As happens every couple years or so, elderberries.com is undergoing a major facelift, and this time the focus isn’t about what I post, since we all can tell that’s few and far between, but about what YOU post! This time, the discussion forum isn’t an afterthought, but rather an integrated part of the site itself. In addition, users will be able to easily post their own photos and comment on others’ photos, etc.
I’m still in the process of transferring info over from the old site to the new, but once I’m finished with that, I will be shutting down the current elderberries.com and forwarding the domain name to the new site, which you can find right now at:
elderberries.ning.com
Once I’m satisfied that I’ve moved over as much info as is feasible, this site and the associated forum will be taken down - although I’ll be leaving the forum up for at least a month to make sure I don’t cut off any conversations in mid-stride.
The new site will be far more interactive than this one was, providing much better tools for people to talk about and share elderberry info with each other. I’m really excited about the change, and I hope you guys will come on by and get signed up early! I’ll post an update before the actual switchover occurs so no one’s too surprised when the domain elderberries.com suddenly leads to a new place. 
Amy
elderberries.com
Tags: about this site
Well, the title’s a little strange, but here’s a good article on making fruit preserves (elderberries are mentioned as the ideal fruit for your September preserves). It sounds sticky, messy, fairly technical (really… a visual handheld refractometer?) and absolutely delicious!
Tags: recipes
October 23rd, 2008 · 2 Comments
I don’t know how long this stock will be available, or exactly how (or whether) they’ll ship, but the price looks good! Check out the post here listing dried elderberries for $2.00/bag from Summer at Dee Creek Farm up in Washington.
Tags: uncategorized
Over the past several months, I’ve found myself with little time for research on elderberries — I’d really hoped to get some bushes planted this spring, but for various reasons in my personal life, flowerbeds took a back seat and that didn’t happen, putting me back another year on finally getting my own bushes growing. Bummer! (Thankfully Ulrich Young is picking up the slack and supplying me with some, so I can finally try the elderberry jelly recipe that’s been kept waiting for so long! More purply-fingered elderberry photos coming whenever I get working on that.)
But while I’ve been focused on other things, I’ve been delighted to see elderberries.com become a spot for people to discuss elderberries! Except… that my site wasn’t really built as a discussion place, leaving the threads are a bit disjointed. So… I created a message board for discussion on elderberries! It’s linked up at top left, 2nd link, and I’m hoping that perhaps it can be a place for the haves and the have-nots, or the knowledgeable and the knowledge-nots (okay, you know what I mean) to get together and share questions and answers regarding the wonderful little elderberry. Feel free to comment with any suggestions on changes or additions that would make it more useful!
Tags: about this site
What a gorgeous pic of the Black Lace variety, which is one of the more colorful, as far as the leaves go.
Black Lace flower/leaf photo
Tags: growing & harvesting
Just a quick update to add to the photo collection… some great photos of Sambucus mexicana, or the blue elderberry found in warmer climates (I’ve seen Mexico and California specifically mentioned; not sure where else exactly). Also called the Mexican elder, and sometimes lumped in with Sambucus canadensis, the North American elder. Note the hazy color of the ripe berries… if they were a bit larger, I’d say they were a dead ringer for blueberries!
The Mexican elder’s a smaller version of the other more popular elders, growing only to a meter or so - meaning it maintains its shrub designation while the canadensis and nigra tend to grow into more of a small tree. I’d link to a place to buy Mexican elder, but frankly, I haven’t found any yet.
Tags: growing & harvesting
Whoops - I totally meant to post photos of that second elderberry 
pie I made, and forgot! Here’s a closeup… I heartily recommend adding the tapioca instead of just using flour, which is what I did in that first pie that ended up so runny. The tapioca held it together much better, added a touch of sweetness and helped to even out the gritty texture of the elderberry seeds. The recipe I used for this one was the one listed as "Grandmothers’ favorite" in the pie recipes. 
Tags: food & drink
Reading this post on Intelligent Nutrients products got me excited thinking about being able to buy elderberry beauty products. On their official site, they say that we should never put anything on our body that doesn’t have nutritional or protective properties. Makes sense to me, but of course, there’s nothing on the site that actually gives a clue as to what “coming soon” means. :/
Tags: creative uses
So a few more elderberry pies for those interested… after seeing this post, I decided that I could do a better one (better than my first one, that is). This time I used a combination of frozen elderberries (the rest of the batch I’d gotten from Ulrich in Oklahoma) and dried elderberries, which I ordered online from Herbalcom and heated in water to get them plump again.
I used a new recipe, found in this article, which called for no flour, but rather tapioca instead. It was a much better fit… it firmed up the texture and was a little sweet. The flavor of this pie wasn’t as rich, but I figure that’s probably due to the berries being frozen and dried. My ultimate verdict? Still a little gritty due to the seeds. I think next time I’m going to try something different… maybe soak some apples in elderberry syrup for a while, then make a pie out of them. I’ll bet that would be delicious!
Tags: food & drink · recipes
February 27th, 2008 · 6 Comments
I don’t have a lot of commentary on this article by the LA Times about elderberry’s mixed performance as a flu med, but I wanted to post it for its references to two studies. In these studies - and here’s where the ‘mixed record’ comes in - elderberries didn’t necessarily prevent people from coming down with the flu, but they did cut the duration of sickness by up to two thirds versus a placebo. Still nothing to sneeze at! (Forgive the pun.)
Tags: health effects
