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Elderberry Recipes
 
 
Author:
Recipe type: Herbal and Supplement Recipes
Ingredients
Basic Elderberry Syrup
  • 2 cups dried elderberries - around ½ pound, or 8 oz. (I got mine at Savvy Teas and Herbs!)
  • 1 qt boiling water (4 c.)
  • Juice of 2 lemons
  • ½ c. raw apple cider vinegar
  • 1 c. raw/unheated honey
Deluxe Syrup Elderberry Recipe:
  • Follow directions above, but add ½ cup of any of the following herbs to your berries:
  • chamomile
  • astragalus root
  • rose hips
  • nettle
Instructions
Basic Recipe
  1. Put 2 cups of dried elderberries into your crock pot, and cover with 1 quart boiling water.
  2. Cover and let sit overnight.
  3. The next morning, set the crock pot on low, and let it simmer for several hours.
  4. I got busy and kept it on warm for a couple days. Whatever works for you...it's a flexible process. Because I let it simmer for so long, I added more water when it looked like it was getting a little low. You want a very wet mash...but not a soup. You may also do this whole thang on the stove top using a saucepan, let sit overnight, and then simmer for 30 minutes.
  5. Allow to cool, and strain/press out the berry mash, keeping the dark, berry infused liquid. best way to strain herbs
    The straining can be frustrating & messy, but I think I figured out a good way to do it so you get the least mess, and the most juice out of your herbs and berries.
Deluxe Elderberry Recipe
  1. For each additional ½ cup of herbs that you add to the basic recipe, also add another cup of hot water and then proceed with the original recipe.
  2. Any or all of these herbs are great herbal companions, adding minerals and additional antiviral properties.
  3. I tell you more about what they do, and give you a couple more great tips and tricks in the "star ingredients" section in my elderberry recipes post.
Straining Your Elderberry Recipes
  1. Place a large strainer over a bowl that you'll catch the juice in.
  2. Lay a clean tea towel over the strainer.
  3. Line the tea towel with paper towels or a coffee filter right in the center. The paper layer makes clean up SO much easier!
  4. Dump 2-3 cups of your berry mash in onto the paper liner, and gather up the towel with all of it inside.
  5. Begin to squeeze the berry mash, while twisting the top of the towel and forcing the mash into a tighter and tighter ball--squeezing out all that good juice into your bowl.
  6. You should get around 2 cups of liquid.
  7. When you've gotten out every last drop, all you have to do is drop the spent berries inside the paper liner into the trash. Your towel will be nice and purple, but it won't be covered in gunk. If you're doing a large or double batch, just squeeze/strain in batches.
Finishing Your Elderberry Syrup:
  1. For every 2 cups of juice (give or take), add the noted amounts of apple cider vinegar, fresh lemon juice, and raw honey, and mix well. You can adjust the lemon and honey to taste at this point.
  2. If you have more than 2 cups of juice, then adjust the amounts of lemon/honey/vinegar accordingly.
  3. If you have closer to 3 cups of juice would be 3 lemons, ¾ cups of vinegar, and 1 ½ cups of honey.
  4. For closer to 4 cups of juice, you'd just double the original amounts.
  5. Stir well, adjust lemon and honey to taste, and then store in clean, glass jars or bottles in the fridge.
  6. If you make a very large batch, you may want to freeze some of it in ice cube trays, as it may ferment the course of a couple of months.
Notes
Dosing and Usage:
For herbal preparations like this, that contain what I consider to be food as opposed to strictly medicinal plants, I'm not so picky with dosage amounts.
Here are the dosages amounts that we use, and what is recommended by a great clinical overview of elderberry:
Adults: 2 teaspoons 4 times daily (at sign of first symptoms)
Children: 1 teaspoon 4 times daily (at sign of first symptoms)
For daily maintenance, three to five days after first symptoms occur:
Adults: 2 teaspoons daily
Children: 1 teaspoon daily
We will also take a dose or two over the course of the day whenever we are around illness, as a preventive; or if a member of the family is trying to come down with something.
Recipe by Gwen's Nest at https://gwens-nest.com/elderberry-recipes/