to make. Sorry about the pun folks, but you'll love these delicious homemade fruit pies. When I was a boy, we were fortunate to have several wild elderberry bushes growing near the creek on our farm, and Mom used their purple-black fruit to make beautiful homemade pies.

Sometimes Mom canned a jar or two of the elderberries so we could enjoy an elderberry pie at Christmas time. What a treat! Elderberry pies are one of my favorites, especially when served with a big scoopful of homemade vanilla ice cream. Perfection!

Our friend Louise, the current owner of the old farm, still harvests the elderberry bushes for pie making and preserves.

Ripe elderberries ready for Mom's elderberry pie recipe

We have a couple of wild elderberry bushes growing nearby our home which we make use of in season, and we sometimes drive around looking for elderberry bushes in roadside ditches -- nature's bounty. They're an easy bush to spot once you become familiar with their appearance.

It is possible to grow elderberries at home in your garden, but elderberries grow wild throughout much of eastern North America and parts of Europe, and they can be found near creeks and areas of moist soil. The fruit is ripe by mid-to-late summer.

Elderberries are rarely found for sale in farmer's markets and supermarkets since they are not a significant commercial crop, yet it is worth watching for them, when they're in season. Dried elderberries can be found at health food stores as an alternative, and they are good when used in elderberry pie recipes.

If you live in Ontario, Canada, Sprucehill Farming might be your best option. It's a family run business that grows organic elderberries commercially at Burford, Ontario (near Brantford), and they deliver throughout southwestern Ontario. Contact them BEFORE June 1st for ordering.

Elderberry Pie Recipe

This old-fashioned fruit pie recipe is taken from one of Mom's old recipe scrapbooks, circa 1929.

1 quart of ripe elderberries
1 cup of sugar
A little pastry flour

Wash and drain the berries. Stir sugar well into fruit and turn into a pie pan lined with crust. Sprinkle a little flour over the filling to absorb juice, and cover with an upper crust. Bake for 40 minutes (450°F for 15 minutes; 425°F for 25 minutes). Serve cold with a little sugar sifted over top.

How To Can Elderberries
Elderberries for making pies in winter or for table dessert are easily preserved:

Wash selected elderberries in cold water and drain in colander. Pack the berries in sterilized jars. Fill with hot syrup (1/4 cup of sugar to 1 cup of water). Steam until tender with jar tops loosely covered. Fill jars with boiling syrup, apply rubber rings, and seal.

Old-Time Elderberry-Crabapple Jelly Recipe
Cover equal quantities of elderberries and cut crabapples with water and cook until entirely soft. Mash so that fruit is thoroughly broken up. Strain the juice through a jelly bag. Boil juice 10 to 20 minutes and test for pectin. Add 3/4 cup of sugar to 1 cup of juice and allow to boil gently for 8 to 10 minutes. Place juice in sterile glasses and let stand until cold. Cover with paraffin.

Enjoy trying Mom's recipe for elderberry pie this Summer when the elderberries are ripe for the picking.

TOP of Elderberry Pie Recipe
RETURN to Pie Recipes
HOME to Dessert Recipes

Welcome To My Website

My name is Don and I've dedicated my site to bringing you the best in vintage dessert recipes.

Grandma's historical recipes are given exactly as they were first published and sometimes lack exact temperatures and cooking times. Here, you'll find...

Help With Vintage Recipes
Help With Measurements
Help With Oven Temperatures

Grandma McIlmoyle's vintage recipes for dessert

Enjoy making the delicious homemade desserts your grandparents loved. Help to keep the old fashioned recipes alive.