elderberries.com

31 responses so far ↓

• 1 Connie Boggs // Jun 27, 2008 at 7:09 pm

  I am trying to translate Elderberry in spanish. Can anyone help? My family called it something like “souco” and if I could find it just the smell would tell me it was the tea my mother would give me for cramps when I was a young girl. She would dry the white flowers. I am planting a memory garden and want to include this. Thank you.

• 2 Rosalyn Brown // Jun 30, 2008 at 2:56 pm

  I would prefer to see a photo of the ripe berry as opposed to the flower. I just hope I picked the right fruit.

• 3 Tanya // Jul 3, 2008 at 2:48 pm

  Sauco or sauco blanco is what you are looking for. Search for white elderflower.
  Anybody know where I can order live plants?
  thanks so much.
  Tanya,
  IL, USA

• 4 D. Stewart, Syracuse, NY // Jul 20, 2008 at 6:18 pm

  millernurseries.com

  has
  Adams Elderberries
  Cat. BF101
  They only ship in the spring

  MILLER NURSERIES

  5060 West Lake Road,

  Canandaigua, NY 14424-8904

  1-800-836-9630

• 5 taz // Aug 8, 2008 at 3:28 pm

  i would like to see a picture of ripe elderberries so i can make a non- poisonous jam.

• 6 plantfreek // Aug 9, 2008 at 10:57 am

  why do they ship in spring only? Are they frozen I guess? I ship blackberries-organic-that I grow-in a cooler with dry ice. Would like more info on elderberries. Thanks

• 7 Ulrich Young // Aug 16, 2008 at 10:06 pm

  TAZ, I will try and explain when the berries are ripe. I wait until all berries are black, if you look to the center of the cluster, that is where the least ripe will be most of the time. Wait until all berries are black, most of the time, you will have some just ripe(center of cluster) and some a little over-ripe (look like raisins). Some varieties will have a few green still on cluster, some will shed the green berries off that cluster when ripe. It is a trade off of getting ripe berries and still having some to harvest. When ripe ,they fall off easily and wind ,birds etc, take their share.
  I try and harvest every 4 days, berries tend to get bigger right before getting really ripe. Good eyesight is needed to pick out black, not dark purple, so wear your glasses. Not every cluster will be ready at once, it takes weeks to harvest all clusters on a bush. I look closely at every cluster for bugs,dried leaves etc in cluster before I put it in harvest bucket because thats the easiest time to keep that out of the berries. If in doubt, wait a few days, as overripe berries on bush will give you some measure to what THAT bush’s berries look like when ripe. Berry size,color when ripe, cluster size, vary a lot even in the same area.

• 8 Jeanette // Aug 18, 2008 at 2:55 am

  I just picked some today 8-17-08 in Pendelton, Oregon. I also would like to see some pictures of the berries ripe, I hope I picked the right ones also. I got 2 qt. bags full.

• 9 Don D // Aug 24, 2008 at 6:36 am

  Not sure if links will show in your comments?
  But to those seeking pictures of the ripe berries.
  http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g42/RollsHarley/003.jpg
  http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g42/RollsHarley/004.jpg
  http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g42/RollsHarley/005.jpg
  http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g42/RollsHarley/006.jpg
  Hope they can be seen.
  Admin……You are welcome to copy and use these photos.

• 10 Aida // Aug 28, 2008 at 4:48 pm

  Wow! I really wish I could share all of the berries that are in my yard. I have three elderberry bushes in my yard. One is green and has white blossoms, another which would be the size of my house has the rich plum-maroon leaves and blooms with the most stinky pink blossoms and the other is the lace leaf. Right now they are just full of berries. The white one I have been trying to prne it into a bonsai look. It seems to enjoy this.

• 11 Hilda // Aug 28, 2008 at 11:12 pm

  Does someone know if this is true? Just read an article on the net saying to be careful when handling eldenberries. Berries are safe but not the rest of the plant.

• 12 Hilda // Aug 28, 2008 at 11:16 pm

  In Central America we call the eldenberry Sauco and folklore believes the flowers have medical benefits.

• 13 Eric Nelson // Sep 1, 2008 at 1:29 pm

  Just picked 74 pounds of Eldberries here in New Brunswick, Canada and will likely pick more. We steam them to get the juice for Elderberry Wine.
  It takes about 14 pounds to get 1 US gallon jug of juice and about 18 pounds to make 30 750 ml bottles (regular wine bottles) of wine.
  Best fruit wine by far and is equal or better than many grape wines at the liquoir store.
  MUCH better than Chokechery Wine which is quite bitter.
  NEVER REVEAL YOUR SOURCE OF ELDERBERRIES OR YOU WILL FIND SOMEONE HAS PICKED THEM FOR YOU.

• 14 Jacky Manchester // Sep 2, 2008 at 2:51 pm

  Hello folks, I get really excited about this time of year when the elderberry are blooming and then watch them to ripen. I am in NE Texas near the Red River. I have picked here near my home, and also in Oklahoma. According to my herb books the flowers are medicinal, as well as the berries. But I don’t know how to use them. I canned about 12 qts. and 10 half pints so far and have more in the freezer to process. This time I am going to can the whole berries and not just the juice. We use the juice as medicine, cooked down to a concentrate, and have found it to be beneficial, though it is not Guaranteed Potency. I also made pie, and used a blackberry pie recipe, it was “ok” and gave us all diarrhea. Should have realized that it is a medicine. Soon there will be no more berries to wildcraft as they are being plowed down all the time. I have found that most people do not know what they are. Someone pointed out a poke bush to me and called it elderberry, which I quickly corrected. In Brush Hill, OK there is a nursery that raises them to sell and sells most to the Wyldewood Cellars Winery in Kansas.

• 15 Bob S // Sep 5, 2008 at 1:53 pm

  Thanks for the information.

• 16 Vickie // Sep 12, 2008 at 6:59 pm

  Thank you very much for posting the pictures. I have always heard about elderberries but never knew what they look like.
  I have found a large growth of them and will soon be making my very first batch of elderberry jelly.
  Thanks again.

• 17 Jan // Sep 20, 2008 at 7:06 am

  My husband and I picked a bunch of elderberrries yesterday and I have a question as to ripeness. Most of them are pretty black and juicy, but some are redish purple. Are these okay to use along with the black ones in jelly? I know not to use the green ones, but am unsure of how ripe is ripe enough. Thank you.

• 18 Cindy Keil // Sep 21, 2008 at 7:27 am

  How do I get the berries off the plant without smashing them in my hands. I want to deyhdrate them and use them in tea when I get sick. Thanks

• 19 Pam // Sep 22, 2008 at 9:05 am

  You can use a fork to strip the berries from the stem.

• 20 Evelyn // Sep 24, 2008 at 8:13 am

  You gently roll your fingers over the berries and they come off the stem. It is really a labor of love as you have to be very gentle with them.

• 21 Barb // Sep 25, 2008 at 12:37 pm

  Our Georgeous Elder bears red fruit :(, wondering if the flowers are also toxic?

• 22 Mags // Oct 5, 2008 at 9:17 pm

  We makes a fair amount jams with Elderberries. but to answer Evelyn question, on removing the berries from the stems. You take a large screen, with the wires about a 1/2 inch apart, so you can stick your little finger in it. now place the screen material over a tub( which will collect the berries) then take the berries on their stems,and rake or roll them across the screen gentle, as you do this, the berries will fall off the stems and you will be left with the berries in the tub an the stems empty, only to go in the trash. It works the best, and you have very lttle mess. At best, you will spend a 1/4 of your time doing it this way, verses using a fork or any other home made contraption.
  lt me know how it works for you, shout, if you have a ny question

• 23 Katrina // Nov 16, 2008 at 12:28 pm

  Connie,

  I think you are referring to “Sambuco”. My mother is Cuban and when she fell and sprained her ankle her mother got the leaves from what we know as an elderberry, stuffed them in an old sock with salt and mashed it all up. She put it on her ankle and it significantly decreased the swelling and it healed pretty quickly!

• 24 Socorro // Dec 11, 2008 at 2:59 pm

  Elderberry is called in my country Colombia SAUCO; and my mother boil the white flowers in a cup of milk for the flu. It works when I was litle

• 25 Deb // Mar 9, 2009 at 12:46 pm

  Thanks so much for the fantastic photos, Don D.! The excellent close-ups will make identification easy. I have been trying to identify several trees on our property and thought they might be elderberry, but sadly, they’re not. Will have to go further afield to find some.

• 26 Susan // Mar 27, 2009 at 11:06 pm

  I live in El Paso, TX and have three Mexican Elder trees, was curious to know if the berries of those trees edible. My trees get loads of dark purple berries which the birds love, but wasn’t sure if they were safe to eat.

• 27 LynnW // May 2, 2009 at 6:13 pm

  Last year I found elderberry bushes at our local gardening center in Helena, Montana. I picked up one standard and one black lace variety. So far this year I see the standard one has buds and should bloom within the next month. The black lace seems to be a bit slower. I’ll report back in the fall if I get any berries. Looking forward to trying them, since I’ve never tasted them before.

• 28 Paul Daniels // May 9, 2009 at 1:20 am

  When the blue-black berries get powdery white coated is the best time to pick them. We drop them directly into a trash bag using a tree pruner to reach them. Then spread them out on a door screen (take down your door screen, the bugs are gone by now) and the fruit just drops off after a day. Then we use an antique puree press to extract the juice, rinse the pulp once for the last of the juice, then mix the seeds and pulp with top soil and plant in any bare spots in the garden, but it doesn’t sprout like a weed, either is has to go through a bird’s gut, or maybe freeze for a month, we got only one or two plants for thousands of seeds. Definitely more and more folks are watching us with our pruning poles in the fall, but so far nobody has ‘poached’ ‘our’ roadside/traintrack bushes, and there is no jam better than elderberry, although there are many good berry wines, and we wouldn’t waste elderberries making wine, although you could add a quart of juice to a crock of blackberry juice to deepen the color and ‘nose’, and here’s a neat trick, if you’re having a party, rebottle an ordinary Merlot in a fancy bottle and add a shellacking of elderberry juice, it gives the (cheap) wine body and color and nose, everyone will think you’re a connoisseur of fine wine, just as you can add white niagara grape concentrate from the grocery store to an ordinary Sauterne and convince everyone it’s a fine Gewurst. % )

• 29 Beverly // May 13, 2009 at 8:35 pm

  Oooh, I just finished making 10 gallons of elderberry syrup. It will be mostly distributed as gifts by the time our berries are once again ripe here in Michigan (August). About cleaning them off the drupes…I’ve been spreading them out overnight to allow most of the insects to depart. A bonus I discovered is that the berries came off the stems so much easier the next day or 2. I’ll try some of the other tricks folks have mentioned. Now, I could use info: My brother makes the jelly, but I want a full-berry preserve. I DON’T want to use vinegar as every recipe I see calls for. And I don’t want to boil it for 40 minutes (!) like other recipes say. I DO want to add a bit of fresh lemon juice to the crushed berries and sugar- and I add pectin (powder). Love the flavor I get - and the full-textured mouth-feelof the berrt pulp, skins, and seeds. But my recipe never sets - not even a soft-set. So I end up with a sauce. It’s GREAT on pancakes, but I’d love a preserve for my toast ~ and to send as gifts to friends in Alaska. Anybody out there had better success with making a preserve that sets, uses lemon instead of vinegar, and doesn’t have to be cooked to death? Thanks for the benefit of others’ experience. And Great photos ~ thanks!

• 30 Beverly // May 13, 2009 at 8:40 pm

  Oh, and how do you steam the berries to render the juice? Seems like that would produce a more flavorful concentrate. Right now, I’ve been boiling the berries with some water added to prevent burning. But I’ll bet steaming results in better (more potent) flavor. Thanks for response~

• 31 allen // Jul 3, 2009 at 11:12 am

  susan in el paso:
  if the birds can eat them i am sure they will not be harmful to you.

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