Here we go again. Everytime someone in this house gets a sniffle or a sore throat I'm wondering is this going to be the dreaded flu??? It looks as this round is thankfully just going to be a winter cold. They still make you feel terrible and can turn into something much worse if not treated soon. Last month we had this cough, head ache, runny nose and feeling sluggish. I immediately gave the kids, Allen and myself a few doses of homemade elderberry syrup per day. I also drank Chamomile tea in the evenings. Within 4 days we were back to ourselves. My dear friend Paula passed on this recipe to us. Our kids love it. Its sweeten with honey. I have been researching natural remedies pertaining to health online and even checked out a few books from the library. This goes back years and years ago. I cant tell you how much I have learned. I'm excited about using gifts of the earth to help treat areas of our health. Of course I will still go into the doctor if needed. I will try and treat at home first in hopes of seldom ending up going into the doctors office for colds or adding chemicals to our bodies, that excites me. Knowing how great this worked for us last month I decided to make up a jar of Elderberry sauce this time around as well. Here are some photographs of our medicine making~
For this recipe we just need a cup of fresh Elderberries. You can use a half a cup of dried berries.You can get dried elder berries at Mountain Rose Herbs.
You will also need…
• 3 cups of water
• 1 cup of honey
1.) Place the berries in a saucepan and cover them with the 3 cups of water. Then, bring it to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for a half hour.
( While waiting Lots of hugs and kisses)
2.) SMASH up the berries. Then, strain the mixture through a mesh strainer.
3.) Add the honey.
4.) Bottle and store in the fridge, where it will last a few months.
Why make Elderberry syrup?
Its one of the most popular cold remedies in Europe. Elder has been used for centuries and is one of the most well documented herbs for colds and flus.
You can give the syrup by the teaspoon (kids love it) every 2-3 hours while sick, or even use it regularly in your food, such as on pancakes! Elder is VERY high in bioflavonoids and is a great antioxidant. For kids under 2, add the syrup to hot water to kill any microbes in the honey that might make them sick. Enjoy!
22 comments:
We use echinacea with elderberry in it to keep our immune system up & then honey cough syrup from the health food store. Never thought to make my own. Hmmmm
Oh yea such a good recipy and above mix echinacea with it and it get's even better.
How wonderful to see you with your loved huggie ones. Toooo sweet. Just because of these hugs and kisses nobody gets to be sick...smile.
We want to plant elderberries on our property in order to have free berries. You can combine the dried elderberries with dried rosehips to give a big boost to the vitamin C in the syrup. Glad you posted this.
Another great combination to throw off a cold or flu at its start is vitamin C, garlic capsules, echinacea and zinc. Taken twice a day for a day or two, it kills a cold at it's beginning.
This is great . . . at what age do you think it is safe for the kiddo . . . and what is the beginning dose?
Or is that not something you would give a child until he or she is older?
this is amazing. what a healthier way to treat winter icks.
Cute post. ;) We buy elderberry too when kiddos are under the weather. Question... does boiling the berry decrease it's potency? I'm sure they do that in processing the store-bought brands. Just wondering?? Thanks for the recipe!
Yay, Catherine! :-) I hope it works as well for you as it has for us!
Caroline, because elderberries really are "food" instead of "pharmaceuticals", you don't have to worry about things like overdosing. I'm guessing that if they got too much, it could possibly give them a tummyache or diarrhea (as with other berries), although we've never had that happen. In our house, we mix a teaspoon a day in our tea or oatmeal for health maintenance during flu season, and when we are sick, we increase to about 3 teaspoons a day.
I can't wait to do this...what berries did you use? Love you
Dried Elderberries~
oh I think I want to make this! the kids are adorable!
Since I am on an organic approach to healing these days, I love this idea! What a great way to add prevention to beginning our days instead of waiting for the illness to come.
Love and Hugs ~ Kat
Looks yummy and not just beneficial but also looks like so much fun to make!
Thanks for sharing. I always love people that are open to home remedies...after all they have been around a lot longer and have a great track record.
Thanks for the positive feedback.. Let me know when you try this. Cant wait to know what you think...
H-Mama- I'm not sure to the question of boiling,,, these are dried and must be boiled. Fresh may be completely different. Ummm
This is so interesting and actually doesn't look too hard. And putting it on pancakes? Yum!
Thanks for visiting my blog, I like yours am now following and looking forward to reading more.
I've bought elderberry syrup before, but this looks very easy to make. Thanks for the recipe! My kids had mild colds last week, too. They got over them very quickly with a little apple cider vinegar mixed into their juice and a couple of cold compounds I had on hand. I with you, I like to try natural stuff first, then if that doesn't work, I'm not opposed to taking them to the doctor. I thinking cutting out refined sugar in our diet is the biggest factor of why I don't have to take my kids to the doc. If they do get something, it is always very mild and when I let them have a low grade fever, they get over it very quickly. Hope you're all feeling better now!
God Bless,
Jackie
Thanks for the recipe! And also sweet pictures of you and your daucghters! Looks like you had some great help!! :)
How cool...I am very new to the all natural stuff! I love reading about it!
Thank you so much for stopping by my blog and for your sweet comments! I love your blog also! Your photos are AWESOME!
Many blessings!
Amy
Great to meet some of you new readers~ Also wonderful hearing from the rest of my blog friends!
Hello, In my neck of the woods we make Elderberry Jam. Thanks for sharing this recipe I will have to make some.
When my son was a little lad he had problems with his tonsil's easily getting infected. Seemed the Doctor always had him on the bubblegum pencillin. After just coming off of the pencillin again I noticed he had a sore throat and after looking down his throat with a flashlight he had another infection. After much research I had him drink Sage tea three times a day and his infection was gone two days later. Anytime he had a sore throat after that he drank his Sage tea and was better within 24 hours. Note that Sage tea is not a flavor a child desires but my son drank it chugging it down like medicine because he new it worked. I found this info in a book about the treatments the Native Indians used.
Wow! You are good! When I come across Elderberries, I just may try this...
This is awesome! My mom is always making these kind of recipes for all kinds of sicknesses. She is always researching natural health remedies.I will make sure to pass this along to her :)
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