Elderberry season!

The warmer summer days have met Santa Cruz, California with a beautiful grace. Warmer days ranging across the city. In the mountains heat peaks in the morning and lasts all day. In the farm land of Watsonville we see a similar pattern- strong sun and long days. The earth soaking up whatever moisture she can. I notice tending to the farm that any water given to the plants soaks right in and is deeply stored.

Here by the ocean we are experiencing briefly crisp mornings- where the air is fresh. A time to open to windows and let cool air in before the heat of the day. With that, our warmth by the sea seems to reach a peak around 4 pm, leaving the evenings warm and humid- almost tropical feeling.

With all this warmth, the medicine of elder transforms.

White sparkling elderflowers kiss the sky as they transition seemingly overnight. In the morning we wake to green berries, berries that ripen turning a vibrantly dark purple. Most of the elder I see here is of the sambucus nigra genus. Meaning that when those berries are fully ripe they are so dark they almost appear black. Some of which are even covered with a white dust like appearance.

Nature is revealing the gold, in hues of purple. The medicine makers’ cue to witness, wait and prepare.

As berries ripen we begin our harvest. The time to prepare medicine for late summer, fall and winter.

These beautiful berries can be turned right into a syrup or a tincture. I like to freeze my berries so that come fall I have quick access when I need to make more of this medicine.

You have likely heard people say “aren’t elderberries toxic?”

While I have met plenty of farmers who say they grew up eating elderberry right off the tree as kids.

So let’s talk about it!

Elderberry contains cyanogenic glycosides a toxic natural compound found in over 2000 species of plants. Like almond, wheat, barley, cassava, stonefruits and apple.

So how do we safely separate these compounds from our medicine?

Well, we do so with heat and/or extraction.

We can simply remove this compound by removing the berries from the stem. I find using a fork helps to remove these berries with ease. I have also been told that freezing them before processing helps to more simply remove the berries from the delicate stems.

The stems contain higher percentages of the cyanogenic glycosides.

Once we have removed our stems we can begin our preparations.

For syrups we can safely destroy this natural chemical compound by putting the elderberry through a temperature change. By first putting the berries into some cool/room temp water and then bringing them to a boil in our decoction for 45 minutes or until the liquid has reduced by half.

Then the plant material is separated from the liquid.

Another way to safely separate this compound is in our glycerite or alcohol extractions. We aren’t exactly removing this compound, and rather we are separating it from the medicine.

The liquid solvent (alcohol or glycerite) extracts the medicine we want, while the medicine we don’t want remains in the berry/plant material. When we rid of our extracted plant material we are left with our extraction- now safe to consume for months and even years to come.

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So as elderberry season comes around- get curious! And don’t fear- this medicine making process can be more simple and innate than it sounds. The earth is giving beautiful medicine for the seasons ahead. She is wise like that! So be kind and harvest with reciprocity. Asking for permission, giving an offering, and leaving plenty for the birds and creatures around- so that this medicine can continue to grow for years to come.

In next week’s herb wise blog I will share more about the medicine of elderberry. And if you want to learn how to identify this plant you can look back to some of my elderberry and elder monographs in previous herb wise blogs.

Please remember to always use at least 3 identification sources when wildcrafting. Also be mindful of where you are harvesting. For example, making sure the plants are not near roadways or somewhere they can become polluted by exhaust or pesticides.

Disclaimer: These articles are for educational purposes only, they are not a substitution for professional medical advice, and as the reader you are responsible for your own health decisions.