Elderberry Webpage by Crackedcork

[Cracked Cork]

Hi Guys, I put together a webpage dedicated to elderberries, I am far
from an expert, less than 30 gallons of it made so far from cans to
fresh fruit from our yard, but I wanted to put together a page that
localized some helpful hints people have shared with me, sources for
plants and how to raise them and some tips on making harvesting easier.
The opening picture shows the wife guarding her favorite elderberry
bush from the birds.



http://www.geocities.com/wvmountaineerjack/Elderberries/Elderberries.html



Crackedcork

 

[Waldo]

Excellent job on the web page cracked. I am going to get me some elderberry platnts this spring and get them going.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Nice Web Page Cracked Cork...enjoyed it..

A lady down the road had a hedge of Elderberries, I went in and asked her what they were...the next spring I planted 2 bushes...gophers killed one...The other one has bloomed for a couple years....I bought 2 more last year, so they should have a pollinator now.

The aerial field crop sprayers have since practically killed her hedge, I see it is struggling to come back.

They don't bloom at the same time as the wild elderberries, the tame black ones bloom very late, so I shouldn't get and cross pollination from the wild uneatable berries.

Think in the meantime I am going to order a can of Vintners Harvest Elderberry...[a bumper crop in every can.]Do you get the green-goo from the canned fruit???

 

[kutya]

Excellent page Cork.

 

[sangwitch]

Checked out the website. I was particularly interested in the CDC article about the poison. There's a lot of good information there.

 

[smurfe]

Got it bookmarked, great info!



Smurfe

 

[Cracked Cork]

Its been a long time since we did the can and I dont remember if we got
it then or not. I think it seems to be mostly due to having too many
stems in with the fruit. We clip off the whole head, freeze and then
knock off the fruit and then use a board to separate the stems from the
fruit. There are still some stems left with the fruit. Some people have
the patience to pick out every stem, God bless their souls, I am not
one Those people who can pick out every stem say they dont get green
goo. I asked a chemist and they said because the green stuff is
dissolved by oil its a nonpolar substance, and since its not soluble in
water or wine its left behind in the primary bucket so I dont see it
hurting the final quality of the wine. Now if the green stuff comes
from having too many unripe fruit I could see that the unripe fruit
could affect the taste of the wine just like any unripe fruit would.
We hope in the upcoming seasons to have so many berries that we
can let the birds have what they want and leave enough hanging on the
bushes until they are absolutely completely unquestionably ripe with a
powdered blush on them. Thats the hope anyway, but we have so many
birds and no way to put nets over everything. Now that I think of it I
do remember seeing some very few stems in the cans, and if you look
carefully at the dried berries you get at the brew shop you can see
some stems in there too



Thanks for the kind words on the site folks, if you have anything you would like to add please let me know.



Crackedcork

 

[sangwitch]

I'm making a batch of elderberry with the Vinter's Harvest and there is no green goo. I believe the goo comes from the sticks and not the berries.

 

[Waldo]

I had no green goo in mine at all NW

 

[sangwitch]

Waldo - did you do yours from scratch? I remember Joan saying that she had some goo when she did hers.

 

[NorthernWinos]

I will try the Vintners Harvest real soon and hope not to have the "GREEN-GOO</font>"

Saw this info on another page on Edlerberries...


Quote....

The cooked ripe berries of the edible elders are harmless, but raw elderberries can cause nausea if eaten in excessive quantity. Unripe berries and all parts of the elder plant itself are mildly toxic. The ripe berries are rather distasteful eaten raw, although wine made from the uncooked berries is neither toxic nor distasteful. Still, some people prefer to cook the berries before making wine. This renders the juice quite delicious as is, but it certainly improves when made into wine. There is little difference in taste between the wines made from uncooked and cooked berries, but the cooked berry wine seems more colorfast than the uncooked berry wine (source).</font>


I know that if I ever get some berries on my plants I will use the steam juicer....meanwhile Vintners Harvest is my crop for the first batch....

Edited by: Northern Winos

 

[ScubaDon]

I wonder if the steam juicer would work with the elderberries? Could give you the juice of the berries and leave the stems behind and elimate the goo. Edited by: ScubaDon

 

[Wade E]

Or you might have to clean the goo out of the steamer which might bake it on!

 

[rgecaprock]

Cracked Cork,


Little did I know, growing up in W,va, what offering the elderberry bush had in store for me. I remember them well, and I think that my dad made wine from them as he did from many of natures offerings.




W.Va. girl.......Ramona

 

[sangwitch]

west virginia... mountain mama... take me home... country roads...

 

[rgecaprock]

Darn. you are making me homesick!!!! Exactly .......mountains, streams, white water, wildlife, Dolly Sods, Spruce Knob, Senaca Rocks, New River Gorge, Cranberry Bogs, small mouth bass, trout, Black Water Falls, on and on..........................Ramona Edited by: rgecaprock

 

[Cracked Cork]

I broke my leg in the gorge, half way thru the trip, had to paddle out
like that, when idiots turned raft wrong way I by myself turned it the
right way and then got sucked right out of the raft on a big standing
wave. Should have just stayed on shore drinking wine I find quite a
few wild elderberries around the eastern panhandle but their berries
seem to be much smaller than the cultivated ones I have growing and
most of them are beside the RR or a dirt road and I know if I make wine
from them I will be tasting exhaust wether its really there or not.



Crackedcork

 

[NorthernWinos]

I wonder if the steam juicer would work with the elderberries?  Could give you the juice of the berries and leave the stems behind and elimate the goo.

I wonder that too...You people who have them around this summer should try cooking some to juice them, [like you would for jelly] and see if you get any "GREEN-GOO"</font>.

The above article said that the wine was more colorfast if made from cooked juice....

 

[Cracked Cork]

I was wondericg about dioing a small study on the progression fo
elderberries sugar levels using a refractometer, would that actually
and an usefull information on when to pick elderberries thisyear? Dont
have a refreactometer yet but if this is a good idea I be able to get
it if I pull off a good wedding anniverery for the old wifey. If we
could track the changed in sugars like they do for grapes for
elderberries we might be able to scientifially chart their progress
thru a season and it would show us when to picdk better fruit right?



Thanks



Crackedcrok

 

[jobe05]

Are the elderberries also the source for "ElderFlowers", like what they use in the Piesporter? If so, have you collected any? What would be the procedure? Does the elderberry have any flavor like the ElderFlower has?