Last year I wrote a web-log entry about elderberries
which drew a lot of attention.

The method I use is as follows:

Pick the berries and pour then into a bucket with water.
The ripe ones will have sugar and therefore submerge.
The unripe ones are lighter and will float.

Look for photos on my web-log:
http://wijnmaker.blogspot.com/2007/0...on-ik-had.html

There was a lot of contravery about me saying to boil
the berries.
Elderberries have sambunigrin which may cause a lot of trouble
so I will always boil them.

Me port-style recipe is also on the same web-log page.

Besides all this:
I make about 20 to 30 batches every year from differet fruit
and ederberry wine is still the best.

luc
Over my first several years of picking elderberries I tried different
methods to speed up the cleaning process. My comb-and-hardware-cloth
method works fairly well; it's described at:

http://home.comcast.net/~rbfarm/eldrpick.html

Also, check the Cracked Cork website I referenced above; they have a page
on harvesting and cleaning techniques.

I just ordered some elderberries from Raintree Nurseries, on variety with
golden berries and the other with powder blue berries. Details at:

http://www.raintreenursery.com/catal...ducttype=ELDER

Paul

--
http://www.wijnmaker.blogspot.com/