How to Harvest Elderberry

Check your elderberries during the second or third week of August. Examine several bunches of berries from each plant to determine if they are ready to be picked. You can harvest a cluster once all of the berries in that bunch are dark purple, almost black, in color. Return once a week to check the plants until there is enough ripe berries to harvest.

Hold a bowl or plastic container beneath a ripe bunch of berries and cut the supporting stem with a pair of hand-held shears. Ripe elderberries are easily squished and will stain wicker or wooden baskets. A sealed container is recommended for storing and transporting this fragile fruit.

Freeze the harvested berry clusters as soon as possible. Once they are frozen through, take them out of the freezer and remove the green growth that is still attached to cluster. Shake the bunches to loose the berries or remove them by hand. Freeze them again after you separate the stems from the fruit.

Return to your elderberry crop a week after your first trip. Most plants maintain berry bunches at various stages of maturity, so you must return once a week for the next month or until the supply of berries is exhausted. Harvest and store the berries in the same manner as the first batch.

Send the berries away for processing or can and store them as you like. Many homemade elderberry recipes are simple and call only for sugar and some cooking to turn the fruit into an edible delicacy. Keep your berries frozen when you store them to keep them intact and fresh.