Red elderberries are quick to ripen from creamy flowers to green berries to red, and then they're gone, gobbled down by birds and bears and squirrels. This week they're at the green stage. I picked a stem to look at more closely; high on the branches, they're inconspicuous.
The dashboard of my car makes a good backdrop. The markers are the colour of the berries when they're ripe. |
The berries are edible, cooked. Not raw, at least for humans, and the rest of the plant is toxic. Even cooked, they're seedy, so they're best strained out to make jelly.
Las bayas son comestibles, siempre que estén bien cocidas. Crudas, no se deben comer, por lo menos en lo que respeta a los humanos. Todo lo demás de la planta es tóxica. Aun cocidas, tienen muchas semillas, pero el jugo hace una buena jalea.
Las bayas de los saúcos de nuestras costas son rojas. En el interior de la provincia son negras o moradas. También existen las bayas azules, un poco más al sur. Tanto las rojas como las negras son de la misma especie, lo que requiere que nuestra variedad lleve un nombre científico extendido: Sambucus racemosa ssp. pudens var. arborescens.
Back in the hippie days, a friend in London (UK) used to make all kinds of wine. A lot of it was ghastly, but he did a lovely elderberry. He used to give the local vicar a bottle for communion!
ReplyDelete"A lot of it was ghastly, ..." I had to laugh! I remember people making dandelion wine. (I never tried any.)
DeleteAs a rule, I prefer the grape. Especially having worked in a vineyard!
ReplyDelete