Elder Flower

What Is Elderflower?

Elderflower refers to the flowers of European elder (scientific name: Sambucus nigra), whose fruit is called elderberry. The plant is also called black elder, or simply elder. Its fruit differs in color from that of the niwatoko that grows wild in Japan (niwatoko berries are red, while European elderberries are purple). In Japan, the young shoots are sometimes eaten as tempura.

The name combines nigra, Latin for black, with Sambucus, said to derive from Sambuca, a sweet liqueur made with the local specialty, elder, in the Italian village of Sambuca (there are various theories). The English name elder is said to derive from the Anglo-Saxon words “aeld,” meaning “fire,” and “eldrun,” meaning “hearth.” This is because elder stems were used as tools for blowing air into a fire to help it catch.

As a Fragrance Material

Because the flowers bloom for only two to three weeks in late spring and essential-oil extraction yields are low, elderflower scent is generally produced synthetically. Elderflower has a sweet, honey-like and fruity, herbal-floral scent, and synthetic fragrance materials recreate this aspect. The extracted absolute (in Japanese), however, has tobacco-like tones and notes of dried fruit and hay (in Japanese). It is used to emphasize oriental (in Japanese) and aromatic accords (in Japanese), or to create tea (in Japanese) notes. Elderberry, by contrast, has a berry scent with a nuance of fig (in Japanese).

Incidentally…

• In Harry Potter, the wand Voldemort searches for, which ultimately causes his death, is the Elder Wand, one of the Deathly Hallows. Small beads resembling elderberries are carved into the Elder Wand’s design.

• St-Germain is very well known as the world’s first liqueur made from 100% fresh, hand-picked elderflowers. The sambuca drunk in Italy does not necessarily contain elderflowers. Created in 2007, St-Germain was sold to Bacardi in 2012 and now seems to be a standard part of bartenders’ repertoires.

What Does It Smell Like in Perfume?

Natural elderflower absolute is a fragrance material with a soft herbal-floral character and warm shading reminiscent of honey, ripe fruit, hay, dried fruit, and tobacco. It is not simply sweet: it has the calm character of dry grasses and gives complex depth to amber, aromatic, and tea-like fragrances. It is made from the flowers of Sambucus nigra, a different part of the plant from the fruit known as elderberry. The natural floral scent consists of numerous volatile compounds and therefore has a complexity that cannot be expressed by a single aroma molecule.