With the powerful antioxidant properties of elderberries, stimulating ginger, vitamin C rich rose hips, and other beneficial herbs and spices, this simple, honey-sweetened elixir not only supports the immune system, but is delicious too. The kids will love it!
A Key Player in My Natural Remedies Tool Kit
When I hear the first sniffle or sneeze, I stock up on tissues and reach for the Elderberry Syrup. Although I refuse to give colds and flu a “season” with my words of agreement, I instead focus on living a healthy lifestyle year round and boosting immunity with healing herbs, roots, and spices.
Thankfully, I grow, harvest, and preserve my own elderberries every year to be used in my natural remedies and body care recipes. They are dehydrated and stored in airtight labeled jars to be used in the fall and winter months. Elderberry syrup is delicious and loaded with many antioxidants, and antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and antiviral properties. I love the sweet and sour flavors and the kick of warm spices and cayenne. The kids love it too! Moreover, my children are well informed with how incredibly blessed they are to not have to gag down any of the over-the-counter concoctions I had to choke down as a kid. Anyone remember spoonfuls of orange Triaminic? Yuck!
Elderberries- A Great Plant to Have Around
Elderberry bushes are the first plants I plant when we move somewhere new. Not only are they beautiful and easy to care for, but they provide many nutritional benefits in both the flowers as well as the ripened berries. They are a wonderful herb to start with if you are just learning about herbs because there are so many nourishing recipes that you can make that are delicious. For example, not only do I use them in this elderberry syrup, but elderberry gummies for the children’s vitamins, winter immunity tincture, winter solstice citrus and pine shrub, elderflower face tonic, elderflower and chamomile tea, and many other recipes. I am only getting started. Get the kids involved. Packed with a powerful antioxidant punch, they are a lifesaver to have around.
Just a Note: Elderberry require both a male and a female plant, and once they settle into an area they are quite prolific. They can grow over seven feet tall, so make sure you find a good place for them to make their home and they will serve you well.
Elderberry Syrup Ingredients and Their Nutritive Properties
- Elderberries– powerful antioxidant, anti-inflammatory
- Ginger – reduces inflammation and stimulates circulation
- Rose hips and lemon – rich source of Vitamin C
- Cloves– high in antioxidants and flavor
- Cinnamon – Not only is cinnamon delicious, but it kicks butt and is anti everything: antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, and full of antioxidants.
- Black Pepper and Cardamom – anti-oxidant and anti-inflamatory
- Cayenne – antiviral and antibacterial
- Raw Honey – antibacterial and antimicrobial…plus it tastes so good (a spoonful of “sugar” helps the medicine go down)
- Raw Apple Cider Vinegar – not only is it a natural preservative, but raw ACV is loaded with gut healthy probiotics.
The Simple Process
Steeping the herbs in two steps
Preparing Elderberry Syrup is really quite simple and only requires a few common kitchen items: a pot, strainer, bowl, wooden spoon, knife, glass measuring cup, measuring cup, measuring spoon, and glass jar with tight fitting lid.
Fill a pot with one quart filtered water. Add the elderberries, ginger root, cinnamon sticks, cardamom, black pepper, cloves, and cayenne. Bring to a boil and then turn down the heat and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, turn off the heat. Add the rose hips and cover for 10 minutes. Rose hips are heat sensitive and will lose their Vitamin C content if heated at a high temperature, so it is necessary to turn off the heat and cover to get the most extraction from them.
Straining
Over a bowl, strain the solids through a fine mesh strainer and press out any liquid with a wooden spoon. Discard and compost the solids.
Adding the additional ingredients
While the mixture is still warm, add the honey and stir until dissolved. Add the lemon juice and apple cider vinegar.
Sample, bottle, and store in the refrigerator
Sample and add any additional honey to suit your taste. The more honey you add, the longer it will last in the refrigerator. Store in a glass Ball jar with a tight fitting lid for up to 6 months. The kids are usually lining up for a spoonful a day to keep the doctor away.
Elderberry Syrup for Colds and Flu
A simple honey-sweetened and delicious way to support the immune system with the powerful antioxidant properties of elderberries, stimulating ginger, vitamin C rich rosehips, and other beneficial herbs and spices. The kids will love it!
Ingredients
- 2 Cups dried Elderberries
- 1 qt Filtered Water
- 1-2" Knob Fresh or Frozen Ginger
- 2 Cinnamon Sticks
- 5 Black Peppercorns
- 2 Cardamom Pods
- 5 Whole Cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper
- 2 T Rosehips
- 1 Cup Raw Honey
- Juice of 1 Lemon
- 1/2 Cup Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
Instructions
1. Place elderberries, ginger, cadamom pods, black peppercorns, whole cloves, cinnamon sticks, and cayenne pepper into a pot with 1 qt filtered water.
2. Bring to a boil and then turn down and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes..
3. After simmering, turn off the heat and add in the rosehips. Cover for 10 minutes.
4. Strain the liquid from the solids with a fine mesh strainer over a bowl.
5. Add in the raw honey and stir while it is stil warm.
6. Add the apple cider vinegar and lemon juice.
7. Place in a bottle with a tight-fitting lid and store in the refrigerator for several months.
8. Take 1 tsp. daily as a maintenance dose or 1 tsp every hour at the sign of a cold or flu.
Notes
This product has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Adminstration. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. It is merely a food created to build the immune system so that the body can heal itself the way God created it to. For educational purposes only.
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If I don’t grow an herb myself, I trust Mountain Rose Herbs in Oregon for all my spices, jars, and herbal purchases.
In everything you do -eat, play, and, love- may it always be Seasoned with Joy!
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