Elderberry Vinegar — A Healthy, Fun Vinegar

I love to keep an elderberry vinegar around to toss into salads, particularly using this elderberry vinaigrette dressing recipe. This is extremely simple to make. In fact, when I’m harvesting elderberries for elderberry syrup (find out how to make that here), I always pick extra so that I can have some elderberry vinegar around.

The concept is as simple as any herbal vinegar: Add the berries to your vinegar and allow them to sit together for days or (better) weeks, allowing the beneficial properties and flavors of the elderberries to transfer into the vinegar. You end up with an even more healthy vinegar with a depth of flavor that is so characteristic of elderberry.

I use apple cider vinegar in the recipe because it is such a healthy vinegar in itself. It also happens to be 0 carbs (usually, check the label) which helps on my diet. 🙂 Use apple cider vinegar (ACV) or your favorite vinegar. This is a simple, fun, and useful project. Enjoy!

I discuss this vinegar in this video (or just skip to the step below).

1. Place clean elderberries in clean jar, up to about 3/4 full.
2. Pour apple cider vinegar (or your vinegar of choice) over elderberries.
3. Cover with non-reacting lid (no metal, plastic works)
4. Give the jar a shake to mix in the elderberries well.
5. Store in a cool, dark pantry for at least a couple of weeks. We store ours for a couple of months or longer.
6. After this infusion process, strain and retain the liquid for use as vinegar. Compost the berries — the seeds and skin are not edible.