Film
Elderberries from the Creek
Gathering the last elder clusters of the year, and cooking them down into a dark spiced syrup for winter.
We walk down to the creek with a basket to find the elder bushes still heavy with fruit — and a lot of birds who got there first. Back at the table: freezing the clusters, stripping every stem, and simmering the berries with cinnamon, clove and ginger.
There's a careful section on identification, because elder has lookalikes you don't want to confuse it with. The plant notes are on the elder page.
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Elder grows where people have been. Along ditches, behind old barns, at the edges of things.
These clusters are ready — every berry dark, no green ones. If there are green ones, I wait another week…