Simple Elderberry Syrup Recipe Helps Families Sail Through Cold and Flu season
Wouldn't it be nice to have a delicious little magic potion in your cupboard when the sniffles sneak in? Keeping some elderberry herbals in your natural medicine medicine chest means you’ll have a powerful response ready whenever it’s needed!
Elderberry is your immune-boosting friend year round, and in North America it’s often found growing locally. Two common forms are generally extremely safe for use by all (Sambucus nigra. S. canadensis. Elder), and one form should NOT be used (S. racemosa, also common in some areas.) If you are a herbal wild-crafter, check in with your reliable ID books; don’t worry about commercially available elderberry as it’s carefully cultivated.
Elderberries have been used for millennia as both a food and a medicine, and is a wonderful immune booster of the best kind. It’s particularly useful to enhance winter immunity in cases of fever and respiratory constriction. Studies have found that elderberry preparations significantly reduced the duration and severity of colds in air travelers*, and they have been medicinally approved in Germany for combating colds and flu. It’s liquid extract is even active against gram-positive and gram-negative strains of human pathogenic bacteria.
“Modern research has shown that elderberry kills many kinds of influenzal viruses and is effective in shortening bouts of influenza.”
Multiple studies* have shown that various forms of elderberry seem to reduce inflammation in the body, and definitely boost antioxidant activity. Elderberry gets its antioxidant activity from its high anthocyanin and flavonol content; these phytochemicals then go to work within the body and combat free radicals. I was once taught that part of it’s effectiveness is a result of containing an enzyme that neutralizes a virus's ability to corkscrew into your cells to insert it's DNA strand, which certainly seems credible considering how quickly it often stops viral infections in their tracks.
Keep an eye out for local resources,
as throughout the summer growing season, elderberry plants grow quite large, 6-10 feet tall and up to 8 feet wide. All parts of the plants have a variety of medicinal properties, such as elder flower for children’s fevers.
Elder plants have luscious dark berries that hang ripe and heavy, waiting for their chance to do their healing work. Bulk dried organic berries can be used to make your own syrup or added to tea infusions, and there are also encapsulated supplements, such as this immune support by Nature's Sunshine. If your neighbor offers to let you pick some of these fruity gifts, as mine did, it’s easy to make a syrup from fresh fruit.
To transform fresh fruit into a yummy syrup, gently pick the fruit at the base of the stem where the big bunch comes together.
Once in your kitchen, gently hold them upside down over a bowl and pull the berries off in clumps (I tried using a fork), and avoid stems as much as possible without getting too worried about it (just a bit bitter.) Rinse if you really need to, hopefully not.
Use a non-reactive (and non-staining) pan like stainless or glass, with a bit of water (to avoid scorching) and cover with a lid.
If you are starting with dried berries instead, generously cover them with boiling water, cover and set off heat for several hours to soften up. Then proceed as below.
Put it on low simmer while you are busy doing everything else in your life. After they're well cooked down (an hour or two?), strain the fruit juice through your finest sieve. The first time I tried this I just turned it off at bedtime, and then continued the next morning- it worked fine! Do wear an apron - this stuff STAINS, and it tends to splatter.
Smoosh the fruity sauce gently with a spoon through the sieve until there are no more juicy drips. Toss the mush with gratefulness into the compost or under a bush in your yard.
Pour it still warm into a clean jar, and then add in an equal amount of raw honey in as well. It melts nicely and gently combines without losing its raw benefits as you stir it together. I stored mine in the fridge to avoid mold, it lasts many months but I usually end up trying to stretch it to last through the winter.
Elderberry syrup, homemade or commercially prepared, is usually a delight to administer, as it’s delicious and well-received by children. I suggest lightly diluting with water in a tiny shot glass with their probiotics and other lovely remedies hidden it's friendly sweetness. Several times my kids have taken it at night when a sore throat or cold has rapidly advanced during the school day, and woken up the next morning symptom-free!
Recommended dosing varies, many would use1-2 tablespoons per day as a preventative during cold and flu season.
Elderberry syrup is not addictive, nor is it stressful to the body to use frequently.
The field of botanical medicine is rich and nuanced. There is limited space in blogposts to teach about the craft of herbology, but it’s a magnificent field of study. The effective use of herbs extends far beyond sound bites, because herbs are never a “take this for that” sort of health model. Elder plants, for instance, have a wide range of effective actions, from colic to sprains wrists (SEE Mathew Woods books for a fascinating discussion of it’s N. American history in traditional medicine.) I encourage you become more educated and empowered to learn more about how herbs work through high quality books from those are intimately familiar with the field, or from an experienced herbalists. One such trusted herbal colleagues (locally here in Michigan or on-line), is Jim McDonald.
READ THIS! Discussion of safe use: Elderberry preparations are consider among the safest for all ages, often being given even to infants and youngsters. My maternity clients freely use elderberries in their pregnancy teas or in concentrated form if they are ill, with no side effects reported other than relieving symptoms. It’s become common to see on-line accounts advising against it’s use for those pregnant or nursing, but this appears to be how those without working knowledge of herbs are afraid of them, and routinely advise against herbal use solely on the basis that no formal safety studies have been done on specifically on pregnant or lactating women (such studies are exceedingly rare.) Safety is measured then by traditional use, and extrapolated conclusions based on animal or lab studies, or on the plants constituents. A place to dig deep on the micro details is the herbal industry bible, The Botanical Safety Handbook which reports on every related study and make recommendations about herbal use. My experienced herbalist and naturopath colleagues are comfortable with elderberry use throughout the family, as am I. That said - THIS IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE! Nothing is ‘good for everyone’, and I STRONGLY advise everyone to never take products if they aren’t completely comfortable with them, regardless of what anyone on-line (including me) seems to say. When in doubt, I suggest doing some research (see books linked below), consult with your trusted health care provider, and/or proceed with moderation.
* Many studies on elderberry linked here.
P.S. GREAT SOURCES: You can find reliable bulk herbs and herbal preparations here, and a direct link to an elderberry collection in my Fullscript Practitioner Pharmacy is available here. These and some of the links above are affiliate links, from which I make a small commission; your price remains the same, or in the case of Fullscript, always discounted 15%. I ONLY recommend products because I use them personally or with clients, unlike on-line influencers who generate content for promotion. Thanks for your support, as providing free content is not a free endeavor.