Plant Stories
Elder
Sambucus nigra · S. canadensis
Elder grows where people have been — by old farmhouses, along ditches, at the edges of things. In early summer it carries flat plates of tiny cream flowers that smell like honey and something faintly green; by late summer they have become heavy, drooping clusters of almost-black berries.
- Family
- Viburnaceae (formerly Adoxaceae)
- Also called
- Elderberry, bezoar tree; buzina in Russian
- Parts used
- Flowers; ripe berries, always cooked
- Where I meet it
- Creek banks, field edges, the corner of the yard where nobody mows
Knowing it
A multi-stemmed shrub or small tree with opposite, compound leaves of five to nine toothed leaflets. Young stems have a soft white pith. Flowers grow in flat-topped umbrella-like clusters (cymes); berries are small, round and blue-black when ripe, on stems that turn purplish.
Learn it well before you pick: the berries should never be confused with pokeweed (berries in long hanging spikes on magenta stems) or with red elder (Sambucus racemosa), whose berries are red and grow in domed rather than flat clusters.
Gathering
Pick flowers on a dry morning when most buds are open, and shake out insects. Cut berry clusters whole when every berry has turned dark — a few green ones mean wait a week. Leave plenty for the birds; they rely on elder in autumn.
Drying & keeping
Flowers dry well spread on paper or a screen out of direct sun; they are ready when they crumble. Berries can be dried slowly at low heat, or frozen on the stem, which makes stripping them with a fork much easier.
Preparing
Strip berries from every bit of stem. Elderberries are always cooked before eating — in syrups, jams, and pies. Flowers go into cordials, teas and fritters.
What is known
Across Europe, elderflower tea was a household drink for feverish colds — taken hot to encourage sweating. The berries were cooked into thick winter syrups and "rob" (a reduced juice) kept for the cold months.
In English and Scandinavian folklore the elder had a spirit — the Elder Mother — and you asked her permission before cutting a branch. In Russian, elder turns up in a well-known saying for talk that makes no sense: "there's elder in the garden, and an uncle in Kyiv."
I make a pot of elderberry syrup every September and keep it in the fridge through winter. The children like it on pancakes as much as from a spoon. It tastes like a darker, wilder blackcurrant.
A handful of small clinical trials have suggested that elderberry extract may shorten the length of cold and flu symptoms, but the studies are limited and results are mixed. It is not a substitute for medical care or vaccination.