This past week a nasty cold ran it’s course through my household. Thankfully I had elderberry on hand. I was very impressed by just how much it helped everyone get over the cold quickly. As soon as one of us showed signs of the cold hitting I doctored them up with either elderberry syrup or a tea made with elderberries. I prefer offering the tea as it has other herbs in it that are good at fighting a cold but my youngest son does not like drinking herbal teas so the syrup is good for him. They are both very easy to make and the tea can be mixed into batches as large as you want and kept on hand for when a cold or flu hits.
To make the syrup: Bring 2 cups water and 1/2 cup dried elderberries to a boil. Simmer for about 45 minutes, mashing berries as they simmer. Strain well and then mix in 1/2 cup honey or vegetable gylcerine. That’s it! Pretty easy, huh. This keeps for about a month in the fridge. Dose: take 1/2-1 teaspoon every 2 hours.
For the tea, I mix up in batches: 1 part elderberry, 1 part thyme, 1 part lemon balm, 1 part linden, 1/2 part calendula, & 1/2 part anise seed. To make the tea, use one tablespoon of the mix to one cup of boiling water and let steep 30-60 minutes. Adults can take up to 4 cups a day and children about 1 cup a day which can be divided into 1/4 cup doses and given through out the day. You could also add a small amount of dried stevia to the mix to sweeten it. I say small as stevia is VERY sweet and can easily over power the tea mix.
Another thing about elderberries…… they can also be used as a dye. When used fresh, they produce a nice purple color. They grow wild out here in my neck of the woods and I am wanting to go searching for some real soon so I can make a dye bath out of them and see what colors I get. If the rain would let up maybe I could go searching for some! I’ll be sure to post my results if and when I find some to dye with! They can also be used dried to make a dye bath. This produces a brownish color though and I’m wanting to achieve purple so I really need to hunt down some fresh ones.
