Explore the healing wonders of Elder, why Elder is called a “medicine chest” since medieval time, and why we want to grow an entire grove of Elders on our homestead.

I met Elder for the first time years ago at my workplace in California, where I often sat in her shade, not knowing then about her medicinal gifts, but simply drawn to her protective energy.

At the same workplace, an herbalist came to teach a workshop. She casually walked around naming every plant she saw, listing their healing qualities. “Oh yes, there’s dandelion, her bitter roots are excellent for the liver. There’s plaintain by your foot, chew up the leaves and put it on your bug bite to relieve the itch. Oh hello elder dear, your berries look beautiful this season. Thank you for protecting us against colds and flus…” and so on. I was so impressed by her plant knowledge, I followed her around everywhere, hurriedly jotting notes, hanging on to every name and every word she uttered.

I thought to myself, “It must be so magical to be attuned to all the plants that grow around us!” Years later, I find myself understanding much better what it really means to know my surroundings in this same way. To live like this is to know that you are a part of a very large family of wise beings who have nourished and healed us for thousands of years.

Today, I’d like to honor one special family member I’m glad to know: Wise Mother Elder.

You may already be familiar with Elder, which is often sold today as elderberry syrups to boost the immune system and relieve flu and cold symptoms. Elderberry is indispensable in our own medicine cabinet and every summer, we go to our favorite spot in the Cascade mountains to harvest bucketfuls of elderberries for our own use, mostly in jam for our breakfast and syrup for treating cold/flu. Occasionally, we also collect elder flowers to dry for tea.

There is a story told all over the world, in different cultures and various versions, of the woman who lives in the Elder. Sometimes she is called Elder Lady, sometimes Elder Woman, but my favorite name for her is Elda Mor.

The stories say that Elda Mor is a Wise Woman who has taken the shape of a tree in order to heal her children. She is powerful and she demands respect. If you wish to have her help, you must honor her. If you abuse her, fail to ask permission to take part of her, Elda Mor will poison you.

Elder grows somewhere near you; look and ask for her. When you find an Elder bush, develop a relationship with Elda Mor. Visit with her from time to time. Then, when the Elder blooms, go out in the moonlight and tell her of your desire to heal with her magic and her knowledge. She will respond, granting permission for you to take her sweet flowers. Thank her and put up her tincture immediately, capturing moon beams. Thank her and put up your tincture immediately, capturing moon beams, Elder dreams, and the ancient wisdom of women in your bottle.

Susun Weed, Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year

Common Elder Species

There are many types of elder including species native to Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and North & South America, but not all are edible. Black Elder and Blue Elder are the two most common species that we find in culinary and medicinal uses.

Black Elder / European Elder / American Elder: Sambucus nigra / Sambucus canadensis. This is the elderberry that’s most commonly mentioned and referenced in herbal medicine. Black elder is native to most of Europe (Sambucus nigra) and North America (Sambucus canadensis). They are medium to large shrubs with pinnately compound leaves. Black elder spread by rhizomes and grow to about 19 ft tall depending on soil conditions. They prefer moist soil in semi-shade and can be found in hedgerows and woods. They flower in early to late summer, depending on the climate. The flowers are tiny and white / cream color in large, dense clusters called cymes. The fruit ripen in August-October and are drupes of small, juicy, purply red berries.

Black elder has a long history of edible and medicinal uses, with all parts of the plant used for a wide range of treatments. Elder flowers and berries are still commonly used in Europe to make jams, pies, preserves, chutneys, wine, and syrup. Elder flower extract is often used in England to impart a delicate sweet flavor to baked goods, sparkling wine, and tea.

Elder Flowers and Elder Berries have long been used in the English countryside for making many home-made drinks and preserves that are almost as great favorites now as in the time of our great-grandmothers. The berries make an excellent home-made wine and winter cordial, which improves with age, and taken hot with sugar, just before going to bed, is an old-fashioned and well-established cure for a cold.

Margaret Grieve, A Modern Herbal, Volume 1

Blue Elder: Sambucus caerulea. Blue elder grows in Western N. America – British Columbia to California, Montana, Texas and Mexico. Blue elder thrives in dry, gravelly soil on stream banks and woodland edge. We’ve found that blue elder grows well in the mountains, particularly clear cut sites on south facing slopes. Blue elder is aptly named for the berries’ blue color, compared to its eastern relative which has very dark purple berries. It has similar medicinal qualities to black elder and a long history of documented use of all plant parts by indigenous people.

We offer blue elderberry seeds in case you want to add some blue elder to your garden or food forest!

This plant is similar to the American Elder but larger in all respects, occasionally becoming a tree as much as 40 feet. The individual berries are larger, as are the cymes they are borne in; clusters have weighed in at more than 2 pounds.

Samuel Thayer, Nature’s Garden

*Some of the information above are found from Plant for a Future and we highly recommend this website for anyone with an interest in edible and medicinal plants. The site has a useful edible and medicinal rating scale, thoroughly lists many examples of uses from various sources, notes any known poisons, and serves as a great starting point to growing edible plants.

Folklore

Not long ago, people revered plants not only for their curative powers, but also for their magical powers. Some sees this as mere “superstition” of the country folk. But from my own experience of being drawn to sitting with the Elder tree long before knowing anything about her medicinal properties, I tend more toward the belief that there is much wisdom in these stories. At the heart of many of these stories – whether it’s a warning or a blessing – is a deep respect for Elder.

Myths abound about Elder’s magic throughout Europe.

In most countries, especially Denmark, the Elder was intimately connected with magic. In its branches was supposed to dwell a dryad, Hylde-Moer, the Elder-tree Mother, who lived in the tree and watched over it. Should the tree be cut down, Hylde-Moer was believed to follow her property and haunt the owner… [Also in Denmark], we come across an old belief that he who stood under an Elder tree on Midsummer Eve would see the King of Fairyland ride by, attended by all his retinue.

Margaret Grieve, A Modern Herbal, Volume 1

For the most part, Elder is more often associated with protection against evil:

The Russians believe that Elder-trees drive away evil spirits, and the Bohemians go to it with a spell to take away fever. The Sicilians think that sticks of its wood will kill serpents and drive away robbers, and the Serbs introduce a stick of Elder into their wedding cermonies to bring good luck. In England it was thought that the Elder was never struck by lightning, and a twig of it tied into three or four knots, and carried in the pocket as a charm against rheumatism. A cross made of Elder and fastened to cow-houses and stables was supposed to keep evil from the animals.

Margaret Grieve, A Modern Herbal, Volume 1

Elder’s magical influence can still be seen today, most notably, the Elder Wand in the Harry Potter series.

Medicinal Uses

[Elder] has been termed, ‘the medicine chest of the country people’

Margaret Grieve, A Modern Herbal, Volume 1

Europe: For centuries, the bark, leaves, flowers, and berries of the elder have been used to treat many different conditions. Elder bark and leaves were used to make purgatives to cure dropsy. Ointment of the leave were made for bruises and sprains. Elder flower was used for eyes and skin conditions. “Elder Flower Water in our great-grandmother’s days was a household word for clearing the complexion of freckles and sun burn.” Elder flower infusion was “an almost infallible cure for an attack of influenza in its first stage.” Elder flowers were also used externally to reduce inflammation and ease pain from hemorrhoids. Elder flower vinegar helped ease sore throat. Dried berries was considered a good remedy for colic and diarrhea. Elderberry wine, cordials, and syrups were used for colds and coughs. (A Modern Herbal)

North America: The indigenous people of North America employed elder medicine long before the settlers arrived from Europe, with treatments varying from tribe to tribe.

The Choctaws made an herbal salt with the leaves which was applied to an aching head, while the Houna boiled the bark to make an anti-inflammatory wash. The bark of the root was used by the Meskwakis to make an expectorant tea, and the Mohegans found that tea from the flower soothed colic. (Vision Times)

China: Known as Jie Gu Mu (接骨木) in Chinese, elderberry is linked with the lung, kidney and bladder meridians in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Among its many uses, it is said to expel phlegm, promote urination and reduce swelling. It is also used to increase sweating and stop bleeding.

Elderberry is considered effective for “clearing heat,” “dispelling wind,” and “resolving damp.” The berries and flowers have been used in TCM for hundreds of years to treat a wide range of conditions, including constipation, chest pain, congestion, joint and muscle pain, as well as the common cold and seasonal flu. Medicinal wines made from the berries are used to treat pain resulting from injury or arthritis.

The inner bark is a more powerful medicinal, used for chronic constipation, edema, and gout. (Vision Times)

Active Constituents: The berries are very high in vitamin C, a leading supplement promoted for immune support. They are also a good source for a number of other antioxidants, including anthocyanins, phenolic acids, and the flavonols quercetin, kaempferol and isorhamnetin. Anthocyanin is also recognized as an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant.

Elderberries have been shown to enhance the body’s production of cytokines, important messengers for immune response. The powerful antioxidant anthocyanin may further boost this activity. Some studies suggest that elderberry can lower both blood pressure and cholesterol. (Vision Times)

Other Uses

The scientific name “sambucus” comes from “sambuce,” a Greek word for a musical instrument made from elder wood. Elder stems are hollow once the inner pith is removed and thus, have a widespread tradition of being used as instruments, blow sticks for kindling fires, pipes, arrows, and twirling sticks to start fires. Elder is known as the music tree by the Chumash and other tribes. They use it to make clapper sticks and flutes/whistles. “Elderberry is the music tree, our heartbeat,” Cecilia Garcia (Chumash). (Once Upon a Watershed)

According to A Modern Herbal, the wood of old Elder trees make strong stakes that “will last in the ground longer than an iron bar of the same size”. Decoction of young leaves sprinkled over plants and buds repelled aphids and caterpillars. Whipping branches of green leaves over cabbages, turnips, and fruit trees protected them from blight. Infusion of leaves applied on a hat or clothes kept away mosquitoes and midges. The leaves were also used by farmers to protect granaries from rodents.

The bark and root of old trees are used to make black dye. The leaves yield green dye and the berries make blue-purple dyes. (A Modern Herbal, Volume 1)

Harvest & Preparation

Where we live here in southern Oregon, there’s a large grove of wild blue elders growing along a steep south facing slope that had been clear cut. (Note: avoid wild harvesting in recently cleared land because unfortunately, timber companies spray herbicides in these areas to suppress “weeds” and make way for conifers to regrow).

We’ve explored our local mountains and learned to become attuned to the timing for harvest. Typically, we look for mature elder trees with drooping branches with clusters of deep blue berries with a white powdery bloom. In our area, depending on rainfall, berries fully ripen in late August to early October.

As we harvest, we inspect each cluster closely to make sure most of the berries are ripe as some could still be greenish. Unripened berries don’t taste as good so we prefer to leave these to ripen on the tree later for birds and other animals to enjoy.

As Susun Weed alluded to in her story about Elda Mor, elders have a poisonous component. Elders contain tiny amounts cyanogenic glycosides as well as lectins and alkaloids that can cause upset stomach (raw almonds and beans also have the same compounds with similar effects to our digestive system). However, not all parts of the plant have these compounds. Branches, stems, leaves, and seeds have more while the berries have the least amount. Cooking helps to breakdown these compounds as well.

According to a 1983 CDC report of elderberry poisoning, people drank raw elderberry juice containing leaves and branches of the blue elderberry, Sambucus mexicana. They experienced nausea and vomiting, but quickly recovered. It’s best avoid ingesting leaves and stems and eating large amounts of raw elderberries.

We have a very simple and easy way to remove elder stems. We freeze all of the berry clusters and once fully frozen, the berries come off easily with light brushing. River (3 year old at the time of this writing) loves helping with this and will inevitably nibble on a few frozen berries too.

Our favorite elderberry preparations

1. Elderberry syrup. Our go-to for colds/flus and very easy to make. If one of us comes home with a runny nose, I’ll immediately grab elderberry syrup and have everyone in the household take a couple spoonfuls. If I am vigilant early enough, I would not catch the cold at all and if I do get it, I would get over my cold quickly within one day. River LOVES the flavor of elderberry syrup so he will gladly drink as much as I offer.

To make the syrup, I follow a simple recipe from Susun Weed.

• Simmer the berries until the berries have mostly broken down.
• Strain out berries and continue to simmer until volume reduces to almost half. (It’s not essential to simmer for this long, but it makes the most potent syrup so a spoonful goes a long way!)
• Then add honey or sugar. The amount to use is determined by ratio of volume of elderberry juice to volume of sweetener. 1:1 for sugar and 1:2 for honey. So for 1 cup of juice, add 1 cup of sugar or ½ cup of honey.
• Continue to simmer until honey or sugar fully dissolves.
• Strain and put in a jar and keep in the fridge. It will last for a full year.

2. Jam. We only make sugar-free jams as most fruits already have enough sugar. We’ll cover jamming in more detail in a separate post. Elderberries make excellent jams and we like to add apples to ours to thicken it and mellow the flavor (I find the elderberry flavor to be a little too floral, personally). We eat jam with homemade yogurt and granola every morning, so this is a great way to get elderberries into our daily diet in the winter.

3. Kombucha. I keep frozen elderberries for flavoring kombucha, which I make in the summer months. I simply add a ¼ cup of berries to each quart of finished kombucha and let it sit an extra 2-3 days on the counter to infuse. The berries help make the kombucha extra fizzy and tangy.

4. Natural dye. In previous years, I got into dying wool yarn and silk ribbons and have used elderberries to yield a nice green/blue color. This year, I saved some elderberries to make paint for River to play with. It’s an easy process that starts out similar to making a syrup (gently simmering berries for long time until the juice comes out) so I simply reserve a cup from the pot. Adding vinegar changes the color to pink and baking soda changes the color to green, which is extra fun for kids to experiment.

Susun Weed also recommends making elder flower tincture to reduce fevers (especially for infants). We haven’t tried this yet, but this is high on my list of medicine cabinet must-have’s.

As elderberries grow in popularity, especially for natural remedies, we are noticing signs of over harvesting in our local mountains. We stopped foraging on the trees that are easier to access, but show signs of stress. For us, harvesting from these mountains is temporary while we wait for our own trees to grow to fruit bearing size. Noel propagated several different varieties of elders (he will share about propagation techniques in another post) and they are growing very quickly in our orchard and living fence. A few are already making small clusters of fruit so we expect that within 2-3 years, we will have enough to harvest for our own needs.

Though seeing the plants stressed by drought and being over harvested is discouraging, I think that the return of elderberry to our medicinal repertoire overall is a good thing. We are recovering some of the wisdom of our ancestors. There’s still much to learn – like being in right relationship with plants – but this is a start.

In the meantime, cultivating elderberries in our gardens and homesteads is a great way to have a steady supply of elderberries. Elder’s fast growth and easy propagation also makes her an ideal candidate for orchards and farms either as a main crop or as hedgerows. Our own elders in our living fence are growing very fast, outperforming many other shrubs and trees planted in the same area.

We offer blue elderberry seeds in case you want to add some blue elder to your garden or food forest!

References

• Nature’s Garden. A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants. Samuel Thayer.
• A Modern Herbal. Volume I. Mrs. M. Grieve.
• The Enchanted Elder: Folklore, Medicine and Cultivation of Elderberry. Vision Times.
• Sambucus nigra. Plants for a Future.
• Sambucus caerulea. Plants for a Future.
• Blue Elder. Wild Foods and Medicines.
• Are Elderberries Poisonous? 4 Important Things to Understand. HealthyGreenSavvy.