Homemade Elderberry Syrup | Immune Boosting Powerhouse
When sick season comes around, I like to have my fridge and pantry stocked with homemade natural remedies, like this homemade elderberry syrup. Elderberry syrup is full of immune boosting, real food ingredients that can help keep your whole family healthy! As a bonus, it tastes delicious too. You can eat it plain, make tea with it, or even put it on pancakes.
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What Is Elderberry?
Sambucus nigra is the full scientific name, although the plant is commonly called elderberry or elder. This plant has been used since ancient times as a natural remedy to treat a wide variety of illnesses.
Elderberry fruit, the small black berries that grow on the elder plant, are packed full of good things. They contain quercetin, kaempferol, rutin, phenolic acids, flavonoids (antioxidant properties), anthocyanidins (immune boosting properties). Big words, but feel free to look up all of these different things and read more about their benefits for your body! Elderberries are also naturally high in vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin B6, iron and potassium, as well as several other important nutrients.
Health Benefits of Elderberries
Elderberries are really powerful berries that have so many benefits, especially when it comes to boosting immune health! They can help as a preventative measure, as well as to shorten the length of cold and flu if you already are experiencing symptoms. Here’s a quick summary of all of the incredible benefits elderberries offer:
- Powerful immune system boosting properties
- Fight and protect against bacterial and viral infections
- Provides cold & flu relief and shortens the duration of being sick
- Reduces sinus infection symptoms
- Lowers blood sugar
- A natural diuretic
- May improve heart health
- Could have cancer fighting effects
- Eases allergies
- Great for skin health, because they are high in antioxidants and vitamin A
Ingredients for Elderberry Syrup
You can easily make your own elderberry syrup at home! To make immune boosting elderberry syrup, you will need a few simple ingredients that all play an important role in this homemade elderberry syrup recipe.
1 Cup Dried elderberries
You can find dried elderberries at your local health food store, or I have ordered these on Amazon. You can also make elderberry syrup from fresh elderberries, but the amounts and instructions will differ (you can google a recipe). If you are planning to use fresh berries, makes sure you cook them and do not consume them raw! Raw or uncooked elderberries can cause an upset stomach or other side effects. The leaves and stems can also cause a rash, so be careful when handling. I prefer to purchase dried elderberries to avoid this altogether.
4 cups filtered water
Filtered water is the best to use in elderberry syrup because we don’t want any unnecessary chemicals, fluoride, or junk in our elderberry syrup.
3 cinnamon sticks
Cinnamon adds a delicious depth and warming flavor to this recipe, but it also has several health benefits of it’s own. It is high in antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, stabilizes blood sugar, and is good for your heart! On top of that it is a great addition to this syrup because it is antimicrobial, an antibiotic, antifungal and has antiviral properties!
1 inch peeled fresh ginger
Another powerhouse ingredient, fresh ginger adds even more benefits to this elderberry syrup recipe. Ginger has all kinds of health benefits, from helping with digestion, fighting. bacterial infections, it’s anti-inflammatory and relieves joint and muscle pain. Ginger can also help ease nausea.
1 lemon, sliced
Did you know lemons are loaded with vitamin C, which is an important nutrient for immune health? Lemons are also high in antioxidants.
1 tsp turmeric
Some people argue that turmeric is the most powerful herb on the planet in terms of healing. There are so many incredible benefits of turmeric that they are hard to list briefly, but among them are anti-inflammatory properties, natural pain reliever, and aiding in detoxification.
3/4 cup raw honey
Your syrup will get a great nutritional boost if you use raw honey vs traditional store bought honey. Raw honey has so many incredible health benefits that we want to add to our immune boosting syrup! Among other things, honey is high in antioxidants, and acts as a natural cough suppressant. Raw honey also helps prolong the shelf life of your elderberry syrup. There are also added benefits if you can find local honey, like assisting with seasonal allergies.
Other Things You Might Need
A few other tools that will make the recipe preparation go smoothly:
- Medium saucepan
- Ladle or large spoon
- Mesh strainer, cheesecloth, or a fine sieve for straining
- Glass jars – my favorite jars are 8 oz mason jars
How To Make Elderberry Syrup
Step 1: Slice the lemon and peel the ginger
Step 2: Combine water, elderberries, lemon, ginger, tumeric and cinnamon sticks in a medium pot over medium heat. Don’t add the raw honey yet! Bring the mixture to a boil.
Step 3: Reduce to a simmer for 45 minutes. The elderberry syrup should be reduced almost in half.
Step 4: Remove from heat, and cool completely.
Step 5: Once the elderberry syrup is completely cool, stir in the raw honey.
Step 6: Strain out the elderberries and big pieces through a fine mesh strainer. Store in the fridge in airtight container (s) for up to 2 months.
How To Use Elderberry Syrup
In our family, our favorite way to use elderberry syrup is plain, with a spoon. We love the taste! My entire family takes a small amount every day as a preventative measure during cold and flu season, and then if we feel something coming on we will up the dosage to 2-3 times a day. For adults, 1 tablespoon daily, and for kids 1 teaspoon daily is a good amount. Elderberry syrup works the best if you take it early after being exposed or after early symptoms start.
Other delicious ways to use your elderberry syrup include:
- Homemade elderberry lemonade
- Add to your favorite hot tea
- On homemade ice cream (or as an ingredient!)
- In smoothies
- Topping for pancakes and waffles
I think small jars of this elderberry syrup also make a great and creative holiday gift!
Homemade Elderberry Syrup Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Medium saucepan
- 1 ladle or large spoon
- 1 Fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth
- 3 small glass jars 8 oz, or you can use larger jars if desired
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried elderberries
- 4 cups filtered water
- 3 cinnamon sticks
- 1 inch fresh ginger peeled
- 1 whole lemon sliced
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 3/4 cup raw honey or to taste
Instructions
- Slice the lemon and peel the ginger
- Combine water, elderberries, lemon, ginger, tumeric and cinnamon sticks in a medium pot over medium heat. Don’t add the raw honey yet! Bring the mixture to a boil.
- Reduce to a simmer for 45 minutes. The elderberry syrup should be reduced almost in half.
- Remove from heat, and cool completely.
- Once the elderberry syrup is completely cool, stir in the raw honey.
- Strain out the elderberries and other large ingredients through a fine mesh strainer. Store in the fridge in sealed glass jars for up to 2 months.
How Long Does Elderberry Syrup Last?
In an airtight container in the fridge, elderberry syrup should last about 2 months. My preferred method is a small glass jar that is properly sealed. As long as your syrup doesn’t grow any mold, or smell funny it may last even longer. The honey acts as a natural preserving agent! To extend the shelf life of your elderberry syrup, you could add a dash of liquor like vodka, whiskey or brandy as an additional preservative. I personally have never tried this method but I’ve seen it in other recipes!
Safety Precautions
As a word of caution, there haven’t been enough studies to show that elderberries or elderberry syrup is safe while pregnant. There also haven’t been studies to show that it isn’t. It’s one of those things that lacks data, so many health care professionals will tell you to avoid it while pregnant to be safe. As with anything, you should consult your doctor before consuming elderberry syrup while pregnant.
As I mentioned previously, also never. consume raw elderberries. Raw berries can cause nausea and other side effects. They are perfectly safe when cooked!
Why Should You Make your Own Elderberry Syrup?
You certainly could buy elderberry syrup at the store, but it is often expensive, or it has junk ingredients in it, like added refined sugar. When you make your own elderberry syrup at home, you have the ability to control what you put in it, customize to your flavor preferences, and it’s a whole lot cheaper. With such an easy recipe, there is no reason not to make your own!
In conclusion, I hope you try making your own elderberry syrup at home! It has incredible immune boosting benefits, tastes delicious, and it’s much more cost effective than purchasing syrup at the store. Did you try this recipe? I’d love to hear what you think in the comments!
