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  • From: Dan Nave <nave1@comcast.net>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] elderberries stem toxicity
  • Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2011 17:51:05 -0500

Just picked the first elderberries from two plants that were planted 1 year ago. John's and Wild Elderberry. By the way, the wild elderberry seemed to bloom a bit later than the John's so I am not sure that we got all of the John's to fruit. (Or do they really need another variety to pollinate them?) Fruit was not abundant but we got almost 2 cups of small berries. Not that many canes came up but I think it is because it is planted under a maple tree (branches are cut up high) but I think there is some competition with the roots...

I remember several years ago collecting elderberries and making wine out of them. It was incredibly difficult to get the berries off the stems. I ended up using, and ruining, one of my wife's plastic bristle hair brushes. Using your method of freezing them it was extremely easy to get the fruit off the stems. So, thanks a lot for that.

I notice many very small stem pieces loose in the bag with the berries so I will have to come up with a method of separating these out. I would think that spreading them out on a terrycloth towel or something like that and rolling the berries off might leave the twigs behind in the cloth. Maybe they could be winnowed out. Any other suggestions?

Dan
St. Paul, MN, zone 4

On 9/3/2011 6:56 AM, John Bunker wrote:
We make elderberry juice. We steam the berries and extract the
juice. Then we freeze it and use it later. It has a strong flavor
but we like it and it has never made us ill. We have not tried eating
them uncooked. One of our apprentices ate one S. pubens (Red Elder)
berry. She decided not to do that again.

A friend taught us one way to remove the berries from the stems rather
easily. Freeze the clusters, stems and all in a plastic bag. Then
whack the bag against a counter or with a stick, etc. Cut a small
hole in the corner of the bag and then "pour" out the berries.
JB

John Bunker
Fedco
trees@fedcoseeds.com
www.fedcoseeds.com
PO Box 520
Waterville ME 04903
207-873-7333




On Aug 28, 2011, at 12:05 AM, mIEKAL aND wrote:

It would be interesting to see an analysis of the elderberry goo
compound. I wonder if the toxicity is part of what gets bound up in
the goo in the juicing process. The goo sticks to everything along
the way, the primary, the juicer, siphons, so by the time it gets in a
bottle there is very little sign of it. I flunked chemistry in high
school so I'm just wondering out loud.

As for removing it. The link I posted worked for surfaces where I
could rub oil on it first& then scrub vigorously with a lot of soap&
water. The oil seems to break it down. This process won't work for
the inside of siphons& for my glass secondary tho... At last I got
the primary bucket clean enough to fill it with another load of
elderberry must.

~mIEKAL


On Sat, Aug 27, 2011 at 9:56 PM, Jay Cutts<orders@cuttsreviews.com>
wrote:
I once got violently ill after eating elderberries right off the
bush.
Days later, when I had finally recovered, I did some research and
found
that the elderberry stems contain a toxin. I had stripped the berries
right off the clusters with my teeth (Ok, it was really hot out and I
was really parched and I didn't have the patience to pick one berry
at a
time.)

Any run into this? When you mentioned bits of stem being included I
thought of this.

Regards,

Jay

Jay Cutts
Director, Cutts Graduate Reviews
Lead Author, Barron's Test Prep Publications
(800) 353-4898
In New Mexico, (505) 281-0684
10 am to 10 pm Mountain Time, 7 days
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