Elderberry Syrup Recipe

In my last blog post I talked all about Fire Cider and its immune boosting properties.  I know a lot of people who don’t like fire cider.  There are also people who run hot, and fire cider aggravates them.  If this is you, Elderberry syrup is another powerful immune booster, without the heat!  Personally, I like to have both fire cider and elderberry syrup on hand.  This is coming from a person that naturally runs cold, but elderberry syrup is so delicious! 

Elderberry Syrup is another remedy that you can make your own.  Which I love!  Most of the time I don’t make the same remedy twice, I love tweaking them to fit my needs.  

Lets take about the main ingredients in Elderberry Syrup:  

• Elderberries are immune boosting and packed with vitamin C. It has antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and nutritive properties.  Many herbalists swear that elderberries can shorten the lifespan of infections, colds and flu bugs.  

• Ginger has antiviral, antibiotic, and anti-inflammatory properties.  This herb/root is also known to help with nausea of any kind.

• Cloves are a very strong spice.  This herb/spice has antimicrobial properties, this is going to help reduce any unwanted pathogens in the body.  Clove is especially known for decreasing parasites in the body and supporting the digestive system.  A healthy digestive system is going to help limit infections, colds, and flu bugs.

• Cinnamon has powerful antibacterial properties.  Cinnamon helps promote good circulation.  This helps to move white blood cells throughout the body (Cloves helps with this as well).      

• Honey has antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties.  Honey helps with coughs and sore throats, as it coats everything going down.

These are the main ingredients to elderberry syrup, however you can make it your own.  In all honesty, if you wanted to make it very simple, you can just use elderberries and honey.  Or you can add other ingredients like rosehips, rosemary, star anise, burdock root, astragalus root (this herb is great for boosting the immune system, but shouldn’t be used while sick), oranges, lemon, Echinacea, and  mushrooms like shiitake or reishi.  

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup dried elderberries

• 5 whole cloves

• 1 medium sized finger of ginger (peeled and chopped, not too fine)

• 1 stick of cinnamon

• 1 cup of Honey

• 4 cups filtered water 

• ¼ cup of Rosehips (optional)

Directions: 

1.In a large pan preferably stainless steel or ceramic, combine water elderberries, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, and rosehips.  Turn the stove on high and bring to a boil. Then simmer on low medium heat for 45 minutes uncovered.  Remove from heat. 

 2. Strain with a fine strainer into a jar,  use a spoon and gently press on solid ingredients.  

3. When the liquid is warm, but no longer hot, stir in honey.  

4. Pour your syrup into a bottle, jar, or container of your choosing.  

5. Refrigerate and store for up to 3 months. 

Adults should take 1 to 2 tablespoons, 1 to 2 times a day while healthy, or 3 to 4 times while sick.  Children should take half of the adult dosage, ½ to 1 tablespoons  1 to 2 times a day while healthy, or 3 to 4 times while sick. 

Now that you have elderberry syrup, how do you use it?  Elderberry syrup is so delicious, you can use it in so many ways!  You can take it as a shot, add it to oatmeal, replace your creamer and put it in your morning coffee, add it to your herbal tea, add it to your smoothie, and put over pancakes or waffles. 

Disclaimer on Elderberries, if you ever get your hands on fresh elderberries, never eat them raw.  The seeds have cyanide in them,  When cooked, the cyanide dissipates.