Elderberry Syrup
My husband came home from work last night sniffling and feeling terrible. He went to bed early (6:30PM) and woke up feeling worse. This morning his temperature was 99.5 F, which is not too awful, but still indicates he's fighting something off.
Providentially, he had bought a pound of dried elderberries just the other day for me to make some medicine with them. Wasn't that sweet?! I wish I'd gotten on the ball and made some syrups or tinctures with them right away. But it's summer and not exactly flu season.
So now, simmering on my stove is some homemade elderberry syrup and it smells so good. It will be ready to use in about an hour. I've made this a few times before and it turns out exactly like the tiny bottle of elderberry syrup found at the health food store, only for pennies on the dollar. At our local Sprouts Market, it is around $25.99 for an 8 oz bottle. Making it homemade costs me around $5 for a 16 oz bottle. Totally worth it and totally a keeper. Today, I finally got wise and actually wrote down my recipe and put it in my little recipe box for easy reference (instead of in my head).
Homemade Elderberry Syrup
2/3 cup black elderberries (dried)
3.5 cups water (filtered)
2 Tablespoons fresh or dried ginger root
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder or one whole cinnamon stick
1/2 cloves or clove powder
1 tsp myrrh gum powder
1 tsp cherry bark
1 cup honey
Pour the water into a medium saucepan and all all other ingredients EXCEPT the honey. Bring almost to a boil (boiling may reduce the healing properties, so just to be safe, I try to avoid a full boil) then simmer covered for 45-60 minutes till reduced by about half. Place a fine strainer over a glass quart measuring cup and pour into container, straining off solids. Discard solids and let liquid cool till easy enough to handle. Add one cup of honey and stir till combined. Pour into sterile jar and label.
The standard dose is 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp for kids and 1/2 Tbsp to 1 Tbsp for adults. If the flu does strike, take the normal dose every 2-3 hours instead of once a day until symptoms disappear.
How it works: Elderberry's contain a natural and safe acid which gets absorbed into our cells. A virus cell cannot tolerate this acid so it makes the environment within the body inhospitalbe viruses and the virus ends up starving to death very quickly.
Antibiotics are unable to kill viruses because their function is to break through cell walls. Viruses, on the other hand, have no cell walls, which is why antibiotics are useless for viruses. Isn't it a wonderful blessing from the Lord to give us such an amazing little fruit that tastes and smells good that can help get rid of viruses (and much more!) Grapefruit seed extract (GSE) is also very helpful. About 10 drops in some orange juice 3x a day for 2 or 3 days at the onset of a cold or flu virus.
I am going to give myself and our children a dose of elderberry syrup today just to help keep the flu bug from getting us, too.
Providentially, he had bought a pound of dried elderberries just the other day for me to make some medicine with them. Wasn't that sweet?! I wish I'd gotten on the ball and made some syrups or tinctures with them right away. But it's summer and not exactly flu season.
So now, simmering on my stove is some homemade elderberry syrup and it smells so good. It will be ready to use in about an hour. I've made this a few times before and it turns out exactly like the tiny bottle of elderberry syrup found at the health food store, only for pennies on the dollar. At our local Sprouts Market, it is around $25.99 for an 8 oz bottle. Making it homemade costs me around $5 for a 16 oz bottle. Totally worth it and totally a keeper. Today, I finally got wise and actually wrote down my recipe and put it in my little recipe box for easy reference (instead of in my head).
Homemade Elderberry Syrup
2/3 cup black elderberries (dried)
3.5 cups water (filtered)
2 Tablespoons fresh or dried ginger root
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder or one whole cinnamon stick
1/2 cloves or clove powder
1 tsp myrrh gum powder
1 tsp cherry bark
1 cup honey
Pour the water into a medium saucepan and all all other ingredients EXCEPT the honey. Bring almost to a boil (boiling may reduce the healing properties, so just to be safe, I try to avoid a full boil) then simmer covered for 45-60 minutes till reduced by about half. Place a fine strainer over a glass quart measuring cup and pour into container, straining off solids. Discard solids and let liquid cool till easy enough to handle. Add one cup of honey and stir till combined. Pour into sterile jar and label.
The standard dose is 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp for kids and 1/2 Tbsp to 1 Tbsp for adults. If the flu does strike, take the normal dose every 2-3 hours instead of once a day until symptoms disappear.
How it works: Elderberry's contain a natural and safe acid which gets absorbed into our cells. A virus cell cannot tolerate this acid so it makes the environment within the body inhospitalbe viruses and the virus ends up starving to death very quickly.
Antibiotics are unable to kill viruses because their function is to break through cell walls. Viruses, on the other hand, have no cell walls, which is why antibiotics are useless for viruses. Isn't it a wonderful blessing from the Lord to give us such an amazing little fruit that tastes and smells good that can help get rid of viruses (and much more!) Grapefruit seed extract (GSE) is also very helpful. About 10 drops in some orange juice 3x a day for 2 or 3 days at the onset of a cold or flu virus.
I am going to give myself and our children a dose of elderberry syrup today just to help keep the flu bug from getting us, too.
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