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Aug 20 2022

The Amazing Blue Elderberry

I am a pushover for the edible blue elderberry. Sambucus cerulea and S. racemosa, an amazing shrub that offers the knowledgeable forager a tremendous bounty of uses. Parts of the blue elderberry are used for making friction fire, musical instruments, hunting weapons, and traps. late summer and early fall are the best time to harvest ripe blue elderberries for syrup. Included in this post are How To Elderberry recipes for cooking and medicine.

Blue Elderberry Cream Pie. Made with Elderberry Syrup
Blue Elderberry edible Cream Pie recipe. Home made from delicious Elderberry Syrup

Blue Elderberry

Blue Elderberries grow in riparian habitats, road banks, meadows, and damp forest openings, up to timberline. Blue elderberries ripen from mid August to mid September in most regions of the US. However, ripening berries are determined by weather, elevation, and other regional factors.

Blue elderberry: Sambucus cerulea and S. racemosa, a wild native shrub. Range from British Columbia south to California. S. mexicana ranges from northern California south into Mexico and east into Nevada and southwestern New Mexico. The S. callicarpa species (Pacific red elder) grows in coastal habitats from southern Alaska to central California.

Cook the fruit before eating

Warning! Elderberry is not a trail snack raw.

Blue elderberry and more so, the red elderberry, contain the compound hydrocyanic acid. This chemical compound may lead to mild cyanide poisoning if consumed in large quantities. Cooking the fruit first renders the hydrocyanic acid harmless.

The bark, leaves, and roots contain the highest concentrations of the acid. But do not eat the berries raw as they can cause mild nausea. The fruit must be boiled and cooked well before consumption.

How Cooking and drying the fruit removes toxins

The cooking removes any toxicity from the elderberries, and this is our recommendation before consuming the berries! Drying may not remove all the cyanide toxicity in the seeds. So, simmer the fruit a good 40 minutes to make sure. It is not recommended to consume elderberry if pregnant. Cooking is recommended to completely remove any threat of toxicity.

Are Elderberries safe to eat?

Yes, after cooking. Blue elderberries are edible and safe to eat. Now after all the warning about eating the berries raw you may be a bit turned off. I understand.

But so, you know, I have been eating blue elderberry in the form of syrup for over 30 years. And yes, the berries are safe to eat when cooked. Also, a glass of elder wine has been known to soothe my throat now and then.

Immune boosting and medicinal elderberry syrup

Blue Elderberry syrup is Medicinal.  The blue elderberry syrup is a strong immune booster. You can use the syrup recipe below for medicinal uses. We use less sugar for the medicine batch which makes it a bit tart.

We reduce the sugar as much as possible making it quite delicious tart! Also, the flower clusters are non-toxic, edible, and medicinal.

Influenza A & B virus infection

Studies suggest blue elderberry extract taken orally lessen the duration of influenza. But larger long-term studies are needed to understand the full benefit of Elderberry in the treatment of influenza and other emerging Coronavirus strains.

University of Sydney Faculty of Engineering and IT has determined exactly how a popular ancient remedy, the elderberry fruit, can help the fight against influenza. Elderberry could help relieve flu symptoms

Is the Elder flower edible?

The flower of Elderberry is edible, and you will find recipes promoting fried batter. Such as beer batter. I did try this years ago with the beautiful cream-colored elder flowers. And as we have come to understand in our culture; anything fried is good.

For my part I found the result disappointing at best. I prefer my flowers to turn into berries that I can make into syrup. However, there are other uses for the flowers. Such as a sugary Cordial made with the flowers.

How to Make Basic Elderberry Syrup

The syrup is a beautiful rich purple color. The syrup is incredibly delicious on homemade pancakes, vanilla ice cream, or made into wild elderberry cream pie! Because Elderberry has a low pH so we freeze the syrup until needed.

Syrup recipe

1-quart blue elderberries
Juice of one lemon
3 cups water
1 - 2 tbsp. cornstarch or flour. (If the syrup comes out thin, add another tbsp. of cornstarch or flour).
1/4 cup sugar or honey

Crush elderberries, add 1 cup of water and sugar or honey,
and simmer for 15 minutes.  Strain, and then add 2 cups of water
to the seeds and pulp and strain again.

Add to the liquid the lemon juice and adjust sugar if desired.

Bring to a boil and thicken slightly by stirring one tablespoon cornstarch
or flour in one tablespoon cold water. Stirring this into the simmering syrup.
Makes 5 cups

According to the author, Charlotte Bringle Clarke, "This syrup has few equals when used over pancakes or ice cream."  I must agree, completely with Charlotte.

Elderberry Cream Pie

Now for the pie! The reason I really wanted to share the blue elderberries many qualities is the cream pie recipe. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

Harvest the ripe blue elderberries in the fall

We harvest the ripe berries each fall. And with great anticipation and delight. But after picking the ripe berries we must cook and reduced the berry liquid in preparation for making elderberry syrup. The syrup is the main ingredient you must make first before you make the elderberry cream pie itself.

Elderberry Cream Pie Recipe

3 eggs, separated
2 Tbsp. grated orange or lemon peel
3/4 cup elderberry syrup
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/3 cup of sugar
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1 baked 9-in pie shell.

Blend over heat until smooth:  the egg yolks, elderberry syrup, unflavored gelatin, 1/3 cup sugar, and salt.
Do not boil.  Add grated orange or lemon peel and pour into a bowl; refrigerate until slightly firm.

Do not refrigerate too long, (like overnight), just until it is slightly firm, this does not take awfully long.

Otherwise, you will not be able to blend the whipped cream and meringue with the jelled juice.
Beat the egg whites until stiff and add cream of tartar and 1/4 cup sugar, beating continuously.

Beat heavy cream until fluffy and fold half into the egg-white mixture.

Fold the egg-white mixture into the refrigerated sauce.

Pour into pie shell and garnish with remaining whipped cream.
Serves 6

The Amazing Blue Elderberry, Thank you, Charlotte Clarke, for the delicious recipes!

Historical uses of the blue elderberry

I began working with this shrub when I lived in the Sierra's where I discovered the local Miwok community has used that blue elderberry extensively for many thousands of years. This useful shrub is an important part of their material and musical culture.

Elderberry Blowgun

A few of the very neat survival applications about the elderberry wood is its soft center pith which can easily be scraped and removed to make a hollow stem. Straight long shafts of the wood split into then the soft pith removed, and the two pieces of elderberry glued and wrapped back together again for a serviceable "Blow Gun”.

Shorter straight sections of the wood are split part way and hollowed out for clapper stick.  (A musical instrument enjoyed by the Pomo and Miwok peoples.)

Green Elderberry Bark

If you are using the elderberry stalks green, you will want to carve off, strip, scrape, and remove all the green bark, and let the wood dry some. A spindle made from the elderberry is excellent either for the bow drill or hand drill friction fire making process.

Elderberry Hand Drill Spindle

If you are a fan of the Man vs. Wild or Born Survivor series with Bear Grylls, Bear made a Hand Drill fire in the Sierra episode using a long slender spindle from the wild blue elderberry.

A spindle made from the elderberry is excellent either for the bow drill or hand drill friction fire making process.

Leave Berries for Wildlife!

The berries are eaten by, Western blackbird, House Finch, Red-Shafted Flicker, Ash-Throated Flycatcher, Black Headed Grosbeak, Scrub and Steller Jays, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Bullock’s, and Hooded Oriole, and Phainopepla.  Please leave some berries for the bears too.

Remember; positively identify any plant before use, edible, medicinal, or utilitarian application.

USDA Department of Agriculture - blue elder information

Miwuk Medicine use of Sambucus nigra

Recommended reading:
“Edible and Useful Plants of California” by Charlotte Bringle Clarke (Great wild food recipes include the elderberry pie and syrup I am sharing here.)

“Edible and medicinal Plants of the West” By Gregory L. Tifford

Check out this great recipe for Elderberry Barbecue Sauce by Mariah Gladstone

Lifesong Wilderness Adventures Survival skills since 1994

  • How to harvest Elderberries
  • Useful plants of the Oregon Coast
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  • Lemon Balm a Gentle Tea for Stress

Written by Mark Wienert · Categorized: Plants

Comments

  1. Mark Wienert says

    August 12, 2022 at 12:32 pm

    Hi Janet, those all sound fantastic! Do you still make these wonderful drinks? Thank you for your comment!

  2. Janet Stevenson says

    August 12, 2022 at 11:54 am

    We used to make “Elderberry champagne “…. Bubbly like ginger beer or root beer… when I was little. It was made with the blossoms and lemon juice & tartaric acid among other ingredients

  3. Mark says

    February 3, 2021 at 1:36 pm

    Hi Beth, thank you for your question. Glad to hear you like the syrup. This recipe calls for 1 tbsp. of cornstarch or flour. We have found adding another tbsp. of cornstarch helps make the tin syrup much thicker. Careful not to add to much cornstarch to thicken. You can also reduce the syrup more to thicken. Just pour it back in your pan on your lowest setting and cook the syrup slow for about 45 minutes. Make sure you stir often to keep it from burning. Let us know how it worked out.

  4. Beth Frank says

    February 3, 2021 at 1:24 pm

    I just made the elderberry syrup. It tastes great but very thin. Is this to be expected?
    Can I thicken it up somehow?

  5. Mark says

    January 8, 2020 at 7:39 am

    Greeting Rachel. Always a treat to hear from folks in the UK. The flowers of the Blue Elderberry are edible and yes, can be eaten raw without cooking. The flowers like the fruit are medicinal. The berries of course need to be cooked, simmered, for at least 40 minutes before eating. Many plant books in the States have recipes using Elderberry flowers. The most common is frying the flowers in a Beer batter. I’ve tried it and not a fan. Though just about anything fried tastes good. Give it a try and let us know how it goes.

  6. Rachel says

    January 8, 2020 at 4:53 am

    Great info. Thank you. I’m intrigued that you don’t mention using the flowers for recipes as with the Sambucus nigra. I imagine they’re also usable. What do you think? From a reader in the UK who would love to know! thank you.

  7. Mark says

    November 23, 2011 at 9:31 am

    Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

  8. Mark says

    October 3, 2009 at 12:58 pm

    We recently returned from visiting new friends in Mt. Vernon Oregon. Dave Hamilton has a wonderful little winery that specializes in wild fruit wines. If you ever get to visit their winery, you will see Dave’s Lakota War Shirt on Display that his wife sewed. Made from brain tanned Antelope and decorated with Elk ivory, she also pounded the rock by hand and used the powdered rock to dye the shirt.

    They make a terrific dry and what Dave calls a “frozen” sweet Elderberry wine that is very similar tasting to the blue elder syrup we make at home. Which is excellent. Dave has an amazing variety of wild wines to choose from. Wild plum, blueberry, Oregon grape, Chokecherry, and even a wild Rose wine! We sampled as many as we could, they were all fantastic, and we came back home with a varietal case of delicious dry and sweet wild wines. If you have an opportunity, we highly recommend a visit to
    Dave Hamilton Winery, Mt Vernon OR.
    You can reach Dave by phone – 541-932-4567

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