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    Home Β» When are Fruits & Vegetables in Season? Β» When are Elderberries in Season?

    When are Elderberries in Season?

    Published: Jul 31, 2017 Β· Modified: Jun 24, 2021 by Eric Samuelson

    Find out when to find fresh elderberries in season!

    Fresh elderberries ready to be picked hanging in a bush with the words "When is Elderberry Season" over top.

    Have you ever had an elderberry?

    It is one of the many fruits that are growing in popularity over the last few years. In doing so they are looking to these what the media calls superfoods. Elderberries are one of those superfoods.

    Check your local Whole Foods Market in their Whole Body department. You are sure to find elderberry syrup - recommended to give your immune system a boast.

    Whenever someone in my family gets sick or is starting to get sick, we always take a spoon full of elderberry syrup. The first time I tried this everyone else in my family was really sick and I was the last one to get it. I was only sick for a day and it wasn't as bad as theirs (if you are interested in natural ways of treat colds and flus, check out Norm's Farms website on the subject)

    Jump to:
    • When are Elderberries in Season?
    • Harvesting Elderberries
    • List by State
    • How to Find Fresh Elderberries
    • Email List

    When are Elderberries in Season?

    Depending on the part of the country you are in the harvest begins in late May in California and ends in September in Maine.

    Let's start with the south, particular North Carolina. I recently have been in touch with Norm's Farms in Pittsboro, North Carolina. I have been sampling and reviewing their amazing elderberry products (such as these jams and jellys). Their elderberry harvest is ongoing now (as I write this on July 31st) and will last a couple more weeks.

    The average start of the season is in mid July.

    The harvest is the United States as a whole lasts about 8-10 weeks, starting in the south and heading northward.

    Elderberry plants flowering with a building in the background and a rainbow in the sky.
    A perfectly timed shot (see the rainbow!) of flowering elderberry plants. The flowers can be used in making syrups and in teas. Photo courtesy of Norm's Farms πŸ™‚

    Harvesting Elderberries

    Elderberries are unique in a few ways.

    First, the flowers mature at different times. Flowers begin to appear in May. The plants still may have flowers on them in July when there are actually berries ready to be picked. It is not like say picking an apple tree, where often you get all the apples off the tree at once. You return to harvest the berries again and again.

    Elderberry clusters hanging on a plant, ready to be harvested.
    These eldeberries are ripe for the picking. Photo courtesy of Norm's Farms πŸ™‚

    List by State

    You will find a list of below of when elderberries ripen by state. I found as many states as I could.

    If yours is missing please leave a comment below and I will add it to the list. Each time is an approximate. The weather plays a huge role in the exact timing of the harvest each year.

    Southern California, late May-early June
    Northern California, late June
    North Carolina, mid July
    Kentucky, early August
    Kansas, late July
    Ohio, mid to late August
    Michigan, late August
    Maine, September
    Missouri, late July-early August
    Montana, late August-early September
    New Jersey, mid August
    Pennsylvania, mid August
    New York, late August-early September
    Washington, late August-early September

    How to Find Fresh Elderberries

    This can be tricky. Elderberries have practically no shelf life. They begin to ferment in less than a day. Although I have spotted them once at a farmer's market, even that is a rare.

    A grocery store is completely out of the question. So either you need to grow them yourself or find a local farm that is growing them and get them fresh off the plant.

    Three glass jars full of elderberry plant cuttings.
    These are sprouted elderberry cuttings. Photo courtesy of Norm's Farms πŸ™‚

    If you are interested in growing them yourself, check out Norm's Farms website and sign up for their email list. They offer cuttings you can buy to plant your own elderberries. Norm's also offers advice on how to root elderberry cuttings.

    Email List

    « Whole Foods Bulk Finds - July 2017
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Margie

      December 09, 2018 at 11:24 am

      My State of Florida was not on the list. Can I grow them here?

    2. Eric Samuelson

      December 11, 2018 at 8:50 am

      Absolutely, you can grow them in Florida.

    3. Amalie

      June 05, 2019 at 1:48 pm

      Elderberry bushes/trees grow wild along roadsides and in empty lots where there is lots of sunshine. You can always try to dig up a plant for free - if you are not trespassing and the you dress appropriately for waling thru the brush (poison ivy, uneven ground, thorny bushes, insects, snakes, cars/trucks whizzing by, etc).

      Once established, trees send out lateral shoots/suckers. These can be cut out carefully to establish a berry patch elsewhere.

    4. Susan Freeman

      February 26, 2020 at 2:40 pm

      What about South Alabama (Mobile)?

    5. Eric Samuelson

      February 26, 2020 at 3:00 pm

      I am not 100% sure as their isn't much info out there on Alabama and elderberries. The best I could find was them ripening sometime in June.

    6. Rose B

      September 06, 2020 at 11:51 am

      Hi I live in Idaho when is the best time to harvest elderberries here ?

    7. Eric Samuelson

      September 07, 2020 at 5:55 am

      Beginning to late August.

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    Hi! I'm Eric : Father of 4, living just south of Ann Arbor, MI. I'm a reformed picky eater finding a new way to not conform. Eating what's in season is my jam (I also make it!)

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