Elderosa Elderberries — Wild, Hand-Picked, and Grown on Route 66

When Vince Wukmir first bought his ranch on Route 66 on the way to Las Vegas, he was thinking of maybe doing a winery, or even a little farm stand. He was passionate about one thing though, wanting to focus on the natural gifts, raw beauty, and history of the land. That's when he realized that his ranch contained a huge stand of old-growth wild elderberry trees that had been around for decades.

Elderberries are not yet a commercial product in the US, and 99% of all elderberry products out there are made from dried elderberries. Those berries are ground to a powder, problematic in itself, because it includes the bitter seeds and skin. The US also gets 95% of its elderberries from Europe. Why weren't more people farming fresh native elderberries, Vince thought, and what about wild?

Two years ago he decided to pick his elderberries by hand, and purchased a de-stemming machine all the way from Missouri. Now Elderosa puts out approximately 2000 pounds of berries each harvest, always in the middle of summer, and Vince is researching all the wonderfully diverse products he can make.

"We're unique for picking wild elderberries," he says. "They grow naturally on our land in California, but we're the ones wild-picking them and making the juice."

He took the wild varieties and planted an orchard, selecting the best ones for flavor, growing habits, and biggest clusters of fruit.

"That's our plan for the future," he says. "We also have native black walnut trees, and jojoba (on the land). It's so great how nature provides complementary flavors growing side by side. It's all there."

His first product is Elderosa Elderberry Gummies, tart, sweet, flavorful and made from real hand-harvested wild elderberries grown in the Cajon Creek area, near Los Angeles on Old Route 66.

"We don't make any claims because we can't on the FDA packaging," he says. "But it's a natural product and we don't add anything to ours. It's pure juice. We don't have zinc or magnesium or Vitamin C. What we're trying to say is that, ‘You can get those with your other vitamins. We're providing the pure wild elderberry part.’"

Other people are now paying attention to elderberries as well. The University of California Davis is studying elderberry bushes as possible hedgerows, adding biodiversity to farmers' fields. They're also aware of the Native American heritage uses of elderberry as well, like using tree stems for flutes, and the berries to eat and dye cloth. According to Native American tradition, elderberries are potent anti-inflammatories.

“(The Native Americans) had a relationship with the plant for food, medicine and music,” says UC Davis academic coordinator Sonja Brodt. “We wish to honor the elderberry's history here and thousands of years of management by California native tribes.”

So what's next for Elderosa? Vince Wukmir is exploring all kinds of possibilities, from bar syrup to cannabis gummies, and more. For now, order Elderosa Gummies here for a taste of the wild.