Elderberries. Photo by Edal Anton Lefterov

There are some elderberry trees on South Jackson, near us! Most of the fruit is out of reach. I thought I was in luck when I found some bunches on the ground. When I tasted one, I thought I’d made a mistake and poisoned myself. Turns out elderberries ARE edible – but they taste a lot better when dried, fermented, or cooked with lots of sugar!

I think I have enough to make some elderberry syrup.  If I had money (and space!) for the equipment, I’d use this recipe from Hank Shaw.

There is a lot of fascinating lore about elderberry trees!