Is this edible?

Nargleblast

For the past couple of years I have picked elderberries growing wild and made elderberry syrup for helping prevent winter colds.

I have just realised the sambucca nigra (think that's the name) in our garden is from the elder family - are those berries also edible? Or will dire things happen if we ingest them?

Gers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambucus_nigra

Culinary uses
Elderberry Jam

The dark blue/purple berries can be eaten when fully ripe but are mildly poisonous in their unripe state.[12] All green parts of the plant are poisonous, containing cyanogenic glycosides (Vedel & Lange 1960). The berries are edible after cooking and can be used to make jam, jelly, chutney and Pontack sauce.

The flowerheads are commonly used in infusions, giving a very common refreshing drink in Northern Europe and the Balkans. Commercially these are sold as Elderflower cordial.[13] In Europe, the flowers are made into a syrup or cordial (in Romanian: Socată, in Swedish: fläder(blom)saft), which is diluted with water before drinking. The popularity of this traditional drink has recently encouraged some commercial soft drink producers to introduce elderflower-flavoured drinks (Fanta Shokata, Freaky Fläder). The flowers can also be dipped into a light batter and then fried to make elderflower fritters. In Scandinavia and Germany, soup made from the elder berry (e.g. the German Fliederbeersuppe) is a traditional meal.

Both flowers and berries can be made into elderberry wine, and in Hungary an elderberry brandy is made that requires 50 kg of fruit to produce 1 litre of brandy. In south-western Sweden, it is traditional to make a snaps liqueur flavoured with elderflower. Elderflowers are also used in liqueurs such as St. Germain, and in a mildly alcoholic sparkling elderflower 'champagne'.

In Beerse, Belgium, a variety of Jenever called Beers Vlierke is made from the berries.

bouicca21

In the dim and distant past I made elderflower wine. It initially smelled of cat pee, and I was very disappointed. However when it was left to mature it developed into a very very nice summer drinking white wine.

Farway

bouicca21 wrote: »

In the dim and distant past I made elderflower wine. It initially smelled of cat pee, and I was very disappointed. However when it was left to mature it developed into a very very nice summer drinking white wine.

From experience there are two types of elder flowers, one smells of cat pee, the other does not

Have a sniff before you pick