Any Elderberry experts?

[bgd]

I'm new to home brewing, yesterday I started on my journey of creating a blackberry wine.

Now i've bought the brewing equipment it seems silly to stop at just blackberry wine and I think my next effort might well be elderberries as, local free availability looks good. I think.

To me (and i assume everyone else), it is impossible to mistake blackberries for anything else, but elderberries i'm not as confident about, a week ago i'd have no clue what an elderberry was or what it looked like and now, from what i've read about them (dont eat any raw and dont eat anything other than the berry) I dont want to take any chances on picking the wrong thing.

I've searched for, and read as much as I can about elderberries on the internet, it seems there are a small number of plants in the US that can be confused with eldrberries ('dogwood' and 'pokeberry' seem to be common ones), I have found a number of small trees mixed in with the blackberries i've been picking that look like elderberries (bunches of dark purple fruits on red/purple stalks, 5 serated leaves 'in-line' with each other on branches), are these obviously elderberries? is there anything else they could be?, I fully understand that I should only use the ripe berries (separated from their stalks) once they have been boiled. Am I overthinking this?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

This doesn't answer your question but its worth a read.

I have never made wine from fruit i am lazy and it looks like too much hassle to both make it then wait many month while it ages and becomes drinkable, i cheat and make mine the easy way -

How to make Supermarket Juice Wine - HERE.

.

 

[An Ankoù]

To me (and i assume everyone else), it is impossible to mistake blackberries for anything else, but elderberries i'm not as confident about, a week ago i'd have no clue what an elderberry was or what it looked like and now, from what i've read about them (dont eat any raw and dont eat anything other than the berry) I dont want to take any chances on picking the wrong thing.

I think you can be sure of getting a good identification of elderberries by using Google Images. Dogwood has clusters of berries that could be mistaken for elder, but the leaves are quite different. In any case they're not all that toxic. The one to look out for is alder buckthorn, which also has black berries but, again the leaves are different and the berries are not in clusters. However, they are pretty horrendous if you eat or drink them.
I've made lots of elderberry wine simply because of the profusion of elderberries, but it's not my best wine. It can be a bit one dimensional. Mixed with blackberries or other fruit, it really comes into its own. Elderberry jam isn't bad, either.

any posts that do not answer the question above and stray off topic will be removed.

This doesn't answer your question but its worth a read.

Shame on you Chippy.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Shame on you Chippy.

He didn't ask me not to post it.

 

[bgd]

Thanks, looks like dogwood has smooth leaves and elder has serrated plus elder has pinnate leaves, whereas alder buckthorn has alternating so i think ill know what look for.

I'll definitely have a read through the supermarket juice wine thread but i'll try and get my blackberry and elderberry wine moving first as these will be much more long term projects

 

[dwhite60]

I made an elderberry mead and used dehydrated elderberries I bought from a seller I found on the the internet (Frontier?) They have great flavor. It was a full pound. I used four ounces in a gallon so I have a bunch left.

There is some form of cyanide in elderberries. You're supposed to boil them for thirty minutes to break it down.

 

[An Ankoù]

I made an elderberry mead and used dehydrated elderberries I bought from a seller I found on the the internet (Frontier?) They have great flavor. It was a full pound. I used four ounces in a gallon so I have a bunch left.

There is some form of cyanide in elderberries. You're supposed to boil them for thirty minutes to break it down.

I came across this when I was looking for a recipe for elderberry jam the other day. It would seem that all parts of the elderberry contain minute amount of a a glycoside which can produce minute amounts of cyanide except the fleshy part of the berry. My recipe involves pouring boiling water over the berries that have been pulled off their stalks and then leaving it to cool. This is more for killing organisms and extraction than denaturing any toxins, but when the juice is strained off the pulp and especially the seeds, the toxins are left behind. Not so with jam, which contains the seeds, but the boiling effectively renders them harmless. That's my take on the available data, anyway.

By the way, apple pips and peach, apricot and plum stones contain an even greater amount!

 

[TheOsprey]

Try the app PictureThis on the play store. Assume App Store too. It'll identify it from a picture.

 

[Hagrid]

I forrage for elders and your description sound good. Have you got any pictures?

May/June is a great time to ID them because of their flowers. You can’t mistak the smell! Then (after making elderflower wine and cordial) watch the trees for the berries.

You can normally get two batches of wine off the berries; a primary and secondary run using the pulp left over from your first wine. It’s nice with Damsons or plums added.

 

[bgd]

Thanks all, I went hunting this evening and think I know what i'm looking for now, slightly slim pickings unfortunately, quite a few bunches with maybe 50/50 ripe/unripe (so i left them alone, will try again in a couple of days) luckily i'm not in a hurry at the moment, have frozen what i've found, might have to mix them with something else unless i can find a few more plants.

I did spot a single tree that i'm certain wasnt elderberry, smaller bunches (but lots of them), smooth edged leaves so i walked on past that one, dogwood maybe?

I'm definitely going to try the picturethis app next time

 

[Richard.]

In many areas pickings of elderberries are poor due to the birds eating all the ripe (and semi-ripe) fruit. Best wild spots are where people walk often - so scaring off birds. On your own property you can do things like bird scarers or nets. Below is a picture of elderberries without bird damage!!

How about these?

Rare bushes produce green/ yellow fruit and can be used for white wines.

Elderberry wines can be quite multi dimensional with selection from individual/ small groups of bushes. Every bush makes a different wine.

 

[bgd]

Thanks Richard, you are absolutely right about best spots being where people walk, my local heath was pretty poor, plenty of bunches but it was obvious that half the berries on each bunch were gone but I've found two other spots, one close to a walkway to a train station the other just off a busy road and managed to gather well over 1kg from each spot (and still managed to leave plenty for wildlife and anyone else looking for them).

For anyone else interested I found a neat tip on a youtube video, if you drop the berries into a bucket of water the majority of any unripe berries you have will gradually float to the top whilst the ripe ones sink so with a strainer you can separate them fairly easily.

I now have 2.5kg in my freezer ready to go.