Let's show respect for our elders

Sambucus nigra is the star of Britain’s hedgerows and a standout favourite for forager John Wright

- John Wright

We all have our favourite foods and many will have their favourite foraged food. For the latter, with stinging nettles, sea buckthorn and horse mushrooms in the running, it is a tough call. The winner, for me at least, is the glorious elderflower.

The elder is a very common shrub, one that is unquestionably native to Britain, with records going back to before the last Ice Age. It has a rather patchy distribution that defies description without a map, but it should not be hard to find.

Elder trees (or shrubs — you choose) do not seem to be particularly fussy where they grow, requiring only sunny situations to flourish. It is certainly a common tree of the hedgerow, though no farmer would ever plant them due to its habit of having bits of itself die off, leaving gaps. However, it is generally tolerated beside gateways.

The elder (Sambucus nigra) comes into flower in late May to early June. Twice (in west Dorset) I have seen it flower in April, though this is rare and will require a warm, dry spring.

It is helpful to pick all of your elderflowers for the year as early as you can. Having often put the matter aside, I have needed to spend hours in mid-July driving from lay-by to lay-by, picking a few sprays here and a few there, for the season is a bare six weeks. Pick only when all or most of the florets are open and still fresh, with the yellow centre of the stamens. Heady fragrance I always leave it to 1 June, which to me is Elderflower Day. The first sniff of the flowers brings thoughts of summer. Elderflower sparkly, cocktails or (if you must) cordial on the lawn, surrounded by family and friends. The fragrance is heady, quite unlike that of the rose, and its strangely musky scent stimulating to more than simply the nose and palate.