Elder
Flowers for cordial, berries for syrup. Never eat them raw.
Sambucus nigra — two harvests a year
Elder gives twice: creamy flower heads in early summer for cordial, and dark berries in autumn for syrup. Both are wild classics, and both must be cooked.
The two harvests
flowers june–july, for cordial berries sept–oct, for syrup never raw — the whole plant is mildly toxic uncooked
How to pick
Snip whole flower heads on a dry morning, before the scent fades. Cooked, they taste of summer; raw, they'll upset your stomach. Cook them.