Comments on: Elderberry Season is Here

By: Foraging Elderberries for Jam « savorybaker

Foraging Elderberries for Jam « savorybaker — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 17:20:23 +0000

[...] update on what is blooming it the yard, if the tomatoes are ripe yet and watching the birds eat the Elderberries that were intended for jam. Tending to these green lives kept my soul calm while my marriage [...]

By: Nancy

Nancy — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 22:45:21 +0000

Greetings. Just finished my first batch of elderberry jelly here in Boise. Am also going to be making some tincture using vodka for flu season. Decades ago my husband made preserves from Sierra elderberries using wild honey and it was delicious. We freeze the berries prior to removing from the stem then refreeze until use. Since winter is late in arriving we are still picking in the hills below 3,500′. Happy preserving and consuming!! Thankfully thankful.

By: Hank

Hank — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 16:08:53 +0000

Ryan: Great tips! Will pick a few extra pounds for that next season…

By: ryan

ryan — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 07:57:01 +0000

you can dry them on a tray in the sun. and use them in muffins or pancakes later. you can rehydrate them

By: Bob Furnback

Bob Furnback — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 19:40:50 +0000

I use to pick black elderberries along the flood control ditches in the Alvarado Niles district of Santa Clara by the bucket full. My brother and I made wine. I still have cases of this slightly dry berry flavored wine. Last time I was down that way I couldn’t find more that a bush or two and every thing is fenced off. When I was young this was all farm land now it is track after track of people.
I moved to Alaska in the 80′s I had several red elderberry bushes but they were mealy and terrible tasting, Early in the winter the magpies would get drunk eating them and provide me with the most entertaining clown show.
Last week I found a bush in the hills above the Carquinez Straits what a treat it is to be here making this jelly that won’t jell.

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 08:28:52 +0000

We picked elderberries with a friend back in August–at a lovely u-pick farm. At the time, I had a ton of other projects going and couldn’t deal with the berries, so I just froze them, right on the stems. From talking and reading about other people’s accounts of removing berries from the stems, it seems that freezing them first makes it a heck of a lot easier. Because the berries were frozen, it was easy to grab a bunch as a time without worrying about squeezing them too hard. My fingers didn’t get stained at all. I de-stemmed a gallon’s worth in 15 minutes or so, then put them back in the freezer. I’ll process them in the next week or so–syrup and some jelly, I think.

By: hank

hank — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 04:31:39 +0000

Diane: I don’t worry about the tiny stems much, although I got pretty good at destemming everything — after about an hour’s work… As for toxicity, yes, elderberry stems are toxic. Not overly so, but enough to give you a stomach ache.

Oh, and I’d toss the green berries. I’d use only fully ripe ones.

By: Diane Wright

Diane Wright — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 02:26:15 +0000

Are the stems and somewhat green berries harmful or just bitter?

By: Diane Wright

Diane Wright — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 02:23:29 +0000

I have been desteming these berriesand many still have tiny stems attached and some berries are 1/3 green and the lower 2/3 blue to black do these need to be removed also? Would the stems not be removed during straining?