ELDERBERRIES: AN OLD-FASHIONED FRUIT
I love old fashioned things: Jane Austen novels and movies, homemade pies and desserts (no weird preservative aftertaste like ones from the grocery), and just providing for my family myself in any way I can. It’s not just to save money, although that was a major factor while finding ways to cut costs so I could stay home to raise my kids.
It all started with Laura Ingalls Wilder. I remember my mom reading Little House in the Big Woods to my sister and I in front of the fire in the fireplace when I was about 7-8 years old. Such cozy memories with a cozy book!
Later, I started reading the rest of her books and it just felt like that’s how things should be: living off the land, mostly self-sufficient. So, I latched onto that idea of self-sufficiency. Now, I’m not complaining about the conveniences we have; I do like my air-conditioning, not having to make my own shoes and I love my dishwasher!
I digress. My Grandmother grew up in the hills of Kentucky in a very poor family. She and her siblings had to forage often to help feed the family. She told me of wandering the countryside picking blackberries and other things for their mother to can for wintertime. After Great Grandma had put up the required number of jars to feed the family during winter, the kids were free to sell any other berries they found for spending money. Grandma taught me to find and recognize blackberries and black raspberries growing in the wild. And when we lived for a while in a rural area, she helped me find some. I loved foraging for them with my kids and making a little jam or a pie or something.
While Grandma never mentioned elderberries, I’m convinced in my mind, she must have had them as a child. (Sadly, she passed away this past January, so I can’t ask her) Three years ago, when my friend recommended elderberry syrup for my cough that wouldn’t go away, I began researching elderberries. I think I’d heard of them but had never had them or seen them anywhere. But there are many berries I’ve heard of yet never seen or tasted. Gooseberries, and mulberries (Here we go ‘round the mulberry bush) for example.
As I did more reading, I discovered they’ve been known and well-loved for thousands of years! People make wine and cordials from them, jam, jelly, pies, other desserts and of course you could always throw them in baked goods like you would blueberries. Although I’m pretty confident I’ve discovered a wild elderberry bush, I’ve still not tasted fresh elderberries. Different people report different things about them.
Some people say you can’t eat them raw, because of the toxin in the seeds (apple seeds, cherry & peach pits are also considered toxic) Some people say you can eat them raw as long as they don’t make you feel sick. Others say only eat them cooked: testing has proven that cooking destroys the toxin, which makes sense, since people have been consuming the wine, jams and pies for at least hundreds of years. Some say that fresh berries taste bad but dried taste good. I’ve read others say the opposite: that the dried berries are bitter and fresh are sweet and good. Based on my experience in growing strawberries, I’d guess it may depend on weather and growing conditions and possibly also the variety or species of elderberry.
Whatever the case of the taste is, I love how God made so many foods for us to eat that are beneficial to our health! I look forward to tasting the wild elderberries this summer, If I can get some before the birds. I don’t expect to see enough berries to make my syrup from, but maybe I can be like the Ingalls family and my Grandma and provide just a few jars of jam and a pie for my family for this winter.