Endless Elderberries!

[snapshotmiki]

My friends and I have 4 trash bags of elderberries with stems in our freezers. We intend to make syrup and tinctures. There are SO many stems! I have read that the stems are toxic and have read that the stems are slightly toxic. I have read that the seeds are toxic yet I have eaten many elderberry pies and jams. Freezing helps with stem removal and we are getting a good portion of them out but (and this is my question), will a small amount of stems hurt in the cooking process since we will strain them out anyway?

 

I have only made pies and jam in the past so any input will be appreciated.

[Ambergris]

I hope not, because I've sure eaten a lot of them, here and there along the way.

[Ambergris]

Are you rubbing them across hardware cloth to take them off the umbels?

[snapshotmiki]

When frozen I can just shake the whole "bloom/clump" and for the most part they fall off. Then when berries are in a bowl of water lots of stems sink to bottom.

[RoseMarie]

A friend was going to send me some stems of them to see if I can root them. Does anyone know how to root them? I'd love to grow some here in south MS.

[Ambergris]

Get a stem with a joint knot near the bottom, put that in wet sand, and keep it damp until it roots. They root very easily here. They grew like weeds in Lucedale when I was a kid, too.

Edited September 13, 2015 by Ambergris

[RoseMarie]

Get a stem with a joint knot near the bottom, put that in wet sand, and keep it damp until it roots. They root very easily here. They grew like weeds in Lucedale when I was a kid, too.

 

 

WOW I WISH I knew where some were around here! I lived in Agricola when I was a kid but don't remember seeing any of these.