2012 Elderberries

[ffemt128]

Went out this am to check on the elderberrie bushes. Picked 12 lbs of very ripe berries. Hopefully it will be a good year for them. My primary bush is starting to get ripe and a couple new ones are as well. Will check on a further out patch tomorrow.

 

[oldwhiskers]

Looks good, I am wanting to do elderberry wine but I will have to do the dried berries. It's on my wish list at my supplier already, just have to pull the trigger on it.

 

[ffemt128]

LEt year I only managed to get about 55 lbs but I made 10 gallons with that plus what was left from the previous year. Hoping fox around 60 lbs this year. We'll see.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

What variety of elderberries do you have, they look nice and plump. Ours are still 100% green and we are south of you guys. Cracked

Went out this am to check on the elderberrie bushes. Picked 12 lbs of very ripe berries. Hopefully it will be a good year for them. My primary bush is starting to get ripe and a couple new ones are as well. Will check on a further out patch tomorrow.

View attachment 4941

 

[TwinMaples]

Those are nice looking berries.

My wife picked 5 1/2 lbs. yesterday. I helped her de-stem them after work. We probably need to pick more tomorrow. It seems like every other day more are ready. I am very thankful we're getting these berries in the drought we've been in.

Jim

 

[pjd]

Wow! It is really early for elderberries! I generally dont get any ripe ones for another month. If you get too many, I will happily drive to the Burgh to take them off your hands!

 

[ffemt128]

Cracked,

I have no idea the variety, I've managed to find them in various places. The ones half mile away were barely red. I'll be checking about every 3-4 days in hopes of getting them before the birds do. I'd be happy with 60 lbs, if I could get more I'd be even happier.

 

[ffemt128]

Wow! It is really early for elderberries! I generally dont get any ripe ones for another month. If you get too many, I will happily drive to the Burgh to take them off your hands!

That's okay, I wasn't figuring on being picking for another week. I'll check the rest of my locations tomorrow then again every few days. Need to remember where I had located them when in bloom.

Cracked has it the best, he has a farm full of them. Oh what I would do if I had property.

 

[BobF]

Doug - I don't wan't to stomp on your rhythm or anything, but those don't look ready to me. There is still more red in them. Or is that just the pic?

Either way, great score on the berries!

 

[ffemt128]

Doug - I don't wan't to stomp on your rhythm or anything, but those don't look ready to me. There is still more red in them. Or is that just the pic?

Either way, great score on the berries!

Bob,

Of the 2.5 shopping bags that were picked, only about a cup of them floated. Most were very dark with only a few red ones present. All the floaters were discarded for our local birds to eat.

I'm heading out this am to check the status of other bushes. Not expecting to see any ripe ones for another week.

 

[ffemt128]

Here's a picture of my primary bush I pick from. I need to start checking this one every few days. I generally get 25 lbs or more from this bush. A plant 3 blocks away isn't even shoing signs of turning red. Found 2 more potential locations this am.

 

[bg7mm]

picked 15 pounds a few minutes ago, all the plants, and we have hundreds on my property, are in different stages of ripeness. i have a question, do you have to remove every single small stem left in the berries? man this is work picking elderberries, easy to pick, a pain to remove the berries from the stems

 

[almargita]

Doug:

If you see a black jeep following you its only me trying to find out where your stash of bushes are!!!!!!

Al

 

[TwinMaples]

. . .i have a question, do you have to remove every single small stem left in the berries? man this is work picking elderberries, easy to pick, a pain to remove the berries from the stems

bg, the more stems you remove the better, but in my opinion, you don't need perfection here.

Below is a link for a video I did,

http://s883.photobucket.com/albums/...on=view&current=ElderberryDeStemmingVideo.mp4


showing the various methods of de-stemming elderberries, including:

• Rubbing the bag method
• Rolling berries down cheesecloth-lined board
• Shake clusters in bucket
• Cooling grid system

Putting a cooking grid over a cake pan or bucket, and rubbing the berries over the grid is what we do. Then, we cover the elderberries with water in a bucket. The unripe berries, stems, twigs, and bugs float to the surface. I scoop it out with a small strainer. It's not 100% clean, but pretty clean. I gently turn over the berries several times, which releases more unripe berries, stems, twigs, and bugs. Then, I flood the bucket, and the really little stuff is removed.


Still a bit tedious, but waaay faster than plucking the berries off the stem. The next best is shaking the berries off the stems in a bucket. If your berries are really ripe, though, you end up smashing a lot of berries, and losing them.


Enjoy the video!

Jim

 

[bg7mm]

Doug:

If you see a black jeep following you its only me trying to find out where your stash of bushes are!!!!!!

Al

the elderberry is a common wild plant here, the stuff grows everywheres, we use weedkiller to keep them from growing on lots or yards we mow grass on
gonna try to get a couple pics tommorow of some plants . main food source for the deer here this time of year, you can see deer with purple throat patches instead of white patches

 

[ffemt128]

Well I checked one of the bushes near my home that was starting to get ripe, looks like the birds got the better part of it. I'll have to head out early Saturday morning to check on the rest.

 

[ffemt128]

Checked the berries tonight, should be a good harvest tomorrow. Will be out of the house between 5:45 and 6:00 for harvesting. Will report back tomorrow. Hoping for 20 lbs.

 

[TwinMaples]

I'm picking tomorrow morning as well. Good luck!

Jim

 

[ffemt128]

Left the house at 6:00, picked til 7:35. Started cleaning about 8:30 just finished. 23lbs 11oz in bags and in the freezer. Tossed about 2 1/2 lbs of floaters.

I checked my primary bush and it was mostly ripe but most of the clusters had red in them. Supposed to go up to 80 today, will check again tomorrow and pick if ripe enough.

Total for 2 pickings, just under 36 lbs.

 

[ffemt128]

Picked this am. Got another 10 1/2 lbs. Will pick again Wednesday evening.