North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Bob Sorenson <natvwine@cut.net>]

> From: "Bruce Hansen"
> Elderberries will make you a tad sick if you eat them raw. It can be a
> revolting experience.

I eat pounds of elderberries (blue) every year during picking season. No
sickness here. I also eat and use all of the ripe red elderberries (S
racemosa) I can get.
No reason to buy into the "old wives tale" mentality just because someone
read it somewhere. 
Having said that, the red elders do contain cyanogenic glucosides and will
affect metabolism somewhat. (for a real education read up on laetrile, the
now outlawed dietary supplement once thought to cure cancer derived from
almond pits. Its active component is.... CYANIDE!)

Here's a funny story;
In my business I pick wild berries every year and often I get stopped and
hassled by well meaning but not well educated people who are too willing to
think that I don't know what I am doing. They will insist that I am going to
poison myself and after a couple of years of trying to be nice to these
types of folks I hit upon a great plan: Now I simply tell them that I have
been hired by the local govt. authority to scour the urban/wildlands
interface to pick all of the dangerous berries and dispose of them in order
to protect children, dogs and desperate poor people.
This is suprisingly satisfying to myself and the duped and it means more
elderberries for me!

bob sorenson