Make your own Elderberry Syrup (and boost your immune system!)

Elderberry syrup is basically the sweetest, most delicious way to build up your immune system.

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Have you heard about elderberries, and their amazing power to boost your immune system?  They are packed with antioxidants and vitamins and let’s be honest, our bodies need that any time of the year, but especially during the colder months.

They also may be good for your heart health as well.

But, first, a warning.  elderberries ARE amazing little berries – but only if you consume them in their cooked state (like, in syrup. 🙂 )  They have been known to cause upset stomach along with a host of other issues if consumed raw.  There have been reports in the past of people making juice from raw elderberries, and the results were not good.

But don’t let that scare you, because when cooked it takes away these issues.  My family and I have been consuming this homemade syrup with no issues whatsoever (and let me tell you, if anyone is going to have issues with an upset stomach, it’s me.  It’s like a superpower I’ve been gifted with.)

Studies have been done in which elderberries have been shown to reduce the severity or length of illness from colds and flu.  Don’t take my word for it though, check out the studies yourself here and here.

I don’t know about you, but anything I can do to speed recovery when I am sick I down with!  Being sick is absolutely no fun and let’s be real here, as moms ain’t nobody got time for that, am I right?

Now, you can buy elderberry syrup online, but it’s pretty expensive.  It’s a whole lot cheaper to make it yourself.  I put off making it for a long time because I thought it would be overly complicated.  However, it’s insanely easy to make.  New things have a way of scaring us off, but then we do it and realize it was not as scary or complicated as we originally thought it was going to be.

I just bought my elderberries online at Amazon over here.

I don’t know about you, but I generally don’t see elderberries at my local grocery store, or even my health food store.  You may find them at a health food store in the bigger cities, but for many of us we have no other choice but to order them online.

Or you could try growing them yourself I guess.  I know nothing about growing elderberries, so I can’t offer any advice to what kind of climate they need or how to grow them, but it’s definitely worth looking into.  Maybe that’s my next project. 🙂

HOW MUCH ELDERBERRY BERRY SYRUP TO TAKE EACH DAY

So, you may be wondering how much syrup you should take each day.  First, let’s be clear here, this isn’t medicine – it’s a food product.  So while I don’t recommend you chugging half the bottle, you don’t have to worry about overdoing it (aside from the calories in all that honey. 🙂 )

For our house I take a tablespoon every day and I give my kids a teaspoon every day.  If one of us is sick I might do that up to 4 times in a day.  We also only take elderberry syrup in the colder months, when we are prone to get sick.

Okay, so let’s get making some elderberry syrup!

HOW TO MAKE ELDERBERRY SYRUP

Grab your supplies.  You are going to need

1 cup of elderberries ( I used these dried ones here)

2 cups of water

1/2 cup of raw honey (raw his best, it contains nutrients that will add to the amazing health benefits of this syrup)

*Just remember that babies should not consume raw honey as it can be harmful to them.

Take your one cup of elderberries and 2 cups of water and bring to a boil.  Once it’s boiling drop the heat down to a simmer and let it simmer until the liquid has reduced by half.  This will probably take about 40 minutes to an hour, depending on your stove.

Once it’s reduced, take it off the heat and using a mesh sieve, strain the syrup.  Push down on the berries with a spatula or spoon to squeeze all that good juice out.  You don’t want any wasted, right?

When it’s cool you want to add the honey.  Do not add the honey before this.  If it’s too hot the heat will kill all the good stuff in the raw honey, and let’s be honest, you paid extra for the raw stuff, you want to get your money’s worth, right?  I did add my honey in while the liquid was lukewarm because my honey is solidifying a bit so I needed some heat to liquify it, but not too much that it kills all the nutrients.

Whisk it all together until it’s mixed nice and good.

Pour into bottles of your choice.  I like these bottles but a mason jar will work just fine.

Store in the fridge and take as needed!

As for how long it will last, if stored in the fridge I imagine it would be good for a couple of months at least.  However, ours is never around for that long so I can’t be sure.  Obviously just like when it comes to any kind of food, “if in doubt, throw it out!”  If it smells funny or doesn’t look right, don’t chance it.

And that’s all there is to it. Not too hard, right?  I steered clear of making my own elderberry syrup for a long time because I thought the process would be difficult, but when I actually did it I couldn’t believe just how simple it was.

This is a very affordable way to take care of your health and boost your immune system during the colder months.  And it’s a very delicious way too which definitely helps.

So, be sure to make this syrup and add it to your daily regimen.  You won’t regret it, and it’s one of those things that is very easy to get the kids to take thanks to the taste.