Elder-Botanical: Sambucus nigra (LINN.)

[Guest Guest]

I just ordered a plant...it was interesting though, the places that were sold out of the plants...it appears that they are fast growing and prolific, so we'll seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...

[ricardo]

Where did you order your plant from?

 

[Guest Guest]

I ordered from http://www.diggingdog.com

[moonstar]

Just made my elderberry syrup. Tastes good. Doesn't smell

like the dried berries at all. (They smelled like dirty socks to me.) If anyone needs a syrup recipe, this is the

one I used. It's sweetened with honey.

 

Need to scroll down a little ways. The site also tells a

little bit about the lady giving the syrup recipe that I

found interesting.

 

http://www.dunnconnect.com/articles/2005/0...y/variety02.txt

[ricardo]

I've got plenty of berries, I think I'll try this one.

Thanks.

 

 

Elderberry Cold and Flu Syrup

 

1 cup fresh or 1/2 cup dried elderberries

 

3 cups water

 

1 cup honey

 

Place berries in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer over low heat for 30 to 45 minutes.

 

Smash the berries. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer and add one cup of honey or adjust to taste. Store in refrigerator.

 

(CAUTION: use only blue elderberries; the red ones are potentially toxic if eaten in large quantities. Never eat elderberries that haven't been cooked first.)

 

 

[ricardo]

I made this recipe today. I quadrupled the amounts given

and it made 2 quarts. I also substituted sugar instead of

honey. I have a child under 2. I made this so that he

could take it, if he were to become sick.

 

My husband is sick AGAIN. At his office the sicknesses are

running wild. He is bring home everything! He uses hand

sanitizer all the time too and it's not even helping. I

give him the elderberry tintacure and he gets better quick

but a few weeks later he gets something else. The first

sickness he had a sore throat. This time he has a cough.

UGH!!!

 

[HapyGirl]

My elderberries came today

[Guest Guest]

Quote:

(CAUTION: use only blue elderberries; the red ones are potentially toxic if eaten in large quantities. Never eat elderberries that haven't been cooked first.)

I eat them by the handfuls as I walk by and haven't died! I do this every year for years and it is pretty hard to eat more then a handful at any given time.. too big a pain in the butt to pick!

[grace]

Quote:

Mare, what catalog did you get from Canada? Since I'm in Canada, I'm always looking for good seed (etc) companies here.
~Jo

Jo, have you looked at www.richters.com
I've orderd stuff from them before they have a great print catalog. They are in Ontario and do sell elder berries.
Kim

[Guest Guest]

Thanks KimMC. I have glanced at their site before, but I'll have to take a closer look at it!

~Jo

[grace]

Your welcome! And I think there print cataloge is MUCH better then the website. I find there is more info on each herb in it. I'm waiting on some motherswort tincture from there, hope it gets here soon .

Kim

[grace]

Arrrg...Was just checking prices for elderberries in Canada. Very hard to find to start with. Richters has them for 25g at 4.00 or 1 kg at 60.00. So that's 2.2 pounds for 60.00 plus shipping. That just seams way to high for me! Found on smaller site that sells them at 40.00 a pound grrr. So maybe I'll have to try ordering from the US. IT might actualy be cheeper! Go figure that one .

How much have you all been paying for your elderberries?

Anyone know of a cheeper place in Canada to order from?

Thanks,

Kim

[gardnmom]

They have been about $6.00 a pound US.

But they grow in this part of the country, don't know where they might grow up there or how plentiful. Good luck......

[Roseofsharon]

Well, I finally got some eldaberries!

 

Now what to do with them.

[Mother]

Here's a thread that I found on elderberries on one of the forums. http://www.curevents.com/vb/printthread.php?t=10523

It had some interesting comments on it.

 

I have tried most ways to preserve elderberries, including freezing, drying, tinctures, cordials, jellies and syrups. I don't do well with alcohol so I make a syrup from my fresh berries with sugar or honey and seal it in half pint jars in a water bath canner. It keeps for years that way. I use it just like the tincture but in stronger doses. Two to four tablespoons in a cup of hot water is plenty though. So far it's always worked well that way.

 

I also use dried elderberries for tea, usually mixed in with other ingredients, and do not find their taste objectionable. The flowers are also useful in cases where you want to bring on a sweat. They are very effective for that, given as a hot tea, and have a delicate aroma and flavor.

 

I believe that there is some confusion between red and black elderberry. The berries of the red elderberry bush Sambuco Racemosa (actually there are several species of elderberries) can indeed be slightly toxic if eaten raw but are safe cooked. {{{CAUTION: Leaves, twigs, bark and roots of all elderberries can be toxic and should be used with extreme caution if at all.}}} I, too, have feasted on the black, sometmes called blue, elderberries and had no problem and found them slightly acidic but otherwise tasty and thirst quenching. You can even make elderberry pie from the ripe berries. It is hard to remove the stems from the berries though. I usually use a fork to pull the berries off the stems and it seems to take forever. The flowers are just as bad but both are well worth the work involved and usually I only have to pick and process berries once every couple of years as I preserve enough to last that long.

 

Hope this info helps.

 

 

 

 

[PlanoPa]

bumping this to the top....now I have a question for ya Lois...are these the same elderberries that grow wild? If so I hav enough of them growing around me to supply all of MrsS lol...and thanks for posting the recipes...I will try a couple different ones here and the one at TB2K that mare posted if i can get in it as a lurker lol....Q

[gardnmom]

They are the same. I usually find that the wild ones may be a little smaller, but sometimes better, as they grow the way they were intended to grow without many of today's fertilizers and insecticides.

[Guest Guest]

aren't there two kinds of elderberries? Red and Blue/Black

 

http://plants.montara.com/ListPages/FamPag...ia2.html#samrac

 

red elderberries are poison and blue/black are not.

 

please do check which one you have.

[Mother]

You are right Westy, A good field guide will give you the differences. You should never use anything before you have a positive ID of them. I often bring plants to our master gardeners or the arboretum in the area for identifying. Some they send away for me for 100% ID when I tell them that I want to USE them or EAT them. They normally know the common ones well enough to be sure.

 

Better to learn before you need them than to take a chance. As Lois said in another post, two plants can be very similar yet one be poisonous and the other not.

 

 

[gardnmom]

[nana2boys]

Mother, I keep reading over the recipes for elderberries and I saw that you have made recipes for the berries but I can't seem to find them on this forum. If you have not posted them would you consider doing so. I just bought 6 pounds elderberries and don't know what to do with them all. I just found out about the bird flu two weeks ago and I have been reading so much that I find myself overwhelmed. I now must begin to prepare and yesterday my Doc has told me I have an autoimmune disease. My chances of surviving the flu do not seem very good. I want to cry but have not. I trust God to care for me yet I must prepare. The ladies in my church are not stocking up. They think I'm foolish and not standing on the Word of God. Sorry if I'm carring on like this but I feel alone on this matter. Thanks in advance for your help...Sandiness

[Mother]

Hello Sandiness,

 

 

[Linda]

Sandiness you are no lopnger alone..... welcome

[ricardo]

 

 

 

[nana2boys]

Thank you ladies for your help. My doctor decided to do blood work because the glands in my neck are huge and have been for months. That's when they found my liver count was higher than normal so more blood work. Now the liver count is higher yet and the ana blood work is high. So I was sent to a specialist and so far he say's I have myositis plus Raynaud's disease. More blood work. 7 vials... Dr.A wanted to put me on prednisone and I said no. I have been on it many times for other health issues and it has caused damage to my body. I do not have a spleen so that seems to to be a problem. Dr.A was not happy with my saing no but I want to see what the 7 vials of blood work show. I'm claiming my healing. I have written down every healing scriture and will stand on God's promises. Now back to the elderberries. I see that I must be careful. I did go to the store and buy vodka. Since we don't drink alcohol I felt guilty standing in line with this bottle and hoping that I didn't run into anyone I knew. Boy that would get back to the church folks. We are a small community until the tourists come to Branson. I did do two quarts and now have them in my closet. Thank you for the recipe. Have any of you wanted to be in denial that this pandemic could happen? I want to be but in my heart I'm led to prepare. I guess the food preps will not be as hard but it's so iffy about loosing the power or no running water. I can't imagine this. OH yes I can. I just don't want to belive it. That's where I need help. My fingers tell me to stop typing. Ouch..