Elderberry Syrup
If you decide to only make one natural remedy in your life, this bad boy should be it. Elderberry syrup is seriously 'da bomb diggity. Yes, you absolutely can purchase this from the store, but you will save yourself so much money by making it at home. I promise you, that after making this for the first time you will see how quickly it comes together. Eventually you won’t even have to look at a recipe, you will just be able to know it by heart. It’s so empowering knowing how to make this yourself!
My personal motivation for originally making elderberry syrup was my chronic cold sores. It's the only thing I found that helped boost my immune system enough where I only get them occasionally now. Before that I was getting 2-3 a month with generally more than one at a time. It was not pretty. I'm fairly certain I had them because of chronic stress in my life, and my immune system was compromised because of it.
Elderberries contain the following properties which make them a powerhouse of flu fighting goodness:
Anti-viral
Anti-inflammatory
Anti-bacterial
Decongestant
Expectorant
Antioxidant
High in flavonoids
High in Vitamin C
High in Vitamin A
Immunostimulant
The other herbs and spices in this recipe are optional, but they do add their own set of additional nutrients to the syrup as well as a tasty flavor. So if you have them, I would strongly encourage you to use them, but if not, and you only have elderberries then don’t stress and just use what you have.
How to make Elderberry Syrup
Ingredients
100 grams (about 1 cup) dried elderberries
2 tablespoons rose hips (optional)
2 cinnamon sticks (optional)
20 cloves (optional)
4 cups water (start with 4, you may need to add more)
1 1/2 cup raw honey**
Directions
Add all of the ingredients except the honey to a medium saucepan. Bring the water and herbs to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 30-45 minutes. Your goal is to simmer the mixture until the liquid is reduced by about half which will leave you with two cups of liquid.
Once the liquid is reduced by about half (2 cups) strain the herbs off. If you find that you have less than 2 cups of liquid it is totally acceptable to add more water to reach the 2 cup mark.
To strain the herbs off, you can use either a fine mesh strainer or an old (clean) towel or cut up t-shirt and rubberband which is what I like to do. If you have sensitive fingers you may want to let the mixture cool for a few minutes before straining off. The mixture can be quite hot!!
Discard and compost the herbs and stir the honey into the juice. Once the honey has all melted and mixed in, pour into glass jars and store in the fridge.
**Feel free to substitute brown rice syrup or glycerin if you wish.
Dosing
This batch should yield 35 servings. A serving for an average adult is 15 ml (about 3 teaspoons.) Children will need a much smaller dosage depending on their weight and age.
If you are working to fight off an infection the adult dose would be 15 ml every 2-3 hours. Use that high dose only for 2-3 days. A more general dose would be 15 ml 2-3 times a day. Again, those are dosages for an average adult. Children would be about half that dose depending on age and weight.
If you are someone who has an auto-immune condition it is best to take this under the direction of a physician.
Are elderberries safe?
Elderberries do contain a cyanide-like substance, so there are a few precautions to take.
According to The Herbal Academy:
Elder bark, leaves, roots, seeds, and unripe berries contain alkaloids and cyanogenic glycosides, which may cause nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea as well as depression of the central nervous and respiratory systems (American Botanical Council, 2004; Gardner & McGuffin, 2013). The emetic (vomiting) action and other toxicity reactions are caused by the release of hydrogen cyanide (HCN) from cyanogenic glycosides during the act of macerating the plant during chewing (Magnuson, 1997). This reaction occurs only if these plant parts are used fresh, as cooking or drying reduces the cyanogenic glycoside content (Gardner & McGuffin, 2013). Buhner (2013) recommends cooking (boiling) for 30 minutes. The fresh bark can be used as an emetic and purgative, but must be used only under the guidance of a highly skilled herbalist. The elderflowers are considered safe even for small children, and the ripe fresh berries are considered safe unless consumed in high quantities or by someone sensitive to the compounds in the plant (Buhner, 2013); however, cooking or drying them is the safest approach. Due to its diuretic effects, use caution if taking with drugs that increase urination (American Botanical Council, 2004).
So my takeaway from that is, don’t go ingesting a ton of fresh berries on a daily basis, (even though I did eat quite a few as a kid 🙈) because the seeds in the fresh berries can cause nausea and vomiting. Cooking the berries does deactivate the compound, as does using dried berries to some degree. As always, listen to your body, use common sense and do your research.
You can check out my elderberry profile here to learn more about this marvelous little berry.
Where to Purchase the Ingredients
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If you are unable to grow your own herbs, or find ingredients locally, then here are two of my favorite places to buy bulk ingredients: