Flu Blasting, Kid-Approved Elderberry Syrup Recipe
Does your child have the flu? Drop everything and make some Elderberry Syrup! Elderberries (Sambucus spp) are dreamy, super berries that work wonders on preventing and reducing flu-like symptoms. Plus my daughter loves the sweet, fruity taste of this syrup.
Elderberries contain anthocyanin, an antioxidizing flavonoid that strengthens the immune system and fights inflammation. One study found that elderberry could reduce the duration of flu symptoms by more than 50%!
I love these elderberries so much that my husband and I planted twenty bushes on Honeybird Farm this past Spring. Sidenote: if you want to start growing these yourself, I highly recommend getting bare root stock from New Forest Farm.
A suggested preventative dose is ½ tsp daily for kids and ½-1 tbsp daily for adults. If you come down with a cold or the flu, take every 3 hours until symptoms disappear. Frequency and consistency are key during the onset of an illness!
I get my dried elderberries for this recipe from Mountain Rose Herbs here.
- ½ cup dried elderberries
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon chips (you can use powder or 1 cinnamon stick too)
- 1 tablespoon fresh or dried ginger root
- 1 teaspoon cloves (you can also use clove powder)
- ¼ cup dried rose hips (optional)
- 3 cups of water
- 1 cup honey (I use raw, unfiltered local honey)
- Pour water into medium saucepan and add elderberries, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and rosehips (do not add honey!).
- Bring to a boil and then cover and reduce to a simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour.
- Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
- Strain juice to remove berries and other material. Make sure to smash and push the berries down when you do this, so you can squeeze out as much juice as possible.
- Add 1 cup of honey to juice and mix well.
- Do the happy dance, you just made elderberry syrup!
This syrup should keep for 2 to 3 months.
Have a sick child and no time to make this syrup? You can buy a high quality syrup here.
PIN IT!
Please let me know if you have any questions and how this works for you!
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