Elderberry

[michaeljohnson]

One Autumn a couple of years ago, when there was a bit of a flu and cold scare going on in the UK. I said to the wife shall we go out and gather a couple of bucketfuls of ripe elderberries and make some elderberry wine to have in the winter against the colds and flu germs as it is supposed to be very good at warding it off.

She said Ok let's do it.!!

When we got to the elderberry patch, she refused to get out of the car and pick any -because it was all amongst loads of stinging nettle plants-so without further ado- I waded in and got two bucketfuls of fruit in a very short time, and brought them home, and it was again left to me to prepare and boil up the fruit and bottle the strained juice, we eventually ended up with about four bottles of the stuff, so I placed it in the fridge to keep it cool -after tasting it, and it was nice with just a nice hint of sweetness to it and quite strong flavored, intending to use it if we caught colds etc,

I thought no more about it for a month or two, then I suddenly developed the symptoms of a heavy cold, so I went to the fridge to get some, there were three empty bottles and one with still about half a cup of it left in the bottle, so I said to the wife-what the hell happened to our little store of elderberry juice, she replied quite dryly with a sort of half a wry smile on her face- Oh"-I often used to take a quick cup of it as a preventative when I felt a bit chilled,-Grrrrrr, the blighter had drunk almost the ruddy lot.

Next time -(if there is a next time)- I shall have clearly labeled bottles (His and Hers), the reason I could not tell she had been slowly supping the lot was because all the bottles where in dark glass and I could not see inside through the glass-the crafty blighter left the empties in there so I would not suspect her, ;D

[canadamike]

Well well, I did the same with a few bottles of rhum in my younger days

Elderberries are quite an underrated crop. Too bad, because they are really delicious.

[robertb]

I've heard of elderberry tea as an insecticide, but hadn't realised it might work as a fungicide. Apart from that, it's allegedl to be useful for keeping witches at bay.

[mnjrutherford]

We made elderberry melomel for our wedding because in Celt tradition it's an important element for woman's health and fertility. I was pregnant in 3 days flat, but was that the meade or the melomel?

[canadamike]

Not that I want to mean anything wrong....but it very well might have been all the sex, my lovely one ;D ;D ;D

I drank a lot of mead and never got pregnant ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D and sometimes endep up in a state where I would get nobody pregnant either

[mnjrutherford]

Nah, THAT had NOTHING to do with it! ;D

[bunkie]

LOL!!!;D

[qahtan]

Well after posting the picture though a few years old of our Elderberry crop also picture of jelly, Seems I should have kept quiet about it, as my husband tells me we might have lost the only elder plant we have, he says the bark is coming off the main
stem :-(((( Any ideas why it would do that.
We went to a local nursery a few days ago to see about buying a new plant, and they sold me one called Golden, well after bringing home I checked it on the net and I find it is poisonous, so I took it back,,, I also find that there are lots of variety's and lots of them are poisonous also.
So now what,, It is said that plants grow quickly from seed, but then how come I don't have any self seeders round the plant I have, also one can take cuttings and with luck they will grow and fruit also eventually... any ideas any one,, Good job I have a few jars of Elderberry jelly stashed away in the fridge downstairs........ qahtan

[mjc]

Elderberry doesn't have very long lived 'stems'...so don't count yours out yet, as they will usually produce new stems from the roots as the current ones die off. But, the problem is that it most likely won't fruit this year.

[ozarklady]

Could deer or goats be munching on them? My goats got out and took several bites out of the bark on mine, but they are leafing out as usual.

[qahtan]

Thanks for info, but I have to tell you I would love it to have deer in my garden, wouldn't that be lovely...... I wouldn't shoo them away,,,,,
So I think it could be age as to why the bark is coming off, but we will leave it and see if it does sort it's self out,,,,,, good job I have my stash...

qahtan,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario.

[qahtan]

Gerry pulled a couple of branches off the elderberry a couple weeks ago and stuck them in the groung, yesterday he said there are small leaf sprout showing... fingers crossed...... qahatah

[wildseed57]

Elderberries are one of my favorite medicinal shrubs/trees they grow just about every where in Missouri. I had taken some cuttings and got them rooted for my sister and planted them in her back yard four years ago. This early spring I had to dig them up and almost had a stroke trying to get them dug up and separated, boy did I make a mess out of them, I made three large separations and replanted them, they seem to be doing OK even though i was really hard on them.
I make a really good tea with both the dried blooms and berries that I mix with dried black berries and hibiscus ( Roselle- H. sabdariffa) and some stevia that I grow or buy at the health food store. A salve is made from the leaves and roots if I remember right, but I have not tried that.
George
Elderberries sem to like poor soil as i see it growing a long the road sides.

[ceara]

I have not tried it yet either. But here's what I read about it online:

The leaves are made into a salve to supposedly help with burns and hemorrhoids. But leaves and unripe berries are never to be taken internally.

The only parts safe to take internally are the flowers and ripe berries.

Flowers can be made into a tea, toss a few flowers into pastries, or batter whole and fry as a fritter.

James Wong, ethnobotanist, released a new recipe for Elderberry.

Eucalyptus & Elderberry Jelly

400g elderberries
1 Bramley apple
400ml water
Juice of 1 lime
A few fresh eucalyptus leaves
Whole dried chilli
500g granulated sugar

1. Wash the elderberries and apple. Chop the apple without peeling or coring. Put the elderberries, apple (including the core), water, lime juice, eucalyptus leaves and chilli into a pan and simmer for 15 minutes. Strain through a sieve, pressing with the back of spoon to extract as much of the pulp as possible.

2. Place the elderberry liquid in a large pan and add the sugar. Bring to the boil, stirring occasionally to stop the sugar from burning, then simmer for another 30 minutes. If you have a jam thermometer to hand, the jelly reaches setting point at 105°C / 221°F.

3. When it's ready, skim off any scum, then bottle in sterilized jam jars, putting a waxed disc, wax-side down, on top. Cover with a round of cellophane and secure with a rubber band or ribbon.

USE: Take 1 generous tablespoon whenever you feel cold symptoms coming on.

STORAGE: Will keep for up to 1 year in a cool dark place. Once opened, store in the refrigerator.

Recipe copy/pasted from

www.bbc.co.uk/tv/features/growyourowndrugs/s2_episode6.shtml

The apple is just for pectin. Could probably leave out the Eucalyptus.

[mnjrutherford]

I'm saving this recipe! We don't have eucalyptus though. I'll be subbing it out with thyme and bee balm which I will add at the end of the cooking. I wish I knew how heat effects the efficacy of the chemicals in these plants.

Does the lime serve a medicinal purpose or is it for jelling?