Actually according to the literature the leaves of the elderberry are toxic. Have not seen that the raw fruit is, although not many would want to eat them raw?

They are bitter tasting raw,,and yes they are toxic.Cooking renders the toxins harmless.

Yes, the leaves are toxic, berries are toxic until cooked. Every book on the subject ive read mentions that. How much to actually make you sick??? Dunno.

A fork works just fine if you have nothing else better to do, like during quarantine. Old timers didnt do things because they COULDNT... that doesnt mean they WOULDNT if they had the means to now.

Also, for anyone looking to transplant elderberry. Make (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) SURE you're digging up elderberry and not WATER HEMLOCK. Its in the top two or three most toxic plants in North America, and they grow in the same areas. Even pulling it out of the ground with bare hands can make you sick.

Yeah, I just looked it up and it seems that the besides the leaves, roots, and stems, the seeds of the fruit contain cyanide toxins but upon being cooked it becomes safe.

We used to pick them and sell them when I was a kid . I eat the raw berries every year and have never got sick .

One source that I was reading about says that the european elderberry S. nigra has toxic fruit if eaten raw but that the american S. canadensis does not. Not sure I would want to put too much faith in that though. Some years back the CDC reported that a group of nature worshippers (for lack of a better word) had crushed a bunch of elderberry fruits, stems, etc and added the raw puree to apple juice and consumed it. Eight of them became deathly ill within hours; one requiring hospitalization.

I have noticed that the elderberry bushes and leaves are the only thing around my garden that the deer will NOT eat. The berries are easier to harvest if the stems cut close
to the berries are frozen first then they come off and do not crush.

I have never been sick from wild elderberries cooked with a little stem on them and the occasional leaf. Never looked it up as i never saw a need to. No idea how much poisonous polk salat I've ate after boiling it either. For whatever reason there is a lot of misinformation out there about what is safe and what isnt. Sassafras is another. Yet when calling the dried crumbled leaves file and put it in gumbo its all good. Any chance that it is now poison is because sassafras lowers blood pressure and some people dont need a drug because of it?

i am no expert on wild herbs plants and medicine, but you can't trust everything in print. Unfortunately a lot of stuff people knew by learning it from parents grandparents and neighbors is lost now.

Water hemlock does not look anything like elderberries. The only similarity is white flowers

Ditto all of the above for chokecherries. We planted both Shubert and Common chokecherries in our shelterbelts 25 years ago and have harvested many gallons over the years. The syrup and jelly is unbelievably good. We use the syrup on French toast and pancakes all winter long. We have read many comparisons to the two. More chokecherries here than elderberries.

We harvest them when they are totally black. We do not pull the stems off with the berries. If you pick at the right time, those little berries come off very easily. If you have anyone picking with you, you can get 5 gallons an hour easily. Shubert's tend to be a little larger cherry with more juice but the common cherries have a little more pulp. We like the pulp in the syrup. Also, if you want more pulp wait until they are slightly beyond ripe. As they begin to dry down they are full of pulp.

Birds and coons love them but we have enough for all.

My uncle made some amazingly good wine with chokecherries every year.

Yup Danny, chokecherrys and elderberries are the two top fruits to make wine from. Grapes are the only other that makes a better wine, if in the right hands!

I ended up sending out 122 Elderberry cuttings to people. I planted 200 plus cuttings for myself. All of the cuttings look good. I had one multi branch cutting look rough, but it bounced back.

Many of the cuttings are starting to develop flowers.



The last time I planted elderberry cuttings, they had berries on them that same year.

I have pears, catawba grape, blueberry and hazelnut cuttings going too.



Keith

Good job keith!

In addition to the cuttings I got from you, I got some others from Wisconsin and am getting more cuttings this week from Missouri and the USDA collection in Corvallis, Oregon. I will be planting out about 7000 plants next year after we virus test and then tissue culture them. Will have at least 11 genotypes total.

There's enough ripe elderberries to pick here now. Today, I picked around 8 pounds of elderberries on the heads.

Keith

They do make a beautiful wine. Everybody knew what they where getting from me for Christmas! I use the fork technique. The best bushes always grew 20 30 yards in to the swamps by me. We would go looking when the blooms where on and easy to see. Would then put flagging tape on one of the branches to mark them. Made beating the birds to them easier later in the year.

We pick them every year and have done so since I can remember.Elderberry pie is my favorite.I have tried every trick in the book like the fork thingy.I just fill bushels up with the clumps,,then just get them off by hand into buckets.Wear them doctor gloves if ya don't want purple hands.

Keith,
Whatever you do, don't let Trump mention that your elderberrys may have some medicinal effect on coronavirus or all of your posts will be wiped clean from social media!

I noticed some of mine coming ripe now. Blackberries just starting here too. Keith are you selling cuttings from that monster elderberry bush? I wouldn't mind crossing paths with you to pick some up.

I want some cuttings if anyone has some. Send me a on for my address. I'll pay shipping.

Would you care to share recipe??