Elderberry Syrup Recipe
Today I’m sharing a cure for your wintertime sniffles, or that pesky cough that you just can’t seem to shake the end of - which happens every time, right?! And yes - I’m calling this a CURE. I am 100% a firm believer that we can find herbal, organic alternatives to almost everything on our shelves, and that doesn’t stop at the medicine cabinet. Same disclaimer applies as always (“although I am a medical professional I am not your doctor and therefore cannot provide any medical advice for your specific condition please consult a doctor” and blah blah blah) BUT I can tell you that I have tried this, love this, and it actually freakin works. If your allergies flare up during a certain season, you have a dry throat starting, or you need a little oomph in the immune department, enter: Elderberry Syrup.
You can find elderberries dried in a bag at your local crunchy/health food store. You can also sometimes find them frozen, or fresh when they are season! They resemble a black cranberry. I’ll show you my recipe for enough for yourself and your family, about 16oz, for the entirety of the “cold and flu season” (did you know that isn’t really a thing? More on that later!). You can also double, triple, or ahundredmilliontuple this if you want to make a fresh, budget friendly homemade gift to give to friends in the winter! I’ve even heard that homemade elderberry syrup is such a hot commodity in the winter, that local residents are often on the hunt for someone to buy it from. The cost making this will cost you less than $10.
Ready for the magic?
Homemade Elderberry Syrup recipe
Your family’s new medicine cabinet staple, minus all the sugar, artificial dyes, and other things that keep you sick!
The Science:
Elderberry is an herb that is naturally antiviral. The elderberry extract binds to the spike shaped proteins of the virus, coating the actual toxic cells and destroying them, making them ineffective for their mission to latch onto and penetrate our healthy cells. Elderberry is also an antioxidant, rich in vitamin C and vitamin A! When your body is exposed to a virus, the breakdown of your healthy cells releases molecules called “free radicals”.. think of those as the debris left over from a car accident. Antioxidants prevent oxidation and absorption of those toxic free radicals into our bloodstream, and help defend your healthy immunity cells. So an herb that is BOTH antiviral and antioxidant is basically absolute magic for our bodies when discussing ways to fight illness! Thanks for letting me nerd out on this for a bit.
In this recipe, we use only raw, local honey. Using local honey produced from honeycomb/bees in your region comes into play when working to prevent and make you immune to your regional allergens. For example, let’s say that pesky flowering tree emits a pollen that always irritates your allergies. The order of events would go like this:
Tree blooms
Bee pollinates tree
Bee takes pollen back to hive
Beekeeper harvest honey from the comb/hive
Local honey is bottled and sold, raw means some of the actual pollen particles are still present
You ingest the magic raw, local honey
Your body builds up a tolerance to that allergen due to repeat exposure!
Next time the tree blooms, you laugh and walk alway, with no allergies
You go, Glenn CoCo
The Recipe:
This recipe uses organic elderberries, water, honey, fresh ginger, and cinnamon and cloves. The honey and spices help counteract the tart berries, and the result is sweet and smooth. That terribly artificial, menthol-y, black licorice taste no more! We can also utilize elderberry syrup as a stir-in mixer for sparkly holiday cocktails! Calm down Lil’ Wayne, this isn’t the “purple sizzurp” you’re used to.
Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups water
2/3 cup dried black elderberries (if using frozen or fresh, we need to double this and use 1 1/3 cup)
2 Tbsp fresh, grated ginger root
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 cup raw, local honey (remember to omit honey if you’ll be using this for an infant under 12 months)
Directions:
In a medium saucepan, combine all ingredients other than honey: water, berries, ginger, cinnamon and cloves.
Bring all to a boil, then cover and reduce to simmer for at least 45 minutes, sometimes closer to an hour, until the liquid has reduced to about half the amount you started with
Remove from heat and let stand on the stovetop until lukewarm
Once the temp is able to be handled, carefully mash the berries as much as possible
Pour the mashed berry mixture through a strainer or cheesecloth into a large jar, bowl, or other container
Discard the remnants, and let the liquid cool all the way down
Once cool, add in your honey and stir until completely combined
Pour into a 16oz jar, or multiple small jars for gifting, and TA-DA!
You’ve just made your first herbal potion... errr, I mean your allergy medicine
Now let’s ditch that artificially colored, flavored, sugary syrup full of toxic unnecessary filler ingredients down the mf drain!
Why DOES Nyquil taste like licorice anyway?
I will always remember this potent black licorice flavor from childhood. But can we talk about why it’s green? Why it’s so thick and syrup-y? Why my teeth ache from sugar after one dose? Isn’t this supposed to make us feel better when we’re sick?
A few notes:
Although this is called a “syrup”, it’s definitely more of a watery liquid consistency. Drugstore cough syrups are so thick due to all the added sugar!
Store this in the fridge once you open the jar. The honey acts as a natural preservative until then.
DO NOT include honey if making the recipe with intent to give to babies under one year/12 months. You can omit it completely but it will need to be refrigerated and consumed faster because of the lack of preservative. You could also use maple syrup or molasses to sweeten this instead.
Dosing should only be given by a physician, naturopath, or herbalist, which I am in no way claiming to be. Personally, I take 1-2 Tbsp once daily while I have the cough, or one in the morning and one before bed. For kiddos, I’d recommend about 1/2 - 1Tbsp daily. I take it on a spoon, just straight, or mixed into hot tea. This is just how I use it! I basically wish I could guzzle this during active illness, but treat it like actual cough medicine.
This recipe is technically Paleo, but it’s not vegan because of the honey
There we go, friends!! Here’s a hot-tea-toast to you feeling better this sniffly season. I’d love to know if you make this, and your experience when you do!