The Fumbling Forager

We headed out to a U-pick elderberry farm after the aronia festival on Sunday and brought home five pounds of berries. I’ve always wanted to go to a U-pick farm and now I finally have! You’d think that after all my years in ag and reporting on family farms like this, I would have done it sooner, but here we are.

Preparing Elderberries After Picking

So, what do you do with five pounds of elderberries? I’m glad you asked.

First, you have to de-stem them. Jayne of Jayne’s Organic Aronia U-Pick told me to freeze them, then shake the berries off the stems into a bag. I separated the five pounds into four bags and put them in the freezer overnight. My first attempt didn’t go so well and I had to pluck most of the tiny berries off the stems, leaving me with purple fingers.

Turns out, the more frozen the berries are, the better it works. My second attempt  was much better. 

Once off the stems, I’m putting the berries into quart-sized bags, pre-measured for the recipes I’m planning on making. That way, as I’m baking I can just take out the amount I need. 

I’ve only done one freezer bag so far (and it was the smallest),  but I’m taking a break because my berry-shaking muscles are tired. 

Elderberry Safety

Always cook elderberries at least a little before eating. Elderberries have Cyanogenic Glycosides, which can cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea, and in severe cases, dizziness, seizures, or even death. Cooking destroys the glycosides and makes the berries safe. Never ingest the leaves, stems, bark, or roots of elderberry bushes. The ripe berries can be eaten only after cooking. The flowers have much lower amounts of glycosides and are safe to ingest, though normally they’re used in teas, syrups, or other recipes rather than just eaten raw.

How to identify elderberries:

If you’re out foraging, here’s how you can identify elderberries (Sambucus spp.):

• Tall shrubs, commonly 5 to 12 feet in height

• Broad, flat-topped berry clusters that resemble umbrellas (technically cymes)

• Opposite, odd-pinnate compound leaves, usually 5 to 11 leaflets per leaf

• Leaflets are oval, sharply serrated along the edges, and pointed at the tip

• Berry stems are reddish, while the main woody stems and branches are brown to gray

• Ripe berries are small, dark purple to nearly black, and hang heavily in clusters

• Often found along roadsides, field edges, ditches, and moist areas such as streambanks

Watch out for look-alikes:

• Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) – Produces dark purple berries, but they grow along a central stalk instead of in umbrella-shaped clusters. Leaves are large, simple, and alternate, not opposite and compound. The stems are bright pink to red.

• Water hemlock (Cicuta spp.) – Extremely poisonous. Has white umbels that can be mistaken for elder flowers. Stems are smooth, often streaked or spotted with purple. Found in wet areas.

• Red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa) – Grows in similar habitats but produces cone-shaped clusters of bright red berries that are considered toxic and not eaten.

• Devil’s walking stick (Aralia spinosa) – In some regions, tall plants with large compound leaves and clustered berries may be confused with elder. They’re covered in sharp spines, which elderberry does not have.