Elderberry Cold and Flu Syrup

It's no surprise, cold and flu season is in full swing and its been one heck of a season thus far! It is only natural, that during the cold and flu season, I post about elderberries, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and honey in my Elderberry Cold and Flu Syrup

Elderberries are filled with vitamins C and A, beta carotene, iron, and potassium. These little berries are immune-enhancing and antiviral, which make them great for warding off colds or the flu, and upper respiratory symptoms. Ut-oh be sure to only consume cooked, fully ripened berries as the berries and stems can be toxic! Always get your supply from a reputable source.

Ginger is an herb that many people are familiar with but sometimes over look it's healing properties. Ginger has been shown to reduce inflammation and works as a decongestant!

The same goes for cinnamon - most people use it for cooking but may not know it has antiviral, antiseptic, and antifungal properties, as well as aids with congestion. Word to the wise - cinnamon can stimulate the uterus and should not be used during pregnancy! Who knew?!

Cloves aren't just for baking! Like the above mentioned herbs, they have antiseptic, antispasmodic and antifungal properties!

Lastly, many of you may have been given a spoonful of honey as a child, by your parents or grandparents, to help stop a tickling cough. Although the thickness is wonderful at creating a nice coating on you throat (and it tastes fantastic) it too, has antiviral and antifungal properties (see where we are going here?!). Although many think honey is harmless, it should never be given to children under one year of age!

So now that we know all of the good stuff about the ingredients in the Elderberry Cold and Flu Syrup, lets get to the recipe!

You will need:
1/2 cup dried elderberries or 1 cup frozen berries
1 cup honey (I prefer raw honey but regular will do too)
5 cloves
1 tbsp fresh grated ginger or 1 tsp ginger powder
1 cinnamon stick or 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
2 cups filtered water
a fine mesh strainer (or cheese cloth)
jars for storage

To make:

In a small pot, add elderberries, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, and water. If you can not find dried elderberries, i've been told that health food stores sell elderberries in the frozen foods department with all of the other frozen fruit. I get my dried elderberries from Mountain Rose Herbs (I LOVE LOVE LOVE this company!)

Once everything is added to the pot, you are going to want to bring it to a boil. Once boiling, cover with a lid, reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes or until it is cooked down to half of the liquid you started with (it could be sooner or longer depending on your simmer-age).

In the bottom picture above, you will see that I cooked mine down a little more than half way - I am bad at estimating. While the ingredients were simmering, every now and again take your wooden spoon and smash the berries. Don't worry about trying to make sure you smash all of them, just a little squish here and a little squish there will suffice (you don't even have to do this if you don't want to - it just made me feel like I was helping them do their job).

So once you determine what half of the liquid looks like, take your strainer (or cheese cloth) and place it over a bowl. Gently, and I mean gently (this will stain if it splatters) pour the ingredients through the strainer - take the wooden spoon and gently press the berries while they are in the strainer to make sure you get all of the juice out of them. Discard them (or compost them if you have a compost heap) when you can't squeeze out any more juice.  Repeat this until the pot is empty.  I then take my liquid and strain it again into another bowl because you want to make sure that there weren't any little bits that were able to sneak through the strainer. 

Now comes time to add the honey. If you are thinking to yourself, "why didn't we add the honey before?" well thats because you do not want the boiling process to cook out all of the goodness from the honey. Before you add the honey, test the liquid to make sure that it isn't hot - you want it to be warm or cool (110 degrees F or lower if you want to get technical) before adding the honey in. Once the liquid is ready, pour in the honey and use a spatula to gently mix it in.

Keep stirring until you feel like all of the honey has been completely mixed in. It took me about 2 minutes to get to this stage. At this point you are probably thinking you did something wrong because this isn't as syrupy as you thought it would be… well you didn't do any thing wrong, this is supposed to be a thinner syrup! Now you can pour your finished syrup into any type of bottle you choose.  Since I have a self-admitted obsession with mason jars, that is what I used.  

I ended up with 1 2/3 cups of syrup when I was done… I divided it into two mason jars. You may have less or more, depending on that whole simmering down process. You should not end up with more than 2 cups because if it is more, you didn't cook down the liquid enough. No big deal though, your syrup just may not be as potent but it is still useable!

Just a few notes:

• This must be refrigerated! It should store in the refrigerator for a few months. If it smells differently from when it was first made, toss it!
• Children under 1 year of age should not consume this because of the honey.
• How much to take? Well, there really isn't a dosage since these herbs are not harmful but it has been widely recommended to take 1 tbsp per day for immune support for adults and 1 tsp for children. For active symptoms, this can be repeated about every 3 hours until the symptoms lessen or resolve completely. 
• Disclaimer - always consult your health care provider prior to using (both pregnant and non-pregnant readers)

Stay happy and healthy!

Danielle

Reference

Gladstar, R. (2012). Rosemary Gladstar's medicinal herbs. North Adams, MA: Storey Publishing.