Introductory Note from the Chef: (March 11, 2014)
The following recipes are part of a larger selection that one can incorporate into daily menu planning using River Hills Harvest Elderberry Juice, Cordial and Jelly. In general, one can substitute elderberries for blueberries or cranberries in deserts and pastries such as bread ore semolina pudding. Elderberries prove a higher ORAC value as well as having more vitamin C than oranges. Adding diced apples to many recipes should not be skipped as the apples add pectin and texture.
The elderberry chutney may be used on grilled or broiled poultry, meat or game. It is a simple and tasty way of using this versatile condiment on entrees instead of catsup or other store-bought preparations.
I first connected with elderberries as a child growing up in Austria. I picked them off a tall shrub in our garden from my grandmother to make a delicious sauce served warm with vanilla puddings and dumplings. Curiously, since then I have worked as a chef and restaurant owner since 1960 in the US. I rediscovered elderberries in 2013 when connected with Paul Otten at Natura Farm in Minnesota. Now active in the Weston A. Price Foundation Minnesota chapter (W.A.P.F.), I have been reviving wise cooking traditions using organic, whole food ingredients. I joined the crusade against the unhealthy western eating culture, mage food processors and mass media hype that confuses consumers on what to eat and why.
I turned my back on “junk fast food” years ago and now have the motto, “From the soil to the table – Food as Medicine.” At 81 I am an example of a one who does not suffer from the many chronic ailments that most seniors live with. My large network of organic growers, dairies, range-fed beef and poultry in NE Minnesota, plus our own small vegetable garden with composted soil provide the ingredients that I use in my recipes.
Brief Biography
Born in Austria, Klaus Mitterhauser (aka Professor Culinarious) began his culinary odyssey in Vienna at age sixteen. From there he lived and worked in Switzerland, France, Sweden, Brazil and on ocean liners until reaching the USA, where he found his permanent home. His publication of Brazilian short stories appeared in Austrian and German newspapers and magazines over a period of six years while he was working in Rio de Janeiro.
Over several decades he has held positions as Executive Chef, culinary lecturer, professor, industrial research chef, club manager, educational administrator, and restaurant owner. All positions shared a common basis in culinary artistry. In 1968 he co-authored Book of Buffets with the late George Waldner. It was followed with an edition published in Japanese.
Klaus won gold medals in the Culinary Olympics held in Frankfort, Germany. Additionally, he created a method of detailed sculpturing in edible tallow for use on buffet tables that won in a host of competitions around the world. He speaks a number of languages, including German, Swedish, Portuguese, French and English. He and his wife have two daughters and one son.
After 20 years of pioneering his own restaurant concepts in Minnesota (four separate theme establishments), he sold his business and “retired” to write his memoirs and tend his organic garden. Instead, he became a crusader for whole foods, organic nutrition and the green lifestyle. He is currently a writer, DVD producer and lecturer, as well as a weekly radio personality. He helps to lead the local chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation, which endorses a healthy lifestyle through optimum characteristics of human diet. Mitterhauser promotes adding specific gourmet twists to the requisite “optimum diet” assortment of foods.
Recipes in pdf to view and/or download:
· Elderberry – Apple Cake makes a 2 lb. loaf or ring pan
· Elderberry – Apple Chutney (spicy), makes 1 pint
· Elderberry Corn Muffins, 18 muffins
· Organic Apple Bread Pudding w/elderberry sauce
· Suzy’s Vegetable Broth, modified from Dr. Oz’s version, makes 1 gallon
· Viennese Elderberry Soup - Sauce: served chilled or warm, 8 cups