North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Richard Kruse" <richkrus@gvtel.com>]

Several years ago I bought a  "'Walk on the Wild Side'a wild berry
cookbook".
In the Highbush Cranberry section she tells to freeze the clusters to clean
them.
Words can't relate how well this works.  Do the freezing in a bucket.  Take
the bucket
from the freezer and give the bucket a thump on the floor and you have two
things, berries
and leaves & stems.
This freezing method with slight handling modifications work with
elderberries and red currants.
It does not work with grape clusters.
In the case of elderberries after the removal to the large stems a strong
breeze will remove the
chaff from the berries.  Try it, you will love it.
With red currants, use the somewhat technical process of squishing the
currant and their
clusters with your hands in the container when frozen.  The stems collect in
bunches that can be removed
and the light pieces separated from the currant with the cool breeze.

Happy harvesting.
Richard Kruse, Zone 3 MN