Elderberry surprise

The surprise is they're early I think! Some are even starting to go over so I did a quick sweep of my neighbourhood checking out the situation. Seems to be quite a wide range of ripeness so still plenty of opportunities for collectng them (I'm planning on making elderberry and apple jelly after finding a couple of old jars in the fridge that are still really delicious).

Hard to get a photo with the light

So I picked a few bunches today after work to get started and will freeze them until I'm ready to use them.

You can't really tell from this picture but the stems are a beautiful red colour. I just pick the berries off lightly with my fingers. Some people use a fork but when I've done that before they've pinged off all over the place...then trodden or sat on them...and they stain. The picked stems look like little trees.

I also had some company whilst picking.....

Our little cat Minxie....she feigned interest for a short while before heading off.

 

So I'll probably do another sweep in a few days time, there were lots of berries nearly ready but not quite. Plus some amazingly huge, juicy- looking ripe ones (just out of reach of course).

 

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