This day in June is ideal for harvesting the elderflowers: cool temperatures in the morning and dry external conditions to boot. If it is too wet, the pollen will be washed off. And that’s what it’s all about, because it contains the typical aroma. Long-standing harvest workers from the region and an external picking team are ready in Ufhofen on the Holderhof to bend the cones with the white blossoms by hand and place them in the harvesting vats. The long branches hang down like a trellis at reach height. This is no coincidence: it is deliberately brought about with proper pruning in winter. Bruno Schenk is responsible for the care and harvesting of the elderberry trees on the Holderhof. He has acquired all the know-how over the last two decades. The former classical dairy farmer once came to elderberry like the virgin to the child: “In 1998, my son ordered 200 elderberry bushes and asked me to plant them,” Bruno says today. At the beginning he did so with little conviction, on a former maize field, “because it was least disturbing there”. But as we know today, it worked: the family farm became the Holderhof and the origin of today’s Holderhof Produkte AG, founded and run by Bruno’s son Christof.
The blossom hoover did not work
For Bruno Schenk, who is now retired, elderberry is still an affair of the heart to which he devotes himself with great dedication. On this day, for example, he shows the harvesting staff which cones they have to harvest from the approximately 1600 trees. “The flowers should be about two-thirds open and pinched off with as little stem as possible,” he explains. If too much “green” comes along, there will be “a grassy taste”. Because, as mentioned, it’s all about the pollen, which is processed into an extract with the typical aroma using a special procedure. Years ago, they had carried out experiments with a kind of hoover to extract only the pollen, Bruno says. “We could have saved a lot of effort with that”. But unfortunately it didn’t work, he smiles. So they stuck to the tried and tested manual picking method.
Much-used elderflower extract
With his small tractor, the “senior boss” is bustling between the rows of trees to bring the boxes, each containing about 30 kilograms of freshly harvested elderflowers, into the hall. There he grabs the pitchfork again and makes sure that the blossoms are not too close together, that there is enough air in between and that the heat can escape. Harvesting takes the whole day and is repeated after a few days to collect the elderflowers that bloom a little later. The harvest is transported the same evening to the Paul Gasser AG winery in Ellikon an der Thur, where the extract is produced, which is then used in syrups and to refine the taste of other Holderhof Produkte AG beverages. This year’s elderflower harvest is already history and the sweet scent is fading away. But it’s not quite over yet: until late autumn, the dark elderberries develop on the remaining cones, allowing a second harvest. Things would be fine if it weren’t for the cherry vinegar fly that has immigrated to Switzerland in recent years: “Depending on the weather and the year, three out of five harvests are completely lost due to the pest,” says Bruno somewhat wistfully.
There must be enough air space between the elderflowers so that the heat can escape.
Long-term temporary employees from the region help with the harvest.
The elderberry trees are pruned so that no ladders are needed for the harvest.
There are about 1600 elderberry trees on the Holderhof in Ufhofen.