Deep purple elder-beauty
Updated 12/13/2023
I’ve been a smidgen obsessed with elderberry this year and it has heard my prayer. Not only did my husband gift me a beautiful elderberry bush for our yard, but a neighbor with a gorgeous mature bush gave us the green light to enjoy some of his bounty. So, I’ve been up to my elbows in elderberry.
Give yourself time to rinse & remove stems
Elderberry is a folk medicine immune supporter, and even today you can find it in commercial cough syrup and lozenges. Clinical trials suggest that it reduces the duration of the flu, and it may have antiviral, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. From a plant-spirit energetic perspective, elder aids with journey work (such as shamanic visioning) and is, simply, an elder filled with primordial wisdom.
Most elderberry syrup recipes call for about 2/3 cup of berries for a season’s supply of syrup. Well, because I had a bucketful, mine is a little stronger! It’s delicious and rich. In the literature there are warnings about elderberry irritating the gut if taken raw and/or in excess, so you can overdo it! I intend to take 1 tsp daily for 3-5 days at the first sign of cold or flu.
Give yourself a couple of hours to make this start to finish. This recipe made about 6 cups of syrup.
Elderberry Syrup Recipe
Equipment
In addition to a large pot for cooking and processing, you will need a strainer or jelly bag, and containers for your syrup – I used jelly jars and processed them as if I were making jelly to give nicely sealed jars for gifts, and also kept a batch in a larger unsealed jar in the fridge to be used over the next 3 months by my family and me.
Jelly jars come with glass jars, a flat sealing lid, and a ring that twists over the sealing lid to keep it on the jar.
Ingredients
- 8 cups elderberry, washed and stems removed
- 4 cups water
- 1 Tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
- 5 whole cloves
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon, ground
- 1 cup honey
- 1-2 tsp pectin
Directions
Full bedlam-making elderberry syrup
- Place berries, spices, ginger and honey in a large pot and bring to a rolling boil.
- Stirring, add pectin and boil for another minute.
- Lower heat to medium and simmer for 15-17 minutes.
- Strain through jelly bag, and place into jars.
As I mentioned I used jelly jars and processed them like jelly, which entails boiling the jars (pouring hot liquid into a cold jar can make it crack) and sealing the lids. After filling the jars with syrup and topping with sealing lids, I tightened the lid rings and placed the jars upside down for about 5 minutes. This helped them seal. Once that’s done, I check to see if the jar sealed by pressing the center of the lid. If I can push the lid down and it pops up, no seal. If the lid is concave and pressing it doesn’t move it, it’s sealed. Often, lids will seal throughout the day – I can hear “pop” from the next room when a lid seals. Jars that don’t seal need to be refrigerated, and the syrup used within 3 months. I keep those that seal all season.
Making your own jelly and syrup can be a sticky mess, but I am always amazed by the wonderful smell, color, and flavor of homemade preserves. It’s a fun thing to do with family or friends who are into it. Little jars of your handcrafted goods make terrific gifts. Make sure not to give away unsealed items or you may be gifting a nice jar of something not-so-healing.
just an FYI, and I don’t pretend to be an expert on anything, but have learned from some of the best and do my own research. Elderberry seeds (as many seeds and pits do) contain a toxic cyanide that is poison to out system. In smaller quantities it “irritates the gut”, but in larger it is poisonous!!
This is destroyed (vapored off) by boiling then long simmering. You can read anywhere from 10 min to 1 hour for this, but I learned from an old Indian woman, 45 min was minimum. So that is what I’ve always done, and no one has ever been sick. You then can process your juice. I do this with a food mill, then strain. but you can just strain theu jelly bag.
now you are ready to add other ingredients you use….spices, honey, sugar if using pectin…….
Canning in waterbath is how I preserve.
Be safe, do research, in your strides towards optimal health!!!
Hi Cindy, Thanks and yes, elderberries need to be cooked to be edible. Readers, take time to read about it before making syrups, jams or jellies from fresh.
I made elderberry syrup this year, too. They are a challenging fruit to work with – v seedy, and the flavor is mild and lightly tangy, so how you flavor the syrup really impacts the product. I went with honey, allspice, clove, lemon and a smidge of cinnamon.
All the best and thanks for sharing!
Loved this post, it’s not everyday you discover something so persuasive.
Have an excellent day!
Hi there! Such a great post, thanks!
So this is elderberry jam that my sister is telling me about. She had this on one of those organic produce fairs and it’s really tasty.
Same idea! You can make jam/jelly by simply boiling down the syrup until it thickens (do a little research on jam/jelly making, as temp will change the sugar – it’s easy to overdo it).
Peace,
A