“As Native people, we have a spiritual and emotional relationship with the elderberry and an obligation to care for it,” she said.

Indigenous people have worked with the plant for centuries, utilizing the flowers and berries for food and medicine, and crafting musical instruments and ceremonial objects from the wood.

High Bear, an Alaska Native of Deg Hitʼan and Inupiat descent, has been tending to elderberry plants and providing elderberry syrup to family and friends for over 15 years. She says that as a sacred plant and medicine, the berries are traditionally shared among the community and given away freely.

That practice contrasts with a surging global market for elderberries. Consumption of elderberry products, including teas, juices, and syrups, has increased sevenfold over the last decade, with demand supercharged during the coronavirus pandemic. Elderberries grow wild across North America, but an estimated 95 percent of elderberries are imported from outside the U.S, mainly from Germany and Austria. Interest is building in turning that wild crop into a commercial product.