Last updated on . Originally posted on By Maryea / 495 Comments
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Use this homemade Elderberry Syrup recipe to keep your family healthy all year round!
I started using elderberry syrup when my daughter Meghan was a toddler. Elderberries are rich with health benefits, including:
Boost the immune system
Fight and protect against bacterial infections
Fight and protect against viral infections
Reduce the symptoms and duration of a cold or the flu
helps clear sinus infections
hasnatural diuretic effects and promotes bowel movements
anti-inflammatory properties
anti-carcinogenic properties
eases symptoms of allergies
high in antioxidants
high in vitamin A, which makes it great for healthy skin
Clearly elderberry is a powerful plant! Through the years I’ve tried to be consistent in having our whole family take elderberry syrup, especially during the cold and flu season. The problem? Elderberry syrup is expensive!
I would much rather buy a product than have to make it. I’m a busy mama and adding one more thing to my plate can cause me to drop and break the whole plate. Nobody wants to see that.
However. When I discover I can make something for significantly cheaper at home and it’s really not that difficult, I make room on my plate. I might have to take something else off the plate, but I make room.
This homemade elderberry syrup recipe is really easy and worth the effort for the money saved. One of my lovely readers actually first shared the recipe she uses for homemade elderberry syrup with me last year when I was lamenting about the cost of buying the syrup.
Can I take a minute to tell you how much I love this community of readers? You guys are awesome and I love that we can help each other!
I use the basics of that recipe, but changed it slightly. I use dried cinnamon rather than a cinnamon stick and instead of using dried ginger and whole cloves, I use ginger and clove essential oils. I note in the recipe below that you can use either.
The whole process is easy and can be done while doing other household chores. You start by simmering some dried elderberries with water and spices for about 45 minutes. That’s when you can be doing other things. No need to hover over the pot here.
Make sure you squeeze all the liquid out of the berries so you aren’t wasting any. The back of a wooden spoon should do the trick.
Make sure the liquid is cooled, and then you can add your raw honey. Raw honey sweetens the syrup so kids will take it easily, but also has its own medicinal benefits. Win-win!
Then you store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator and it will last for about two months. For adults, take 1 tablespoon daily and for children, 1 teaspoon daily. If you or your children are experiencing sickness or feel something coming on, that dose should be repeated four times daily.
Here’s a video to show you how easy it is to make homemade elderberry syrup at home!
Here’s to a healthy cold and flu season!
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4.8 from 110 reviews
Author:Happy Healthy Mama
Total Time:50 mins
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Description
This homemade elderberry syrup can be made in less than an hour and will keep your family healthy all year long. It’s the best natural immune booster you can use.
If you are interested in adding elderberry to your diet for its immune system boosting properties, a teaspoon of home-made elderberry syrup per day is a conservative recommended daily serving.
Are There Elderberry Side Effects? There is a downside to consuming too much elderberry, and that is an upset stomach. Just like with any high fiber fruit, eating too much can cause stomach pain, upset stomach, and diarrhea.
Elderberries can be toxic when eaten raw but are safe to eat when cooked. The standard preparation method of boiling them down to make a “syrup” or “gummy” makes them safe to eat (figure 1).
Homemade elderberry syrup is an immune-supportive recipe to help keep you and your family healthy all season long. This simple functional recipe will keep in the fridge for up to 6 months! For more immune-supportive recipes and tips check out my entire roundup of Natural Cold and Flu Recipes.
The bark, unripe berries, and seeds contain small amounts of substances known as lectins, which can cause stomach problems if too much is eaten (2). In addition, the elderberry plant contains substances called cyanogenic glycosides, which can release cyanide in some circ*mstances.
Although there is no specific time of day to take elderberry, you'll maximize its benefits by using it consistently on a regular basis. You can choose whether to use it morning, afternoon or evening. It may be best to use elderberry for short periods of time to support healthy immune function, and then take a break.
Because elderberry may stimulate the immune system, it could interfere with medications taken to suppress the immune system. These medications include corticosteroids (prednisone) and medications used to treat autoimmune diseases. People with organ transplants should also avoid elderberry.
Cardiovascular disease risk biomarkers and liver and kidney function are not altered in postmenopausal women after ingesting an elderberry extract rich in anthocyanins for 12 weeks.
By comparison, my homemade syrup is about a quarter of the price of over-the-counter options. The other draw back of over-the-counter versions is the sweetener, usually it's glucose. My recipe uses raw honey as a sweetener, which has so many healing properties.
Elderberry is not FDA-approved because it's regulated as a supplement, not a drug. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) isn't required to approve a supplement prior to sale and companies manufacturing them are responsible for their safety and labeling them properly.
We get asked all the time, “Do I need to refrigerate my syrup?” And the answer is YES! Most of the store-bought elderberry syrups out there are packed with preservatives, which is why they can last in the medicine cabinet for so long. Most preservatives are sugar laden and unhealthy for our bodies.
Cooking elderberries is not just a culinary step; it's a safety measure. To neutralize toxins, specifically cyanide-inducing glycosides, heat treatment is a must. Boiling elderberries for at least 30 minutes is the go-to method. This ensures the destruction of harmful compounds.
Our shelf life study deemed our syrup safe out of the fridge for up to 5 days. As always, we recommend you keep an eye on the consistency, taste and smell of the syrup. Do not consume if it starts growing white mold, smells bad, tastes bad or fizzes upon opening.
Some of our customers take it year-round, others take it only when they are seeking to support their immune system. An adult serving is approximately one tablespoon and a child serving is approximately one teaspoon. You can take elderberry once a day or up to three times daily if needed.
So you've made Elderberry Syrup and now you have this pile of Elderberry mush (possibly some other herbs) We'll call it the berries from here on... You could compost them, you could feed them to the birds OR you could make MORE MEDICINE!
Elderberry supplements seem to have few risks when used daily for up to five days. The safety of its long-term use is unknown. Risks. Never eat or drink any product made from raw elderberry fruit, flowers, or leaves.
Dosing. Elderberry fruit extracts have most often been used by adults in doses up to 1200 mg by mouth daily for 2 weeks. Elderberry is available in many different types of products, including syrups and mouth rinses.
An Israeli study conducted in 2019 found that taking an elderberry syrup called Sambucol improved flu symptoms within 2 days in 93.3% of participants. Meanwhile, 91.7% of the group that didn't receive elderberry syrup showed improvement within 6 days.
Introduction: My name is Wyatt Volkman LLD, I am a handsome, rich, comfortable, lively, zealous, graceful, gifted person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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