Margaret Suran > wrote:

> Is this the time for what I believe are Elderberries?

Ja, es ist Holunderzeit!

> They grew wild
> in the woods and in hedges in our gardens and made a nice, tart jam or
> jelly for the people who bothered to harvest them. There was also
> Elderberry Wine.
>
> In Spring when the blooms appeared, the clusters would be used in
> cooking, too. They would be cut off the bush, washed, dried and
> dipped into egg (perhaps flour, too?), fried in a bit of butter and
> when done, dipped in confectioner's sugar and served.
>
> Does anybody use Elderberries or is it no longer done?
>
> Barbara, is Elderberry Jam still around?

They are used very widely hereabouts in all those things you mention and
a lot of others, too. Commercially, they are most widely used to
flavour beverages. For example, there is mineral water flavoured with
Holunder. I don't like it much. In England, eldeberry "champagne" used
to be semi-popular, as I remember.

There is a nice Holunder Web site (in German) at
<http://www.onlinekunst.de/juni/Die_Holunderseite.htm>.

Bubba