Wednesday, 26 June 2019
Pressé, cordial, wine or jam – it’s the elderflower season and it’s increasing in popularity with the elderflower drink market predicted to show strong growth over the next few years.
But what is the state of the UK’s elderflower growing industry? How does it compare with other countries? What are the challenges of mass production? And is there a future for it? A researcher at the University of Nottingham has been given the chance to fulfil a long-held ambition to find out.
Alice Jones, a food scientist in the School of Biosciences, has been appointed one of 19 2019 Nuffield Scholars. Her 18-month project aims to broaden our understanding of the different varieties of elderflower and explore husbandry techniques and best practice in the commercial cultivation of elders for the UK elderflower processing industries.
A passion for elderflower
Alice became interested in the subject of elderflowers through a knowledge transfer partnership role in 2006 to 2008. She investigated elderflower flavour and how to process elderflowers in more efficient ways for drinks production, writing her Master's thesis on the subject.
From there it developed into a passion. Her amateur interest in plants and gardening led her to start growing elders at home, observing differences in varieties and the challenges that came when wild plants, often treated as a weed, are artificially cultivated.
The subject stayed with Alice and where ever she went she would look out for and talk to people about what they knew about elders as a result she has built up a small network of contacts and observations. This interest has led to a number of UK food processors and growers calling her with questions about cultivating elders as a sustainable and scalable soure of elderflowers for the future.
I realised that there was little existing knowledge in the UK about growing elderflower, which is predominantly still picked in the wild. There is little information about returns per acre or what farming systems would make it profitable to grow. Processing such a highly perishable raw material is also a major challenge.This led to me putting in an application for a Nuffield Scholarship.
Exploring global practices
Research and trials into elder cultivation are being carried out in other parts of the world. Similar crops already in mass production might also generate transferable ideas.
Selected from across UK agriculture, food and rural industries, the scholars will have the opportunity to travel for at least eight weeks in order to investigate their chosen topic and explore global practices.
Most of Alice’s knowledge has been gained from visits across Europe. This scholarship will enable her to visit growers and processors in America and Canada.
UK agriculture is entering a period of unprecedented change, environmentally, socially and politically. Our 2019 Scholars were selected from a strong set of applicants for their ability to lead positive change in farming, food, horticulture and other rural sectors, as well as their potential to inspire others during their scholarships and beyond. I know that they have the ability to help British agriculture develop and thrive in a new challenging chapter.
Alice, who has just returned from the 2019 Comprehensive Elderberry Workshop/Conference in Missouri, USA, heads back to the USA and Canada at the start of July for a 6 week tour.
Busy summer ahead
She said: “I am going to visit commercial growers of elder across the US and Canada and discuss with them the farming systems and practices that are most successful and profitable. I am also going to visit growers of other related tree crops and look at some of the innovative and sustainable ways in which they are being grown, for example in agroforestry, silvopasture and riparian buffer systems and look at some of the general themes that are important to ensuring long term productivity of perennial crops such as elder.
“ I will be meeting entreprenuers, university extension service specialists and advisors to learn how forming collaborative and cooperative networks has influenced the development of elder as a commercial crop plant and has led to the selection of cultivars for useful commercial traits, such as large flower head size. I believe it is going to be as important for me to study those aspects, as it will be the the technical details of how to grow the plant, to ensure implementation of my findings to the benefit of the industry”.
Delivering her findings
Supported by its bursary funding The Nuffield Farming Scholarship Trust has a network of world class experts to support the scholars during their studies. Alice is sponsored by Thatchers Cider.
The results of Alice’s, and her fellow scholar’s studies, will be disseminated to the UK farming industry in general via a written report that will be published by the Nuffield Farming Trust and via a talk at the Annual Nuffield Farming Conference in 2020.
Story credits
More information is available from Alice Jones, in the School of Biosciences at the University of Nottingham, on +44 (0) 115 9516739, alice.jones@nottingham.ac.uk or Lindsay Brooke or Jane Icke, Media Relations Managers for the Faculty of Science at the University of Nottingham, on +44 (0)115 951 5751, lindsay.brooke@nottingham.ac.uk or jane.icke@nottingham.ac.uk. Or Emily Ball at Reverberate PR on 07572 666095 or emily@reverberate-pr.co.uk
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 32 in Europe and 16th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the second most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2022 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
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