Elderberries - harvesting and using - two queries

Good to know the odd bit of stalk isn't going to land us in A&E! Thanks

Hoping to pick more soon - hedgerow crumble would be great. I do remember making pear and elderberry crumble once and it was yummy.

Hoping to find some damsons this weekend as we're going to Herefordshire.

I googled elderberries...and BBC food has a whole page about them - seemed all very innocent and quite delicious.
I made a crumble once with them with equal amounts of blackberries, apples and elderberries....was yummy and we all survived.

Elderberry wine? (I have made it in the past) I used to strip the berries from the bunches with an ordinary fork.

Or you could go for a spot of bird confusing. I used to freeze them when there was a bumper crop, then defrost them and put them on the bird table in the depths of winter.

MrsJamJam whereabouts are you in Devon?

Lots of people round here (deepest devon) make elderflower cordial in the spring. Involves soaking the whole flower heads and I have never heard of anyone worrying about poison in the stalks. So I'm guessing that the concentration of any nasties must be pretty small and that the odd bit of stalk in your jam shouldn't be a problem.

The birds eat all our berries before we get to them! At least we have vrey well fed birds.