Foraged Elderberry Pancakes

In late September we went urban foraging for elderberries. There’s a number of bushes in the public gardens on campus.  Jeremy recognized them from his childhood. I took some shears and a basket and helped myself.

The boys loved eating them. The elderberries turned their fingers and tongues purple.

Back in my kitchen I didn’t think it was too hard to pick them from their stems. I had read a suggestion of freezing the berries to get them off the stems easier, but I didn’t find that to be the case. I found that once I had frozen them they thawed super quickly because they are so small, which left them mushier than before and thus harder to pick off the stems–next time I’ll pick them raw.

I turned some into syrup and froze a bunch as well.  I like the bags of loose frozen berries. We throw them into smoothies and such, and this week we made elderberry pancakes.

Like most berries, its better to just drop them on the batter before flipping rather than stir them in.

A little bit of maple syrup (which Jonas reminds us every time we use, that “It comes from trees!”) drizzled on top and they were delicious.  And perhaps even good for our immune systems during this winter season.