Elderberry Jelly, Part II, Cyanide Issues

I cut the berry heads into this brown paper bag, with kitchen scissors. I thought I had eliminated all the insects before removing the stems. Then I proceeded to roll and pick the very ripe elderberries off the stems, right into the bag. To the right is a blueware bowl that I put the empty stems into. It wasn't remotely big enough, but it was handy.

As I de-berried the stems, I also liberated about 3 spiders, 4 brown crickets, 2 tent worms, 1 unidentified worm, and 2 katydids. The sack got rather full of elderberries.

I have read that elderberry seeds, stems, and particularly the leaves and stalks, contain cyanide. The red elderberries (which I've never seen in Ohio but may be here) are more likely to poison than the black. Even so, poisoning is very rare. People make jelly out of red ones too. Pitted fruits (plums, peaches), almonds, apple seeds; plastics, and cigarette smoke contain cyanide, so it isn't uncommon for us to be exposed to it in small amounts. Cooking is supposed to break down the cyanide, so elderberry jelly is not anything to worry about. It has a distinctive flavor. I suppose the breakdown and the way jellies are made is why you can make such from many wild fruits with cyanide laden seeds, with no ill effects.

But if you are remotely worried about cyanide, the CDC website lists these symptoms:

Small Amounts

rapid breathing
restlessness
dizziness
weakness
headache
nausea/vomiting
rapid heart rate

Large Amounts

convulsions
low blood pressure
slow heart rate
loss of consciousness
lung injury
respiratory failure leading to death

Even the mild symptoms should happen within minutes of exposure. Some people can taste or smell a mild almond flavor. I have been around black elderberries my entire life. I have hollowed out the stems and tried making whistles out of them. I've watched my goats eat the leaves, with no apparent ill effects. In fact, my goats will strip any elderberry plant they find. It is quite possible that I have been mildly poisoned in the past and not known it. But after spending a day in the kitchen with elderberries, I still love them as much as I ever did. You will see why in subsequent posts.