Quiz Time! Which little berry that has such vast medicinal properties that it has the ability to prevent and treat bacterial and viral infections,  boost your immune system and improve your vision? Give up? Okay you probably already guess it since the title of this post is Homemade Elderberry Syrup. Yup. Elderberries!

In fact, elderberries are so effective, they were even used to treat a flu epidemic in Panama in the 90’s  (source)! They’re crazy high in antioxidants. In case you don’t remember what those are, they’re those little guys that go to battle against free radicals in our bodies (free radicals attack our DNA, causing mutation, and subsequently cancer). Elderberries also contain lots of vitamins A and B, and mad crazy vitamin C. Yes people. Homemade Elderberry is magic juice.

Homemade Elderberry Syrup…a.k.a. magic juice is not JUST for when you get sick. No no no. If you wait until you get sick, you’re already behind the eight ball. This stuff is something you drink everyday to keep the sickies away. For adults, a tablespoon a day is good. For kiddos, a teaspoon is great. Should the plague sweep through your home, take a tablespoon every 2-3 hours until that sickness is GONZO (that’s gone-zo, not gonzo as in the muppet)! Most people put clove in their homemade elderberry syrup, but I’m not really a fan of clove. So I do nutmeg instead and I think it’s delish. If you love clove though, go ahead and clove it up. With that, here is my recipe for Homemade Elderberry Syrup. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dried elderberries. I use this kind.
• 4 cups of water
• 2 inch knob fresh ginger. If you don’t have fresh, you can use 2 tsp dried ginger
• 1 cinnamon stick or a pinch of dried cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp fresh ground nutmeg (optional)
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup raw honey (depending on how sweet you like it!)

Directions:

• In a small saucepan, heat the elderberries, water, ginger, cinnamon stick and nutmeg over medium heat.
• Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce it to a simmer.
• Simmer the mixture until it has reduce buy 1/3 to 1/2. This takes about an hour.
• When the mixture has reduced, pour it through a fine mesh sieve. Reserve the liquid and discard the rest.
• Let it chill just enough so you can touch it without burning yourself.
• Stir in the honey. You don’t want to cook the honey (else it won’t be raw anymore!)
• Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 months.

 

 

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