Is your world also overflowing with berries? Some of my favorites are available during the high summer months – wild Blueberries, summer Raspberries, Red and Black Currants, Smultron (itsy bitsy strawberries that grow wild), Blackberries – but now we’re moving on to autumn berries!
There are actually even more berries in autumn. I don’t have experience with them all, but there are a few I look forward to every year – Rosehip (Nypon), Rowan (Rönnbär), Lingon (Lingon), Sea Buckthorn (Havtorn), Elderberries (Fläderbär), Hawthorn (Hagtorn), and if I had better access to Cloudberries (Hjörtron) I would certainly gather as many as I could of those gold nuggets.
But today I’ve been out gathering Elderberries – my second foraging of them actually.
Last week, my 4-year old and I gathered, cleaned and sorted about 1 liter of elderberries to make Elderberry syrup. Maybe you saw our Insta reel? It’s super easy to make and useful during the winter (recipe is below).
Today I gathered another liter of Elderberries because I want to try some new things with them, including body and skincare applications, which I’m really excited about! I’ve got some elderberries drying and waiting to be made into luxurious face oils, healing salves and body creams.
I wanted to do this last year, but I’d just had a new baby and got very little done otherwise. In fact, I planted an Elder tree in our garden when he was born. It’s still quite small – around the same height as our toddler now, actually – but it gave us a few Elderflowers back in the spring, and now a few clusters of tiny berries too.
Related Reading
Ode to the Elder Tree – Respect Your Elders – to learn how to properly identify Elder, information on all parts of the tree – flowers, berries, leaves, wood – as well as the fascinating folklore and mythology around the Elder tree.
For this post, I will focus on just the berries of Elder – 15 different ways to use them. Hopefully you’ll be inspired to get out there and gather some while they’re here!
Because right now Elderberries are hanging heavily from their branches like royal purple bells.
I use the word royal with intention. Because Elder is one of our ancient allies and a treasure trove of potential.
Some quick foraging tips:
Make sure you pick Elderberries when they are fully ripe – dark purple to even black in color – NOT green or pink. The latter can lead to stomachaches or nausea.
Also, Elderberries should not be consumed raw, only cooked. Boiling them for 20 minutes neutralizes any toxic components in their seeds. Some people say they can eat raw Elderberries without any issues, but since they are quite sour and astringent anyway, I don’t think it’s worth the risk of ingesting the slightly toxic chemicals in their seeds. So pick them, sort them, cook them down, add some sweetener, and enjoy their unique flavor and many health benefits!
Also, only the flowers and berries of Elder are edible, not the leaves or branches. This is because the Elder leaves and wood contain cyanogenic glycosides, potentially causing cyanide poisoning if consumed in large amounts. I talked about some safe uses of the leaves and wood here if you want to use the entire plant.
Make sure to clean your foraged elderberries well to remove any insects. I found a few tiny snails in mine. And pick out any damaged berries or unripe green ones.
Elderberries are best when used very quickly after harvesting, as their nutrients begin to degrade at room temperature. If you don’t have time to ‘process’ and use them after harvesting, then you can put them in the freezer to retain their nutritional properties. Bonus: it’s very easy to separate the berries from branches when frozen. Simply put the whole branches into the freezer. When you’re ready to use them, tap the frozen branches on a counter or table top. The berries will fall right off.
Right. So let’s get on with it then.
15 Ways To Use Elderberries
1. Elderberry syrup
This is something I make every year for my family to use throughout the winter, and it’s so very simple:
You’ll need 1 liter of ripe foraged elderberries – no stems. Put them in a pot with 1 cup of water, 1 cinnamon stick and some sprigs of thyme. Bring to boil and simmer for 20-25 min, gently mashing the berries to release juice. Strain through a fine mesh strainer. To the warm elderberry juice, add equal amount of raw local honey in volume, stirring until fully combined. So if you have 500 ml of strained elderberry juice, add 500 ml of honey.
That’s it! Store it in the fridge. I actually separate mine into small jars and put most of them in the freezer to take out and use throughout the winter.
It’s so nice poured over ice cream, on top of pancakes, or whisked into a sauce.
It can also be taken as medicine for better immunity and/or to help fight off a cold/flu virus. Adults, take a maintenance dose of 1 tablespoon per day (children should take 1 teaspoon dose) for improved immunity. If you get a cold or flu virus, increase your dosage to 1 tablespoon (or 1 teaspoon for children) 4 times per day for faster recovery. Check our next post to learn how elderberries fight colds and influenza!
2. Elderberry wine
“Elderberry wine, made correctly, is every bit as good as wine made from its cousin the grape. Aged, oaked and mellowed, wine from elderberries bears a close resemblance to some of the huskier, more brooding red grape wines; Mourvedre and Petit Verdot spring to mind. Elderberry wine is a wonderful drink when the weather turns cold and you find yourself in front of a fire with friends and food.”
Hank Shaw, award-winning author and chef who focuses on wild foods
Check Hank’s wonderful post, How To Make Elderberry Wine for the full method. It’s on my bucket list of things to make with Elderberry!
3. Elderberry juice
Perhaps the most common way to use Elderberry here in Sweden. Fläderbärssaft. We also make saft out of the Elderflowers in spring. In fact, elderflower drinks are commonplace. But the berries also make a delicious, nutritious juice. The process is very similar to Elderberry syrup, but this one is much more liquidy and drinkable, using more water, which does tone down the Elderberry flavor sadly.
Simply boil 2 liters of ripe, cleaned elderberries with 1 liter of water until the berries have released their juice. Strain through a fine mesh strainer. Now for every liter of elderberry juice, you want to add 500 grams of sugar. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil in a pot for about 10 minutes. Skim off any foam that rises. Pour into clean juice bottles and put the lid on immediately. Like syrup, you can freeze this in small portions to use throughout the winter.
4. Elderberry jam, marmelade, or jelly
Another very obvious but great use – make jam, marmelade or jelly. What’s the difference between them all? Oh I forget! There are probably a million different recipes floating around out there, so all you have to do is google it, but if you don’t have time for all that, here’s an Elderberry jam recipe I used once that worked out beautifully. It’s in Swedish, however. Or try this Elderberry Jelly from Simply Recipes. This one is interesting as it replaces pectin with chia seeds – if that’s your jam 😉
5. Elderberry cobbler or pie
This is an easy one and always a winner! Use Elderberries like you would Blueberries to make delicious desserts. Because by the time Elderberries are ripe and ready, the Blueberries (in our forests here at least) will have departed.
If you don’t have a favorite berry pie recipe yet, here’s one made just with elderberries. And here’s my favorite berry cobbler recipe (gluten-free) which uses blackberries but elderberries can definitely be substituted.
6. Elderberry pancakes
Simply sprinkle dried Elderberries onto your pancakes as you’re cooking them. I ladle pancake batter in a skillet. Sprinkle a few dried berries on top, then flip over and cook for a minute or two on the other side. I use dried berries for this, but I think you could also use frozen ones.
7. Pontack, or Elderberry ketchup
Pontack is a vinegar based Elderberry condiment that dates back in Britain a few centuries. Some liken it to ketchp, but I think it’s much too tangy for a real comparison. Maybe closer to worcestershire sauce, which is really nice to cook with. Pontack can age for many years and only get better with time. Again I go to chef Hank Shaw for this recipe – get it here!
8. Elderberry liqueur
Mother Nature provides the Elderberries, and Father Time will turn them into a fantastic liqueur. With the help of vodka. The formula is: 1 part berries to 2 parts vodka.
Here’s a more precise recipe: Get a big jar. Add 1/2 liter of fresh, ripe elderberries. Pour over 1 liter of vodka. Add in a few pieces of lemon rind. Seal the jar and put in a dark, cool cupboard for 3-6 months. The longer you let it sit, the more flavor the vodka will extract from the elderberries. It will turn color – like a dark pinot noir or even darker black-ish color if you let it sit long enough.
When you’re happy with infusion, strain through some cheesecloth or a fine mesh strainer. At this point you can add a little sugar. Personally I think it’s better with about 50-60 ml (1/4 cup) of sugar stirred into the elderberry infused vodka, but you don’t have to add any sugar. If you do, just stir it into the vodka, reseal the jar, shake it up and put it back in the cupboard. Give it a shake everyday. When the sugar has completely dissolved, your elderberry liqueur is ready ready to drink!
Nice on any occasion, but it feels particularly nice when you’re feeling a bit under the weather.
9. Cocktail mixer
Another way to enjoy your Elderberry syrup (see #1 above) is in a cocktail. I followed this brilliant recipe from Grow Forage Cook Ferment, as it contains only a couple of ingredients that I already had on hand. However, a quick google search reveals a lot of other cocktail possibilities – from basic to quite dazzling.
10. Elderberry tea
Ah, elderberry and a warm cup of tea. Now this is a must-do when illness strikes. Just steep a handful of dried Elderberries into boiling water. Sip and be delighted.
11. Elderberry tincture
A traditional way of using herbs and plants, tinctures are concentrated extracts to be used medicinally. You basically soak elderberries in an edible spirit like vodka or brandy for some weeks or months, then strain and seal in a glass jar. If stored properly, tinctures keep for decades.
Worried about the alcohol content for kids? Keep in mind that the dosages are very small when given in tincture form.
But if you still want an alcohol-free tincture, you can make what is known as a glycerite tincture, which uses a combination of food-grade vegetable glycerin and water. The ratio is somewhere around 3 parts vegetable glycerine to 1 part water. The method for making the glycerite tincture is exactly the same as the traditional alcohol-based tincture. Glycerites will keep for 1-2 years only.
Check here for details on both as well as recommended dosage for elderberry tincture based on age and health.
12. Elderberry face oil cleanser
Now for some body and skincare ideas! Because Elderberry is great for the skin too (check our next post to learn how elderberry can treat acne, soften skin, prevent wrinkles and more), why not infuse them into your everyday skincare products?
We have a face oil cleanser that is actually infused with the flowers of Elder (fläderblommor), but I’m curious to try an oil cleanser infused with Elderberries now as well.
Read our post on Making Your Own Infused Oils full our foolproof method on making infused oils. You’ll basically be infusing dried elderberries into your favorite cosmetic oil, like jojoba or olive, etc. for several weeks. Then you’ll strain it and then use it while formulating a face oil cleanser.
13. Elderberry face moisturizers or serums
Now that I think about, the Elderberry infused oil we just talked about in #12 can be used to formulate other skincare needs like moisturizing face oils, elixirs or serums as they’re often called. What’s the difference? Oh I forget this too!
Wyld makes a lovely rosehip and calendula infused face oil , a sea buckthorn infused face oil, rosehip and coffee face oil, even a wild spruce infused grooming oil. Why not try an elderberry infused one? I’m onto it, you guys. Got my elderberries drying right now and cannot wait to get them infusing into my favorite skin oils.
14. Elderberry infused body cream – or salve – or balm
Along the same vein, why not create a body balm or cream with Elderberry infused oil? Already I have been known to infuse a lot various plants into my body creams, salves and balms – calendula, yarrow, plantain, rosehip, dandelion, chamomile, etc. Not only do they keep my skin hydrated, strong and healthy, but they have been the ONLY thing that keeps my kid’s eczema under control, far better than any drugstore hydrocortisone cream. And knowing how anti-inflammatory and antioxidant-rich Elderberry is (check our next post for the full scoop on Elderberry’s skin benefits), I can imagine it gives a lovely result. I’m on to this already too!
In fact, I learned from an old book, Indian Herbaology of North America, that Native Americans, besides consuming the berries in many ways, also took Elderberry juice and made it into salve for the treatment of burns and scalds.
15. Natural dye for textiles, basketry and more
This is another ancient use of elder’s berries. Our ancestors used Elderberries to achieve brilliant pinks and purples, and even the much coveted black color. Dyeing textiles dates back to the neolithic period, as the first synthetic dye wasn’t invented until 1856. That’s not so long ago.
I tried this once, actually. Dyed some wool and linen scraps with Elderberry, mostly as an experiment. Wow, how pleasantly surprised I was! Totally regretted not dying nicer strips of fabric that I could use in the textile work I was doing at the time.
And now that I’m retraining my hands in the art of basketry, I really want to experiment with plant dying again. I love a good natural brown basket, but it would be super fun to play again with color! I absolutely love plant dyeing. It brings the whole world alive to me in new, vivid ways.
… Elderberries contain an impressive nutritional profile…
With tons of health-giving potential, which you can learn about all over the interwebs.
I had planned on putting a list of 15 health benefits together for this post as well, but it has gotten so long already, and we’re actually leaving right now for a 4-day Wyld harvest of Sea Buckthorn berries!!! One of my absolute favorite times of year. All packed and ready to go.
But while we’re away, maybe you’d like to go forage some Elderberries and try one of these ideas above?
Let us know in the comments if you do.
xo, Wyld
