Elderberries always feel like one of the first little nudges towards autumn for me - even when I'm still very much holding onto summer. They sit beautifully between food and medicine, summer abundance and autumn preparation. Gathering them gives me a small job to do now that helps me begin imagining and preparing for the season ahead, without needing to hurry summer out of the door. They're unusually early here in the UK this year, so rather than rushing to turn them into syr

Elderberry is the elder tree's second harvest: glossy purple-black fruit arriving as summer begins to turn towards autumn. In this complete guide, we'll learn how to recognise when elderberries are ripe, harvest and prepare them safely, preserve them for later and explore their long history in traditional herbal medicine alongside what modern research actually tells us.