Elderberries

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Debbie thats funny. We one one orphan show up by the driveway where my wife would pluck them. I transplanted it out in a flower garden. That bugger grew so fast and sent up runners everywhere. It took two years of digging and chopping them out before I finally got rid of it. I donated all of the cuttings to a nature park and some friends. If I had enough property I am sure I could grow one heck of a patch of them.
 
Went to my daughters for a Fathers Day cookout today & checked out what she was calling Elderberries, She said they were all over the ground & the birds were eating them up. Actually, I believe these are "Mullberries", they look like small versions of blackberries & are on a tree not a bush! Tree is about 50-60 feet tall loaded with them. I understand they also make good wine, but how to get them is the question. Looks like just to pick up the best ones from the ground that the birds didn't get, but not sure about this. Any other suggestions?? Does these sound like a Mullberry & will it make a good wine??

Al
 
almargita said:
Went to my daughters for a Fathers Day cookout today & checked out what she was calling Elderberries, She said they were all over the ground & the birds were eating them up. Actually, I believe these are "Mullberries", they look like small versions of blackberries & are on a tree not a bush! Tree is about 50-60 feet tall loaded with them. I understand they also make good wine, but how to get them is the question. Looks like just to pick up the best ones from the ground that the birds didn't get, but not sure about this. Any other suggestions?? Does these sound like a Mullberry & will it make a good wine??

Al
Click to expand...

Yes sounds like Mulberries, put a sheet down or a tarp and shake the branches. I have a mulberry tree that hasn't produced any fruit in over six years. Mike pretty much butchered it a couple of years ago and this year I have a pile of berries, they are small but a pile of them.
 
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Good sugggestion Julie, going back there for the 4th weekend & will try that, should be lots of berrys left as its a pretty large tree.

Al
 
Definately sound like mullberries to me. My tree that we cut last year has some berries this year. Hasn't had any for the past 2 years. I was out on the bike for an hour yesterday and located another fairly large elderberry bush. It's pretty much near my route I take when I go out for my weekly pickings.. Going to be a good year for elderberry wine.
 
There are many different mulberries. I have one hanging over my garden from the neighbor's yard... it's worthless. They stay mostly white until they fall off and ripen on the ground. I have picked them up and they taste good, but they just don't grow "normally". We have more in a couple parks that are good. If they don't shake or "tickle" off... they don't taste nice and sweet. I made 2 kinds of mulberry wine 2 yrs ago... just a gallon each and we didn't really care for it. I blended it away and it was then drinkable. I love a pie made with mulberry/raspberry/blueberry. All are available fresh here at the same time. I would think wine of that combo would be good too, but I don't have good access to free mulberries right now and blueberries aren't always a good price in the stores. We eat a LOT of blueberries fresh. I can open the pint and finish it right then... yummmmmm.

Debbie
 
Noticed over the weekend the elderberry bushes around here are starting to lose their buds and get berries. Will soon get hard to locate if you haven't already marked where they are.
 
They are not fully in bloom here yet. Just starting to notice them from the road. I did elderflower wine last year, but won't do it again. Drinkable and forgettable. Not amazing enough to put on the "make it again" list. It was certainly easy enough, though. I'm thinking it might be a good blender!

Debbie
 
Never considered elderflower wine. I checked a few other bushes on the way home from work that I told DJRockinSteve about, the flowers are definately gone on those ones. I had a tough time locating them since I didn't mark these ones. I'll be checking everything in about 2 weeks since I believe I was picking the 3rd week of July last year.
 
Checked a few of the plants on the way home this am. Most still have green berries but 2 plants look to be fully ripe already. Nice dark berries and the birds were in one of the 2 plants. May have to see if my older daughter can watch her sister for an hour before she goes to work. May be able to score a few lbs of early berries.
 
Made elderberry last year and it turned out OK. If I do more this year, and I plan to, I will back sweeten it, as I learned to do on this site.

When I picked the berrys I put them in Wally world bags. Freeze them and beat the bags to get the berrys off the big stem parts. Work fast or they thaw and stain everything.
 
If you don't sort out the fully ripe berries from the "not so ripe" ones... you won't get good results. Also, those little stems need to be gone! Gives the wine a vegetal taste... not pleasant!

We can't get enough. I've made several styles of wine from them. Great for blending with raspberry too!

Debbie
 
Just got home from my first trip of harvesting trhe berries. Some were ripe bit not many. Next weekend should be a fairly large harvest based on what I saw today. Getting ready to de-berry the stems now. I'll post a harvest total shortly. I'm not expecting much more than a pound or so, but thats still alot of berries considering their size.
 
my elderberries are still very green, at least a good 3 weeks or a month before I pick and the ones at camp are just finishing flowering
 

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