I am on an elderberry quest! These elderberries have been making random repeat appearances in my life for the past few months. The first time they really sunk in my head was about six months ago when I was watching an episode of “Gourmet’s Adventures with Ruth” on my local PBS station. She was on location at a sustainable farm in the Smokey Mountains – it was such a neat show. They had the most beautiful gardens and which collectively made up their farm. Not only did they cultivate crops but they would forage in the surrounding forests for things to enhance their crops and preserves. One of the things that really stood out to me was an elderberry tree. They didn’t pick the berries but they picked the lacey butter cream colored flowers. Based on their expressions, the blossoms smelled heavenly. They took the blossoms and included them in their fresh made strawberry preserves and then made tarts. I wanted to taste them so badly!
Time went on and I left that thought on a dusty bookshelf in the back of my brain. Then one day months later, I read about a lemon grass and elderberry infused ice cream. That sounded really good too but where on earth can I find these little devils?
This past weekend was the kicker. While on a tour of a bee pollination garden (THE Haagen-Dazs bee pollination garden at UC Davis), I stumbled upon a shrub and asked the docent what type of shrub it was. He quickly said, “An elderberry.” WHAT!!! It did smell good. I wanted to dig it up right then and there and take it home with me. My better judgment insisted that instead of sitting in a jail cell with my Elderberry plant I should to go on a quest and find my own or at least my own to visit and pick from. Amazingly enough, a quick Google search informed me that they grow all over the place in my town but near the rivers. There is one thing that I have an abundant access to and that is various rivers. I am literally surrounded by them and within a five minute bicycle ride I can be at one or the other. Tomorrow is the night that I will go on a hunt.
In the meantime, if you know of any elderberry secrets, recipes or if you have a personal story, I’d love to hear them.
More on the elderberry quest later,
Daphne
Daphne~
ReplyDeleteGrowing up we had one spot on our farm that had tons of Elderberry bushes and we would always help my Grandma and Bumpa pick them. Grandma would make the best Elderberry jelly (I'll try and track down the recipe for you.) As kids we discovered a cool trick... if you put a little elderberry jam on scrambled eggs they turn green. It was great eating "green eggs" just like in Dr. Suse's Green Eggs and Ham. I am trying to find places around here with Elderberries so I can pick and make my own jam and introduce my kids to "green eggs."
~Anna
Oh my gosh - I LOVE this. Thanks so much for sharing. If you can find the recipe for Elderberry jelly please please let me know. I have a gallon sized bag full of the berries in my freezer right now. I found a recipe but I need to pick more to have enough to fulfill the recipe. Thanks so much Anna!
ReplyDeleteI think my property is filled with Elderberry trees. I am trying to confirmed this. I live in the Pacific NW. The birds love them while they're still red so I rarely see them ripen. I know that Elderberries make wonderful wine, I've never had the jelly. A popular name around here is SOAP Trees, supposedly because Native Americans made Soap from them??? and they had me fooled! I think. Each stem has seven leaves. I'd like any recipes found, in case I'm right. Linda
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DeleteHi Linda!
DeleteI hate to be the bearer of bad news but as far as I know, the elderberry shrubs with red berries are poisonous. I know that not all elderberries are edible. Check out this link and see if this is what you have in your yard: http://plants.usda.gov/factsheet/pdf/fs_sara2.pdf. If I were you, I would cut a sample and bring it to your local local nursery and ask them to identify it for you before consuming them. Let me know what you find out! Daphne