Picking Elderberries the EASIEST way

[Cracked Cork]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2r-0WMWaJ4"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2r-0WMWaJ4[/ame]

We picked some elders this weekend and used Richs Knock the berries in the bucket and Lucs washing the picked berries with cold water to float out the junk and got 10 pounds of very nice berries in about 30 minutes, including trying to film the knocking in the bucket which you will see I still havent gotten it right yet. Washing the berries also cooled them down fast and after draining them they filled 2 gallon freezer bags. We have picked so many different ways, this just couldnt be any easier and give great berries in the end.

Crackedcork

 

[Brewgrrrl]

Sweet! Thanks for the tip (and video).

 

[Wade E]

Ive used the cold water trick and that works great to separate the ripe and unripe. Ill have t try the whack

-a-mole method!

 

[Scott]

That does look easy, off to find some elderberries! Thanks Cracked Cork for the info.








What is the best way to tell if they are ripe enough to start with? When the birds start eating them???

 

[Wade E]

Bring a jug of water with you and throw a few in there.

 

[Cracked Cork]

Check out on my webpage under the harvesting section, I put up some pics of unripe vs ripe berries, they got to be a little soft and full of red juice, also they should come of rather easily compared to the green ones and the ones that are red but not ripe.

Crackedcork

 

[Waldo]

I made my first harvest this year of my Elderberries yesterday evening and used the knock the berries in the bucket and it worked great. Bounced a few outa the bucket but it was still quick and easy. Just drained them off and I got 1-3/4 gallon freezer bags full.

 

[Scott]

Nice website there Cracked Cork, thanks will help alot.


Waldo is that enoughto make1 gallon, or do you mix with something else?


Wade, bucket of water test sounds like a plan to check them. Have some bush's spotted in the ditch by our house, on the prowl for more!

 

[ffemt128]

I started harvesting elderberries on Sunday then hit another bush yesterday. I managed to get just under 16 lbs of berries so far. I'm anticipating probably that amount again this weekend. I dipped the berries in water then rolled on my fingers to get them off. The smacking a bucket method didn't work to well for me. I was probably doing something wrong. I'll have to check the video from home.


Great site you have there.

 

[Waldo]

Nice website there Cracked Cork, thanks will help alot.


Waldo is that enoughto make1 gallon, or do you mix with something else?


What I harvested yesterday would make a couple of gallon Scott. I like to use 4lbs Elderberriesper gallon of wine and i will normally use raisins in the mix too but thats it. I do steam juice my Elderberries too.

 

[Wade E]

The elderberries arent ready here yet but I will have the mother load this year. Ive driven around for week and wrote down everywhere they were and they are a plentiful!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ffemt128]

The elderberries arent ready here yet but I will have the mother load this year. Ive driven around for week and wrote down everywhere they were and they are a plentiful!!!!!!!!!!

That's what I have to do next year, write everything down. Found alot out on the bike but couldn't locate some after the flowers were off.


I did watch the video from home. I wasn't shaking the berries hard enough.


Looking forward to the weekend.

 

[Scott]

Thanks Waldo for the info.


Went to check on the plant last night and the berries are only slightly larger than a BB, must be a young'un?

 

[Cracked Cork]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEfxhnDqGsQ[/ame]

For those elderberry pickers who havent used the washing method to sort out the unripe berries and bugs, we added a new video on washing the berries, we do about a gallon at a time in a 5 gallon bucket so there is plenty of room, we wash them under one of our apple trees so they can have the water.

Crackedcork

 

[Wade E]

Cool video.

 

[Runningwolf]

WOW, you always make it look so easy!

 

[Cracked Cork]

Wolf, that wasnt the first take, you can hear my producer in the background giving encoragement to wrap it up as she had a lot more to pick. Crackedcork

 

[ffemt128]

I picked another 35 lbs of berries on Saturday. I use the floating method described to pick out the unripe one. I had about 3 lbs total of floaters on Saturday. My harvest so far is 51 lbs....
Can't wait to start making elderberry wine.

 

[OGrav]

There are a lot of bushes around here with what I "think" are elderberries, but do they make a decorative version of them? I've never tasted a ripe elderberry; so I'm a little ignorant. Any good ways to identify them? Red/green/ gooseberry and currants I've got down. I hear they can leave a mess in your fermenter.

 

[Brewgrrrl]

I thought I knew what they looked like until I realized the ones I was eyeing were actually wild cherries. :-/ I do know that there is at least one decorative hybrid elderberry around though - someone tried to sell me one at a landscaping place last year. They told me the berries on that weren't edible. The leaves looked just like regular ones but they're grayish.