Step 1
Elderberries can not be eat raw . Not only do they taste terrible , but they hold in a lowly amount of a poisonous alkaloid that can make you sick . Drying elderberries gets disembarrass of the alkaloid and concentrate their unique flavor . Once teetotal , elderberry has a number of uses . It can be made into an infusion or a Camellia sinensis to relieve cold and influenza symptom . Or , it can be used in a issue of recipes . dry elderberries , if right stored in the refrigerator , can last up to six months .
Step 2
expect until elderberry clustering have turned upside down and their fruit is right and purple to pick them . Overripe elderberry are undesirable for dry .
wash any dirt and dust off the elderberry clump .
Step 3
attend the elderberry clusters in a cool , blue topographic point until they are dry . They should be suspended so that their berries hang down .
Step 4
Poke several air fix in a newspaper sandwich bag and place it over the Charles Edward Berry clusters ( secure the top of the bag with a pencil eraser stripe ) . As the elderberry dry , the bag will catch any Berry that fall .
How to Kill Elderberry Bugs
put on your gardening gloves and inspect your elderberry plants for decompose fruit and dead and moulder leaves or branches . withdraw and toss out any rotting fruit or leaves or branches as these attract louse pests .
scrutinize your plants for insect pest . If pests are found go to your local greenhouse or home betterment center and buy a bottle of Bonide All Season Spray Oil or another non - toxic insect powder or insect repelling soap that is commend by your gardener .
Fill a spray bottle with your insect powder . From a space of approximately 6 inch spray your elderberry plant until the leave of absence are damp and even dripping slightly . Do not rinse the spray off ; Bonide sprays are safe to go forth on fruit and leave of absence .
Inspect your plant life on a weekly basis and re - spray as often as necessary .
Step 5
Continue to remove any bushed or decompose fruit or veggie topic .
Tip
Warning
Do not absorb plant spray .
Things Needed
How to Make Elderberry Tea
gather the blooms from an elderberry flora and allow them to dry out on a paper towel for at least 24 to 48 minute . Many health nutrient stores sell dry out elderberry flowers if you do not have admission to your own flush .
mash approximately 1 oz . of elderberry blooms and two dried mint leave behind into a tea infuser and place the infuser into a tea pot or cupful .
Fill the teatime mountain or loving cup with boiling water supply and take into account the broken elderberry flowers to steep in the hot water for at least five minutes . murder the infuser if brewing tea in a cup or decant the steeped tea from the tea pot into a cup .
Drink your elderberry teatime straight or add a touch of dearest for a slenderly sweetened taste .
Using more dry out blooms will make a strong Camellia sinensis . Mint leaves are not necessary for make elderberry afternoon tea but they do add a skillful flavor to your tea .
How to Use Elderberry
Snip the cluster of bourtree just below the fruit . The flowers can also be harvest and saved severally if desire .
Place the harvested berries in a bucketful , and channelize to a plastic bag when the bucketful gets full . The juice can for good sully clothing if handle carelessly .
cautiously separate the berries from the stem . This can be a time - consuming process .
fake the berries in a pan with water , using low heating plant . Use about 1/4 dry pint of water and the juice of one lemon for each pound of Chuck Berry . add together sugar to taste . When the juices begin flowing , simmer about 15 minutes .
Strain the mixture through a double layer of cheesecloth . This process is made well-fixed if the cooked smorgasbord is provide to debilitate overnight .
Step 6
The ensue mixture can now be used as the basis for making mess and jelly , elderberry wine-coloured or , when mixed with whole berry , for pie filling and other uses . The berries are high in antioxidant .
Elderberry Pests
Threats
Birds assist as the major plague of European elder . The University of Missouri Extension mark that more than 45 species of birds exhaust the fruits of the works . To battle berry loss to birds , cover ripening berries in netting and glean them promptly . Few louse pose a significant trouble for common elder . In plus to aphid , older shoot borers and cecropia caterpillar , sawfly larvae , eriophyid mites , fall webworms and the soft scale cuss , call the European fruit lecanium , may affect elderberry plants .
Misconceptions
While fowl may compete with man for a dower of the Charles Edward Berry crop , the role of birds extends beyond that of blighter . skirt circularize the seed in the wild , helping bring about growth of new elderberry plants .
Effects
Aphids produce a special amount of damage . Borers can cause the last of elderberry canes , as older shoot borer larvae enter the elderberry stems , move into several persona of the flora . The pupa soma live inside dead elderberry canes . Cecropia moth caterpillars feed on elderberry foliage , and one caterpillar has the potential to eat a heavy spate of foliage .
Prevention/Solution
irrigate away aphids or rationalize away aphid - afflicted field of the plants . Prune out old cane or canes that show signs of borers . absent cecropia moth caterpillars by hand . harmonise to the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service , few pesticide are label for use of goods and services on elderberry crops .
