Elderberry Syrup

whitneykmcgee
Jul 12, 2024
3 min read

When we were newer parents with two kids under two years old I kept bringing them to our family pediatrician with lots of questions and what to do because they kept getting sick. Nothing out of the ordinary but what was typical for little ones. I was super thankful that our family doctor wasn’t one to quickly prescribe antibiotics, instead he suggested herbal supplements. I, myself, took vitamins but for some reason I didn’t know that kids could take them too. I mean now looking back, why did I think they couldn’t??

From then on I was so excited to find natural ways to boost my child’s immune system. I took his one suggestion of Astragals, for immunity, and ran with it and haven’t looked back. I now use a combination of herbs, homeopathy, high quality vitamins supplements, and essential oils to nourish and aid my family for overall wellness and for intervention when we are sick.

Elderberry syrup is one of our first preventive measured and/or first lines of defense when we are exposed to illness or are under the weather.

One of the most well-studied benefits of elderberry syrup are its powerful immune-boosting properties. Elderberry syrup may reduce the duration and severity of symptoms related to colds, flu, and influenza. It also is an anti-cancer agent, helps with seasonal allergies, and sinus infections. Needless to say, we take it for everything. During cold and flu season I even give it to my kids before church or when we know we will be around a lot of people.

Elderberry Syrup is so easy to make at home. I’ve been doing it for years! I found Kate's recipe from Venison for Dinner on Instagram and have loved it. Im not reinventing the wheel when she's got it perfected. I make it in bulk, and freeze it before I’ve added the honey in quart size jars. Defrost, add honey and you’ve got fresh elderberry syrup when needed.

Things you need:

Dried Elderberries: quality matters when you are extracting the nutrients from the berries. These are organic, European grown, and wild crafted.

Cinnamon Sticks: this is a giant bag but super good quality and will last you several batched of syrup.

Whole Cloves: this is a powerhouse ingredient. It's known for fighting bacteria, enhancing immune system, fighting inflammation, and curing respiratory infection, among other things.

Dried Ginger: Gingerol is the main bioactive compound in ginger. It’s responsible for many of ginger’s medicinal properties.

Cheese Cloth: this is what we are going to use to strain and squeeze the ingredients dry after steeping in the water.

Raw Honey: This is something I would encourage you to purchase locally. Costco has great, raw, local honey. When the honey is local it will strengthen the immune systems against allergies caused by pollen in your localized region.

These were all linked to Amazon but if you are an Azure Standard customer they also have great quality ingredients.

Great, now that you have all your ingredients secured, now let's make it.

A side note: this is a very large recipe so you can half it for your families needs.