We just discovered elderberry!

May 28, 2026

We thrive on conversation around food, drinks or new flavours we could try at Gobelo. During a recent conversation, Elisabeth kept talking excitedly about a culinary experience from a trip she had taken to Cape town. But it wasn’t just about food. She talked about a cocktail with a new fragrant flavour from a tree called elderberry. So of course being all about “the new” - the team set off to experiment with ideas for foods, treats and cocktails that could be enhanced with elderberry as a new ingredient. We found ourselves reading more and more about elderberries and now we’re convinced it’s a must have and - the first trees have been ordered. They will be added to our Gobelo orchards soon.

Meanwhile, we continue to learn about this very interesting tree. Elderberry fruit has been used for generations in different parts of the world in drinks, syrups, jams and tonics. They have this deep, earthy, rich and slightly tart flavour that somehow tastes like something you have had before, even though you haven’t. It just has that familiar feeling to it, which immediately made us curious about what we could possibly create with this “old” but new flavour at Gobelo.

In true Gobelo fashion, instead of only sourcing elderberries from elsewhere, we decided we wanted to try growing some of our own! So now, elderberry trees will be part of the growing collection of plants and experiments happening around the farm. A conversation about travel and cocktails has somehow turned into researching a plant, learning how they grow, wondering how they handle different conditions and then trying to see if they can become part of life at Gobelo.

What excites us most is not only the possibility of eventually using elderberries in drinks and preserves, but also the process of learning something completely new and teaching everyone else what we are learning. Every plant comes with its new thing (lessons we call them). Some take immediately, others require patience, a lot of work and A LOT of observation. We are still at the beginning of our exploration of the elderberry tree, but that is often the most interesting stage to us because there is so much to discover.

Like many things we grow or experiment with here, elderberries also connect back to a bigger idea we are always exploring at Gobelo. How do we continue introducing plants that are useful, beautiful or simply give us an opportunity to learn?

The best things at Gobelo have started … oh so serendipitously like this! It could be a new exposure, an idea or just the willingness to try and look into something new. So who knows. Maybe one day elderberry will feature on our Gobelo menus and could become more widely known in Zimbabwe!

Until next time,
   the Gobelo Team