Black and Blue elderberries (Sambucus canadensis, Sambucus nigra, or Sambucus glauca) grow wild throughout most of the USA and in the southern part of Canada. They are hardy from zone 2 to 11 and prefer moist soil in open areas. In freshly logged areas and beside stream banks, you’ll find elder growing and colonizing on it’s own. Elder can be grown from seed and in places where elder is already established baby elder bushes spring up anywhere that birds spread the seed.
The plant is very adaptable and very hardy. Although it has a reputation for being hard to establish in a garden, new varieties are being developed to make commercial cultivation successful. Both blossoms and berries are used for both food and medicine.
The 2013 Herb of the Year honoured the Elder. If you haven’t tried elder as an herbal medicine yet, now is the time to become familiar with this generous plant. The flowers, berries, and leaves of the Elder are used in herbal medicine. In the past the bark and leaves were used internally because they are a powerful emetic and purge, but today we look for gentler paths to restoration and health.
The flowers emerge in May or June, depending on elevation and climate. Harvest no more than 1/5th of the flowers on any bush, leaving enough to mature for berries in September. Elder flowers can be macerated in alcohol or cider vinegar to make a tincture. They can also be dried with gentle heat, so that they can be used to make a tisane later in the season. The fresh flowers can be infused in olive oil for skin care.
How to use the leaves
The leaves are used externally only, as they act as a powerful purge and can be toxic if taken internally. Infuse coconut oil with the leaves by heating the coconut oil until the leaves are crisp. Strain it and use it for skin eruptions, bruises, cuts, and scrapes. Add arnica, St. John’s wort flowers, and calendula blossoms to the oil with the elder leaves in order to make an first aid salve for cuts, bites, and scrapes. Note that this should be used externally only.
The berries are where the elderberry really shines. Only the blue or black berries are used as the red berries can contain high amounts of cyanide and are potentially toxic. The elderberry has a unique tart taste for distinctive jams, jellies, and syrups. But it’s a real star when it comes to aiding in the treatment of the common cold, or the flu. The berries make an excellent home-made wine and winter cordial, a dose taken just before going to bed, is an old-fashioned and well established cure for a cold.
Studies have shown that it is effective in deactivating the protein that the flu virus needs in order to attach itself to cells, shortening the duration of symptoms and boosting the immune system.
The dark purple colour of the berries shows that it is high in free radical scavenging anthocyanins and it is therefore being studied as an adjunct therapy for the treatment of cancer. It is similiar in this regard to black berries and blueberries, purple cabbage, purple potatoes, purple carrots, and black rice. It has more than 5 times the anthocyanins than blueberries and more than twice the anthocyanins of bilberries. Truly, “elder”berries aid us to slow down the aging process.
“Besides lots of flavonoids and free radical-scouring antioxidants, elderberries contain 87 percent of the daily value in vitamin C, and high amounts of vitamin A, potassium, iron, vitamin B6, fiber, and betacarotene.” (Mercola)
A standardized commercial preparation of elderberry syrup is available and most of the current scientific studies used this product in their double blind experiments.
Make elderberry syrup
However, you can easily make Elderberry syrup at home. Simply take your elderberry harvest and heat the berries with water. Boil fresh berries in water for 3 to 5 min. Press the juice out of the berries. Sweeten with 1 part honey to 10 parts juice. Heat to boiling. Bottle in glass and cap tightly. Keep the syrup in the refrigerator. The berries can also be dried or frozen and fresh syrup can be made as needed. Dried berries can be purchased, if you can’t find them growing near you.
I buy my dried, organic elderberries from Mountain Rose Herbs. (I love their herbal teas, too!)
Download my Materia Medica on Elderberry
Philip Fritchey. Practical Herbalism, ordinary plants with Exraordinary Powers. (Warsaw, IN:Whitman Pub.) 2004.
David Hoffman. Medical Herbalism, The Science and Practice of Herbal Medicine.(Rochester, Vt: Healing Arts Press) 2003.
Mercola.com http://foodfacts.mercola.com/elderberries.html as viewed on April 10, 2014.
Richters 2013 Herb and Vegetable Catalogue
A.F. Szczawinski and George A. Hardy. Guide to Common Edible Plants of British Columbia. (BC Provincial Museum:Department of Recreation and Conservation)1962.
Picture credit: Public Domain, Flora Batava, Volume 6 (1832),