You are a life saver! You have no idea how any wasted hours we spend trying to get elderberries off by hand! HOURS! All the years processing elderberries and I didn't think of that. Thank you for making and sharing this video.
@@FeralForaging Okay! I'll keep an eye out for your new video when the season comes around. In the mean time I'll use this presented method on my first crop. Thanks again for the education. If you're not learning at least one thing new every day then you're falling behind!
This is what I am knee deep in today. My method is pretty much the same. I don't mind purple fingers (most of it washes off) so I just roll/shake them off into a bucket. A couple of good rinses and then they go into the oven/dehydrator. Cool, then store in a glass jar for my syrups. T'is the season right NOW! Happy harvest!!
I loved this video. Super educational and honestly really satisfying to watch! XD I have my first batch of Elderberries and so I'll have to try this method for pre-processing them.
Love your method! And love the cicalas chirping in the background. They reminded me of my wonderful years in Viginia. Now I live in the central italian appenines but no cicalas and NO HUMMERS.😢
We harvest them, break Don the tops into single stems, wash em . Then we I them into the dehydrator 155 degrees for 9 hours. Take an out , one rack at a time and keep the bottom plastic flat catcher under it. Then roll the dehydrated berths on the mesh rack. Still don't know how to get all the lil dems out yet? But this works. Thanks for the information.
The only thing I would do differently is use a five gal bucket with water and the strainer to scoop the berries out hopefully the bugs have landed on the bottom and away from my berries. Maybe that would be less work for me and more debris and bug removal. Going to pick mine today!
I use 5 gallon buckets for harvesting and normally gently rub the berries off of the stems by hand (unfrozen) into a stainless steel bowl, but i like the quickness of your method of beating them off. When making syrup, what ratio of juice to honey do you use? Would love to see many more elderberry videos from you! Just can't get enough of this very special wild edible.
I have bushels so I use a hair metal pick. Then shake 1/2 to 1 cup in a baking pan to remove noseeims or tiny mites .when I have a gal. Or more I put them in a large tall dish pan and fill it with water. Next skim of any berries that float (they aren't ripe). I repeat this 3 times then strain the berries and freezedry ,dehydrate or cook and can them. This works for cultivated berries. Native berries are dryer and so I double clean before washing and removing any unripe berries. 1pint of fresh berries equals 5 oz. Dry measure or 4.5 oz. weight dehydrated. I then vacuum seal in mylar bags.
I've been hand-picking my berries off: a messy situation! Waiting for this year's harvest to ripen and I'll be attempting berry removal this way. Praying it works, but then this year's berries are terribly slow to ripen. Are there enough prayers to pass around these days. TY
Good video. Seems like elderberries are all the rage right now. Wish I had known this before we cut down the 20-ft tree encroaching on the deck at our new place. Oops.
Can anyone tell me what was the warning message that came up on the screen when he was going back over the process at the end? I tried to seek and pause but couldn’t read it. Thanks
@@FeralForaging yeah,they are all really healthy to eat; good immune system boosters and for the blood. I take Elderberry every day but it would be better to grow it 😄
Thank you I'm hoping this works. So far I have been working on cleaning these elderberries for about 2 hours and they're still little pieces of twig in them I tried seeing if the twig would float that didn't work I've been using tweezers to get the unripe berries out. I started by freezing them cuz I saw that being recommended. I'm about ready to cut down the tree I'm so disgusted with how much I've lost in this process and I'm not even near the end. But since your video I'm going to try to dry them and see if the debris is easier to take out. I'm being very cautious because I heard from a herbalist and nurse practitioner that if you don't get all the little pieces of twig and leaves out, It acts like a abortive product so very dangerous for pregnant women and nursing.
Oh and I also started out with probably three cups worth and I'm down to a half a cup what a pain. I'm thinking by the time I get done with the whole thing I'll have a tablespoon of juice lol😂
You are a life saver! You have no idea how any wasted hours we spend trying to get elderberries off by hand! HOURS! All the years processing elderberries and I didn't think of that. Thank you for making and sharing this video.
Haha I’m so glad that it helped! Long process times are what might turn people off to wild food, so it’s always good to expedite. :D
Just picked (California) elderberries for the first time. Your videos are a lifesaver
Thank you from Scotland! Enjoyed your video, my first time harvesting elderberries :)
Wonderful! Hope all is well in Scotland. Happy foraging. :)
Thanks, bro. I'll have my first Elderberry plants in the yard this season and I'll try your method.
Great! I'm actually using a different method now, the "freeze" method. I'll make a video of that when the season hits for me this year!
@@FeralForaging Okay! I'll keep an eye out for your new video when the season comes around. In the mean time I'll use this presented method on my first crop. Thanks again for the education. If you're not learning at least one thing new every day then you're falling behind!
This is SO MUCH EASIER! Where have you been for the last 40 years of my life??😂
This is what I am knee deep in today. My method is pretty much the same. I don't mind purple fingers (most of it washes off) so I just roll/shake them off into a bucket. A couple of good rinses and then they go into the oven/dehydrator. Cool, then store in a glass jar for my syrups. T'is the season right NOW! Happy harvest!!
Wait. You dehydrate before storing? Please explain
Thank you for this tutorial. It will help me next year speed up the process.🥰
I find this video hilarious considering that I just started harvesting elderberries this year and this is the exact method I came up with on my own...
Glad I saw this video. I don't have freezer space for the other method and I like that I can leave the unripe ones behind
I loved this video. Super educational and honestly really satisfying to watch! XD I have my first batch of Elderberries and so I'll have to try this method for pre-processing them.
Best of luck! Let us know how it goes. :D
Yes, that works, however unripe berries do shake off along with ripe ones.
Wow, Thank you so much for the insight . I just came home to upstate N.Y. from Alabama and picked my Elderberries . Your video is a lidesaver .
I have an even better method I'm posting soon!
Love your method! And love the cicalas chirping in the background. They reminded me of my wonderful years in Viginia. Now I live in the central italian appenines but no cicalas and NO HUMMERS.😢
I got it. Thanks.
Somehow I missed this video! What did you end up doing with the elderberry?
Lots of syrup; has proven helpful this flu season!
@@FeralForagingwhat juice to honey ratio do you use?
This video was so helpful. Thank you
Glad it was helpful!
Hi there🙋♀️
Was wondering if you can do a video of making syrup.
Thanks..🙋♀️
I like the idea of the soft sided cooler instead of the bucket… A lot less bruising
Yeah, it works great! I don’t end up with smushed elderberries everywhere.
We harvest them, break Don the tops into single stems, wash em . Then we I them into the dehydrator 155 degrees for 9 hours. Take an out , one rack at a time and keep the bottom plastic flat catcher under it. Then roll the dehydrated berths on the mesh rack. Still don't know how to get all the lil dems out yet? But this works. Thanks for the information.
Fabulous, great work buddy...🙋♀️
Thank you so much 😁
The only thing I would do differently is use a five gal bucket with water and the strainer to scoop the berries out hopefully the bugs have landed on the bottom and away from my berries. Maybe that would be less work for me and more debris and bug removal. Going to pick mine today!
Best of luck to you! Let me know how it goes.
Awesome video.
Interesting method, thanks! Will try it this year.
let me know how it works!
Elderberry in the UK have smaller bushels so I simple hand comb them off the stems.
Learned something new
Glad that you did!
I use 5 gallon buckets for harvesting and normally gently rub the berries off of the stems by hand (unfrozen) into a stainless steel bowl, but i like the quickness of your method of beating them off.
When making syrup, what ratio of juice to honey do you use?
Would love to see many more elderberry videos from you! Just can't get enough of this very special wild edible.
My aunt would put them immediately into a steam juicer and partially fill gallon jugs then freeze them for later or make wine.
I’ve been freezing them first but I’m going to give this a try. It looks like this year has been a good year for elderberries.
It has been, we're about ready to harvest here!
I have bushels so I use a hair metal pick. Then shake 1/2 to 1 cup in a baking pan to remove noseeims or tiny mites .when I have a gal. Or more I put them in a large tall dish pan and fill it with water.
Next skim of any berries that float (they aren't ripe). I repeat this 3 times then strain the berries and freezedry ,dehydrate or cook and can them. This works for cultivated berries. Native berries are dryer and so I double clean before washing and removing any unripe berries.
1pint of fresh berries equals 5 oz. Dry measure or 4.5 oz. weight dehydrated. I then vacuum seal in mylar bags.
Well done!!
Awesome! Thank you 🙏🏼
Great videos...keep up the good work!!!Excited to see the next ones!!
Oh and where did you get this bag from? :P
Greetings from Greece!!
Thanks! I'm glad you liked it. :) Here is a link to the bag - theherbalacademy.com/product/plant-identification-foraging-tote-bag/
Where did you get your leaf identification bag???
Do you process then further to get rid of the toxicity?
I've been hand-picking my berries off: a messy situation! Waiting for this year's harvest to ripen and I'll be attempting berry removal this way. Praying it works, but then this year's berries are terribly slow to ripen. Are there enough prayers to pass around these days. TY
Best of luck! Let us know how it goes. :D
For sweeter berries wait til the shine turns dull before picking. Usually 2 days.
Love it thanks
Welcome!
Good video. Seems like elderberries are all the rage right now. Wish I had known this before we cut down the 20-ft tree encroaching on the deck at our new place. Oops.
That's okay, now you know! Maybe you can plant more. :D
Where in Alabama are you. Are the a lot of wild Elderberries there or do you have hybrids? I am thinking of a move to the Florence area.
We have a lot that grow along roadsides and fields! I'm in North AL.
Can anyone tell me what was the warning message that came up on the screen when he was going back over the process at the end? I tried to seek and pause but couldn’t read it. Thanks
Freezing also ruptures cell walls making juice extraction more efficient. I steam juice my berries.
I *just* learned about steam juicing! I'm excited to try it. :D
Do you have to take little stems off
I don’t worry about it too much
Where may I purchase the tote?
What do they taste like raw? Mine don’t have much taste at all.
This is correct. They taste like almost nothing raw. Caution with the seeds because they are toxic and should not be ingested.
@@FeralForaging Thank you. They seem to have very little sugars in them. I plan to make a mead with them so most of the sugars will come from honey.
@@spagnot let me know how it goes!
You shouldn't really eat many of them raw. I love mead, would enjoy hearing about that proc ss
I always wanted to grow these and lingonberries
I'm not experienced with growing myself, but this one is also on my to-plant list!
@@FeralForaging yeah,they are all really healthy to eat; good immune system boosters and for the blood. I take Elderberry every day but it would be better to grow it 😄
When I was cleaning my berries I seen a white worms do I throw them all away
You don’t have to, it’s almost inevitable they’ll show up. Just make sure to freeze or cook ASAP.
Do I wash them before cooking them down
Busting berries?
I don’t understand the question.
@@FeralForaging banging them, are the berries smashing or staying in tact?
At least with this soft shelled cooler, nope! No smashed berries.
I just picked elderberries here in Molino Fl,next to Alabama. but they have different leaves and the stems are red.
I’d be afraid of smashing too many open and loosing juice
Yeah, it takes about 6-8 hrs to process a gallon of fruit in a ziplock. It's ridiculous! Thanks!
Thank you I'm hoping this works. So far I have been working on cleaning these elderberries for about 2 hours and they're still little pieces of twig in them I tried seeing if the twig would float that didn't work I've been using tweezers to get the unripe berries out. I started by freezing them cuz I saw that being recommended. I'm about ready to cut down the tree I'm so disgusted with how much I've lost in this process and I'm not even near the end. But since your video I'm going to try to dry them and see if the debris is easier to take out. I'm being very cautious because I heard from a herbalist and nurse practitioner that if you don't get all the little pieces of twig and leaves out, It acts like a abortive product so very dangerous for pregnant women and nursing.
Oh and I also started out with probably three cups worth and I'm down to a half a cup what a pain. I'm thinking by the time I get done with the whole thing I'll have a tablespoon of juice lol😂
My berries won't come off like that,lol
Are you sure they are ripe? Unripe berries don’t come off for me like this.