Elderberries and Elderflowers
Photos curtesy of Yovina Miller
Elderberries and their flowers have been used as nutritional food for a long, long time. Many of our grandparents and great-grandparents were familiar with them.
Even now, in rural areas you may find a little market carrying Elderberry pie, jam or wine.
In some parts of the country they can even be seasonally found fresh or frozen at markets or grocery stores.
Europeans have been using Elder products for centuries both as health boosting products and in tasty food and drinks.
Historical Thoughts, Quotes and Studies on Elderberries
Elderberries have been used for hundreds and even thousands of years.
Four hundred years before Christ, Hippocrates, the Greek physician said of Elderberries:
“THIS PLANT OF GOD HEALS ANYTHING IT TOUCHES!”
Botanists and Horticulturists who recognized benefits of Elder
John Evelyn
1620-1706
John Evelyn was a British writer, botanist and horticulturist.
He wrote of Elderberries, calling them a remedy “against all infirmities what-so-ever.”
William Coles 1626-1662
Willimam Coles, an English botanist, was purported to say of Elderflowers:
“There is hardly a disease from the head to the foot, but it cures.”
Luther Burbank 1849-1926
Luther Burbank was an American botanist and horticulturist. He mentions Elderberries among quite a list of healthful things for children to experience during their youth.
“Every child should have mud pies, grasshoppers, water bugs, tadpoles, frogs, mud turtles, Elderberries, wild strawberries, acorns, chestnuts, trees to climb. ……And any child who has been deprived of these has been deprived of the best part of education.”