Elderberry Syrup

Because I've struggled with bronchial issues (bronchitis, asthma) most of my life--however FINALLY outgrowing asthma!--I've always been interested in things to do to keep myself healthier and hopefully avoid the seemingly inevitible October bronchitis attack. While studying herbs, I learned how useful elderberries are for this purpose. In fact, if you look on the labels of many cold-care remedies in the health food store, you'll find elderberries listed in one form or another.

Wild elderberry bushes grew all along one edge of our farm in Illinois. Phil taught me how to harvest the berries, I bought a steam juicer, and voila! We had our own elderberry juice to use. I made elderberry pancake syrup and jelly.

When I moved here, I realized that my elderberry source had been left behind, so I planted a few elderberry bushes. I haven't had much of a crop until now, but this year I had lots of berries. Those bushes will continue to grow, and my harvest will continue to be abundant. To the right is a picture of some of the berries I picked. This is the top half of my steamer juicer. The thing I like about it is that it gently extracts the juice from the berries and leaves all the pulp behind. The picture below, left is of the entire unit (without the top) ready for extraction.

Once I had extracted the juice, I measured it and added an equal amount of raw honey to it. Then I gently kept it warm (very low temperature) while I sterilized my bottles. Once the bottles were ready, I poured the juice into them, applied the caps, and waited for sealing. The first picture on my blog shows the results of my first harvesting. A second harvest (about a week later) yielded the same results. My bushes aren't even full-grown yet! I'm excited to be able to get this much elderberry syrup year after year.

Now what will I do with it? I'll keep all but one in my basement. Starting October 1st, I'll take 1 tsp. every day, keeping the opened bottle refrigerated. If I sense some lung congestion or any other signs of respiratory distress, I'll double or even triple the dose. Entirely safe, good-tasting, and therapeutic. Safe for children over the age of one, too. The raw honey adds anti-bacterial support, as well.