Elderberry

Elderberry is notable for salicylate, FODMAPs, fructose and oxalates. Clear on lactose, histamine, gluten, oligosaccharides, sorbitol, sucrose, tyramine and nickel.

Elderberry contains moderate levels of salicylate. Elderberry is placed with the other berries for salicylate, which sit moderate. No assay covers the elderberry itself; what can be said comes from the berries that have been measured. The elderFLOWER is a different organ of the same plant and answers separately.

Elderberry contains only low levels of FODMAPs. Elderberry is low here, and the reason is what it does NOT carry: the survey that found sorbitol in chokeberry, rowanberry and shadbush did not find it in this one. The fruit is almost always cooked into a syrup or a cordial, and sugar added to it is a separate question from the fruit.

Elderberry contains only low levels of fructose. Glucose and fructose are the dominant sugars of elderberry, as they are of berries generally, and neither is in excess of the other.

Elderberry contains only low levels of oxalates. No published assay of oxalate reaches the elderberry, and it is eaten whole with its seeds, which is where a berry keeps that compound. It is never eaten raw either — it arrives cooked, as syrup or cordial, and the cooking water is not thrown away here: it becomes the syrup, with whatever soluble oxalate it drew out. Amounts vary by brand and recipe, so always check the label of the exact product.