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wild elderberries

pollinator

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Location: North Central Michigan

posted 13 years ago

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Source: Wikipedia

well the berries are still green but they'll be turning ripe soon, and then it will be a fight to get them before the birds clean em all off the bushes.

My favorite jam is elderberry. Here is a fabulous looking jelly recipe too.

Source: Simply Recipes

If you have never tried it it has a strong musky flavor, but is delicious. You pick them when they are dark purple, you can gather the entire clump stems and all and put them in a big pot..add some water so they don't burn and cover them and steam them until the juice runs..and then mash em good with a potato masher..

pour off and strain the juice and measure out and use as you would for any jelly recipe..or can the juice or freeze it for winter..

Elderberries are also very medicinal and have tons of health benefits!

Not only that but they are fairly easy to grow. Here is a guide to planting elderberry and how to choose which ones are best for you.

Brenda

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Sam White

Posts: 246

Location: Wales, UK

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posted 13 years ago

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Elderberry wine is supposed to be pretty good. I'll be making some for the first time once the berries ripen here in Wales.

Might make some jam as well if we get enough berries.

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Jordan Lowery

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posted 13 years ago

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arent the stems on elderberries poisonous?

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Jonathan Byron

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posted 13 years ago

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Yes, the green parts of the plant (including stem) are poisonous. Some have said the berries are mildly toxic unless cooked.

http://www.ehow.com/about_5339287_elderberry-toxic.html

brett watson

Posts: 100

Location: Northern California Zone 8b

posted 13 years ago

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We have used elderberry in pancakes and it was wonderful. Here in California it is illegal to propagate wild elderberries so we have to buy it from a nursery. But there are lots of places around where it is growing to get berries.

Elderberry wine has a great flavor.

practice peace

Jamie Jackson

Posts: 202

Location: Zone 5b - 6a, Missouri Ozarks

posted 13 years ago

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Illegal to propagate?!!! What is this world coming to? Last year I made a ton of extract and elixir, which I still have some left over. This year I'm doing elderberry infused honey and dried for tea.

Help support my homestead by checking out the "Health and Garden/ The Essential Herbal Magazine" on our blog: www.MissouriHerbs.com

Jahnavi Veronica

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Location: Portland, OR

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posted 13 years ago

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I'm so excited! my partner and I are going to make five gallons of elderberry mead, and I'll probably be tincturing some as well... almost out of last year's. It has been one of the best cold remedies for me. Elderberry pancakes sounds really delicious... I will have to try that too! Oh, and I will most likely bottle some kombucha with it.

Sparticle, how did you make the elixir?

Sam White

Posts: 246

Location: Wales, UK

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posted 13 years ago

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Elderberry mead (or melomel I think fruit mead is called) sounds awesome

I can't wait to get bees.

"A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in."

Jamie Jackson

Posts: 202

Location: Zone 5b - 6a, Missouri Ozarks

posted 13 years ago

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I use Kiva Rose's recipe for elixir
http://bearmedicineherbals.com/another-gratuitous-elderberry-post.html

Help support my homestead by checking out the "Health and Garden/ The Essential Herbal Magazine" on our blog: www.MissouriHerbs.com

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posted 13 years ago

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I made a gallon of elderberry wine last summer....my first season of winemaking. It was a bit tart but I will try another recipe this year and plan on five gallons if I can get enough berries.

We just had our first elderberry pie last night and it was SOOOOO good!

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posted 13 years ago

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here we are told that red elderberries are toxic and only the blue (purple, black) fruited varieties are edible., and even those need to be cooked.

I didn't know that elderberry leaves are toxic to stock so having to rethink where I am going to put the one I bought two weeks ago.

Jahnavi Veronica

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Location: Portland, OR

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posted 13 years ago

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yes, when I say elderberry I am really saying blue elderberry. I've read, though that the red elderberries can be consumed as long as the seeds are removed and they are cooked, but that seems a bit tedious...

Melba Corbett

Posts: 164

Location: North Carolina

posted 13 years ago

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Pam wrote:
here we are told that red elderberries are toxic and only the blue (purple, black) fruited varieties are edible., and even those need to be cooked.

I didn't know that elderberry leaves are toxic to stock so having to rethink where I am going to put the one I bought two weeks ago.

Goats and sheep can eat elderberry leaves, but don't usually consume much. In Herbal Handbook for Barn and Stable, Juliette Levy says that sheep cure themselves of foot rot from eating elderberry shoots. I think they are probably poisonous to other stock, though.

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Posts: 508

posted 13 years ago

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Red Cloud 31 wrote:
Goats and sheep can eat elderberry leaves, but don't usually consume much. In Herbal Handbook for Barn and Stable, Juliette Levy says that sheep cure themselves of foot rot from eating elderberry shoots. I think they are probably poisonous to other stock, though.

In the government handbook here they say that cattle and horses have died from eating elderberry (only the red berried kind is native in this area) so I had jumped to conclusions.Thanks for clarifying.

Jonathan Byron

Posts: 225

posted 13 years ago

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sparticle wrote:
Illegal to propagate?!!! What is this world coming to?

Don't know how they do things in California, but I found out this year that passionflower propagation is regulated here in Florida ... some sort of virus disease is occasionally present in Passiflora here, and nurseries need an annual inspection to be legal, while each interstate shipment has to be certified virus free. I don't see a problem if one is just multiplying out a small stand in a place where they already are growing (and they propagate themselves pretty well if given a chance), but moving plants into new locations involves risk of spreading the virus.

Brenda Groth

pollinator

Posts: 4437

Location: North Central Michigan

posted 13 years ago

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I know the leaves of the chokecherry (red) are toxic to most animals but hadn't heard that elderberry leaves and stems were.

When I make the jelly I take the entire bunch with stems on and put them in a large kettle, add some water to keep them from burning and cook them for a while till juice runs..and then mash and drain the liquid off for my jelly and it works really well and we never got sick with the stems in the mix..so hopefully this isn't a problem this way..

I've done it all my adult life.

my favorite jell

Brenda

Bloom where you are planted.
http://restfultrailsfoodforestgarden.blogspot.com/

rose macaskie

Posts: 2134

posted 13 years ago

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Brenda Groth glad to have the jam recipe, I wish more people had left a recipe for their elder flower wines and such.
I have an elder flower recipe which is for elder flower fritters, i cant remember it well i suppose you make a light batter maybe you only egg the flowers and then you deep fry them in olive oil, everything is fried in olive oil here anyway. When they are done take them out of the oil and you dip them in sugar They are very good the flower is so scented but they almost give you hay fever. I had better ask the man i know who does that recipe to remind me exacltly how to cook it . rose macaskie.

Kathleen Sanderson

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posted 13 years ago

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I haven't seen anyone mention this, so maybe you all know already, but elderberry has been proven by research to be effective against the flu. It's a good reason to put some up!

Kathleen

Burra Maluca

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posted 13 years ago

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Elderberry rob, a spicy syrup made from elderberries, was a great favourite in Wales where I grew up for anyone with a cold or flu. And elderberry jelly, which is like jam but strained so there are no lumps. Elderflower fritters were a wonderful too. And champagne, though I never mastered making that.

Sigh. I've spent five years attempting to get elder to grow here in Portugal and all I have to show is a stick in the ground with a cluster of about three live leaves. There is one growing in the village, and I will continue to raid it for cuttings until I finally get some good trees from it.

It's considered magical in the UK and you must never break the tree without asking permission from the witch who lives in it. I think the one who lives in the one in the village must not approve of me 'cos she never lets the cuttings take. Maybe I'll go make an offering of donkey poop and mulch and lay it round her feet and see if she forgives me...

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rose macaskie

Posts: 2134

posted 13 years ago

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burra maluca so youi grew up in wales did you ha little by little we find out about you. which bit of wales.,
I have an alder but i am a a thoudsand metres i keep sayign feet by a mistake and i have bought in another one form gredos from my brother in laws garden which i contributed to in my time, but thinkgs i try to take from there never seem to take. the cutting i think it was small plant coming up that i took from there i had for about five years in very sad shap with like about three leaves for years but last year it came up strong so dnt give up on the one you have. rose

Melba Corbett

Posts: 164

Location: North Carolina

posted 13 years ago

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Burra Maluca wrote:

Sigh. I've spent five years attempting to get elder to grow here in Portugal and all I have to show is a stick in the ground with a cluster of about three live leaves. There is one growing in the village, and I will continue to raid it for cuttings until I finally get some good trees from it.

Burra, the elderberries in Europe are different from the American ones, so don't know if this will work for them, but might be worth a try. The ones here in the US multiply like wild plums, from lateral root growth and become a thicket. They like to be within 10 feet of water, so grow on stream banks and over springs that are shallow. Mine (thicket) came up from seed I dropped.
After the original one came up, they were making berries the same year. Grew extremely fast because they were directly over a shallow underground spring, and the ground was always slightly moist, at a depth of one foot or a little more. Hope this helps.

By the way, I LOVE Portugal and would enjoy living there. Spent a lot of time there in the 80's. Great climate, wonderful people, lovely countryside. (was in a rural area in the mountains about 80 kilometers above Oporto with no electricity.)

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Melba Corbett

Posts: 164

Location: North Carolina

posted 13 years ago

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Forgot to mention also, that in my Naturopathic books it says elderberry juice taken with peppermint will heal pneumonia, but won't get the fluid out of the lungs. Need an expectorant for that. It merely kills the bacteria.

Wild Edible & Medicinal Plant classes, & DVDs
Live in peace, walk in beauty, love one another.

Jamie Jackson

Posts: 202

Location: Zone 5b - 6a, Missouri Ozarks

posted 13 years ago

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I make and sell elderberry extract and elixir. I caught my first cold in 7 years, took the extract every 3 hours and it was gone in a day and 1/2. Hubby's cold lasted only 2 days.

Help support my homestead by checking out the "Health and Garden/ The Essential Herbal Magazine" on our blog: www.MissouriHerbs.com

Burra Maluca

out to pasture

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posted 13 years ago

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Red Cloud - ah, I'd forgotten that most of you are probably talking about a different elder. The local sort is Sambucus nigra and as far as I know it doesn't produce suckers from the roots. I've certainly never seen thickets of it, and I've known plenty of elder trees over the years.

I know it likes water - I was amazed to see it growing round me in Portugal as I'd grown up thinking that it could only grow in damp places, like Wales. But although it will survive here it really does need more consistent water than I seem to be able to provide it.

The one we currently have has survived for one year but it's really having a problem sending its roots out far enough and deep enough to support growth. I'm keeping it alive by using almost constant drip irrigation supplied by a 5 litre plastic water bottle with a small hole in the bottom, but I seem to have to fill it every single day, sometimes twice. I don't want to over-water it as I want it to concentrate on developing its root system, but I've lost so many I'm determined to keep this one going if I possibly can. I''m hoping that it will be like Rose's - struggle for a while and then eventually 'find its feet' and surge into growth.

It's such a wonderfully useful tree, I'm determined to have a whole bunch of them growing all over the place!

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John Suavecito

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posted 12 years ago

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We have been making and eating the local native blue elderberry jam for years. It is effective in stopping colds and flus. German research has shown this.
John S
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tel jetson

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posted 12 years ago

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John Saltveit wrote:We have been making and eating the local native blue elderberry jam for years. It is effective in stopping colds and flus. German research has shown this.
John S
PDX OR

that's Sambucus caerulea for the curious (though there is some disagreement about the proper taxonomy). great plant for biomass, medicine, food, browse, wildlife, nectar, pollen. does fine in part shade (and full shade if fruit production isn't paramount) and creates dappled shade itself. quite easy to propagate. lovely all around.

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Cassie Langstraat

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posted 9 years ago

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Just came across this AMAZING elderberry resource.

Source: Sunflower Press

Click here to get heaps of info on the elderberry including over 20 recipes,how to identify different types of elderberry, nutritional info, medicinal uses, and how to grow it.

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