Boost Your Immune System With Homemade Elderberry Syrup, ideal for this season! Easily made in an Instant Pot or on the stove top, our recipe infuses nature’s finest with optional medicinal ingredients like cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and astragalus root. While the syrup provides robust health benefits, don’t miss out on our Immune boosting gummies for an additional tasty defense. Tailor the recipe to your preferences, adding or omitting ingredients as you see fit.
Ingredients
Flu season has arrived and it is essential that we do everything possible to strengthen our immune systems. Taking vitamins, washing hands frequently and avoiding contact with people who are sick are all helpful steps towards staying well during flu or cold season. But even with our best efforts taken into account, sometimes illness still strikes and elderberry syrup may provide an effective natural remedy that speeds recovery time.
This classic remedy features elderberries, cinnamon, ginger and cloves – powerful herbs known to fight infections and soothe throat discomfort. All these ingredients can be easily found at local groceries and health food stores and using either your Instant Pot or stovetop is super simple!
Combine elderberries, water and spices in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Bring to a boil before turning down to low and simmering for 45 minutes. When cool enough to handle, use a mesh strainer to extract all of the juice from cooked berries before discarding and transferring mixture to glass jar for storage.
Add one cup of honey and stir thoroughly, until well mixed. You may need to adjust the amount depending on your personal tastes – I like my syrup pretty sweet, so I used one full cup – but you may opt for less-sweet syrups by cutting back.
Once the syrup has cooled, pour into a clean glass jar and store in the fridge – this should keep for around one month or more!
Flu season may be approaching, and honey elixir is an invaluable ingredient to have on hand for adding warmth to hot drinks and cooking. Try substituting it for maple syrup on pancakes or drizzle it over ice cream! Additionally, its refreshing summer taste adds zesty goodness to carbonated water beverages for a tasty summer drink that would be great at parties alongside other herbal drinks!
Preparation
As cold and flu season hits full swing, strengthening your immunity is wise. One effective natural remedy for colds, flus and other common illnesses that doesn’t rely on preservatives or thickeners but does well in refrigeration up to two weeks is elderberry syrup; you can even freeze it!
Dependent upon the ingredients you choose, a fruit smoothie can be made quickly in as little as 30 minutes and with minimal effort. Start by gathering fresh berries from markets or locally foraging for them if possible – otherwise frozen ones work just as well!
For an effortless preparation, combine water and berries in a saucepan, boiling and simmering them until their liquid content has reduced by approximately half. Mash or whisk the berries as needed until all their juice has been released into your bowl.
Some recipes call for cinnamon sticks, ginger pieces or whole cloves as ingredients with health benefits, while adding echinacea roots (rich in vitamin C) is another great way to strengthen immunity.
Rose hips, another high source of vitamin C and antiviral, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory benefits, may make the syrup taste sweeter but beware that too much sugar may cancel out some of the benefits offered by elderberries.
Once your liquid has cooled down, stir in one tablespoon of raw honey or other natural sweeteners of choice – honey has many health benefits that should not be ignored; however, babies under one cannot safely consume honey due to potential botulinum poisoning risks.
Pour the syrup into a glass jar and store in the refrigerator. It will keep for up to three months or more; however, refrigeration is preferred over freezing as low temperatures could compromise its quality.
Storage
Homemade elderberry syrup will last at least a month in the refrigerator when stored properly, or frozen and placed into jars or ice cube trays to use later. Plus, it makes an amazing homemade Christmas present!
Glass containers are recommended as they will not release chemicals or microparticles into the syrup, such as Mason jars. Other glass bottle types, including Ball jars or even old jam jars work as well. Plastic and stainless steel containers could contain harmful toxins which will leach into your syrup – therefore plastic and stainless steel containers should be avoided at all costs!
Simplest Recipe for Dried Elderberry Jam: Stir 1 Cup of Elderberries in 4 Cups of Water until simmered and allow to reduce by half; after 30 Minutes strain through sieve to catch any uncooked berries before discarding liquid from reduced mixture.
Once strained, the syrup should be transferred into glass storage jars or pitchers and sealed. You can add an infusion of cinnamon stick or dried ginger for extra immune-enhancing effects; some prefer taking one teaspoon daily as preventive medicine while others only when they feel sick or suspect they have caught cold or flu symptoms.
As it’s essential that honey remains raw, heating it changes its makeup and may destroy enzymes, vitamins and minerals found in raw honey. Once your syrup has completely cooled off, stir in your honey.
This recipe calls for one full cup of honey to keep it kid-approved, but you may use less or switch it out with maple syrup or pure cane sugar for an alternative sweet taste. Children of 12 months or older should consume this homemade syrup; due to sulfites in honey potentially causing digestive issues for very small infants.
Serving
Elderberries are abundant during summer and fall months, making homemade elderberry syrup with no honey easy for cold and flu prevention or as a natural remedy when illness strikes. Furthermore, this simple recipe also boosts immunity while combatting allergies effectively.
Elderberries contain antioxidants, anti-inflammatories and phytochemicals which can strengthen your immune system, prevent illness and provide relief from cold, flu, allergy symptoms. Not just hippie mom stuff; several scientific studies have demonstrated its efficacy at shortening recovery time from various conditions.
This recipe is extremely flexible; feel free to customize the flavors by adding cloves, cinnamon or echinacea root for additional immunity-boosting effects. Alternatively, apple cider vinegar provides preservation benefits in addition to adding medicinal benefits that enhance this syrup’s medicinal value.
Once the syrup has completely cooled down, strain to remove any remaining fruit before stirring in your desired sweetener – this step ensures shelf-stability and easier storage!
Traditionnally, elderberry syrup is traditionally prepared using raw honey which offers many health advantages; however if you want to reduce added sugar you can easily substitute with your preferred natural sweetener such as maple syrup and molasses which produces an amber colored syrup with an irresistibly sweet taste that pairs perfectly with its strong elderberry aroma.
Lemon juice adds tartness that balances out the sweetness perfectly, making this recipe ideal for daily consumption or when symptoms appear of cold or flu. Store this syrup in a glass jar in the refrigerator; it should keep for two months though I usually finish my batch much sooner! Take one teaspoon as preventative medicine each day or when feeling symptoms; children aged 1 year or over can take up to four tablespoons. Please remember that raw honey cannot be given to babies under one year as their digestion cannot handle it effectively.
