Part used

Ripe cooked berries; flowers. Never stems, leaves, or roots.

Gather

Flowers in June. Berries August when they hang purple-black and come off in plates. Ditch lines and pond edges.

Tea

Flowers: 1 Tbsp dried in a cup, covered 10 minutes, for a dry cold and a sweat.

Tincture

Cooked mashed berries 1:2 in 80–100 proof, 4 weeks. Or tincture the finished syrup 1:1 if that is what you have.

Other

Syrup with honey is what you will actually take. See the recipe.

Raw berries, stems, and red unripe fruit upset the gut and contain cyanogenic compounds. Always cook. Do not confuse with pokeweed (different leaf, different cluster, deadly-looking red stems).