How to make Elderberry Syrup | A Natural Immune Booster

This is a great recipe for homemade Elderberry syrup! This amazing antioxidant-rich syrup is used to help treat colds and flu and can help boost your immune system to prevent illness. I like to add herbs and spices to the syrup to add even more medicinal benefits.  

Tips for Making Elderberry Syrup

Before jumping into making the classic elderberry syrup recipe below, there are a few common questions I’d like to address:

Should I use fresh or dried elderberries?

You can use fresh or dried elderberries for making syrup. I often use dried in the winter months and fresh during the elderberry season (usually the end of August, here in Minnesota) and store year-round. If using fresh berries, use twice the amount of dried berries your recipe recommends.

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What makes the elderberry syrup shelf stable?

As we covered above, syrups that are shelf-stable, meaning that they are able to sit out at room temperature for a long period of time without spoiling, require more sugar, alcohol, or a combination of the two. You're going to have to add something to discourage the development of bacteria and mold. To make this syrup more family-friendly, my recipe uses less sugar and no alcohol and is intended to be kept in the refrigerator. However, if you want a more shelf-stable syrup, you can add ¼ cup of lemon juice and can a pint for 25 min in a hot water bath.

Is elderberry syrup safe for babies?

Honey acts as a natural preservative as well as a sweetener (and has other healthful properties besides), so it’s my preferred choice for my herbal syrups, but it is not recommended for children less than one-year-old. This is because of a rare condition called infantile botulism—sounds scary, and you don’t want it! So if you’re planning to share your syrup with a very little one, you would need to substitute either agave nectar or maple syrup for the honey, and again, keep it in the refrigerator.

What should I cook my elderberry syrup in?

When preparing your syrup, be sure to use a ceramic, glass, or other non-reactive pan that won’t off-gas. Pans with synthetic nonstick coatings release some nasty stuff when heated, so avoid them when making syrup.

What kind of water should I use to make elderberry syrup? 

Remember that your finished herbal product is only as good as the ingredients you start with, and that includes water. The water you include should be filtered water, depending upon where you live and what you have access to.

Can I add other things to my elderberry syrup?

I think one of the things that beginners often struggle with when they're just learning how to make herbal products for their home is being too rigid in how they do things. There’s not just one way to make spaghetti sauce—every chef has their own recipe, each with its own little tweaks of this or that—and the same principle applies here. So be creative with your syrups! You can add vanilla (I love a slice of vanilla bean in mine), cardamom tastes really good . . . just give yourself permission to play with the flavor. All those improvisations add extra goodness anyway!

Classic Elderberry Syrup Recipe

Makes about 3 cups of syrup
Active Time: 1 hour

Ingredients 

• 1 cup dried Elderberries  or 2 cups of fresh elderberries
• 4 cups cold filtered water
• 2-3 tsp ground ginger or a handful of fresh chopped ginger.
• 8 whole cloves
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 cup raw, local honey (or maple syrup or agave nectar for an infant-friendly recipe); double the amount of sweetener to increase shelf life
• ¼ cup lemon juice (optional to increase shelf life if you choose to can your elderberry syrup)

Directions

1. Combine berries and herbs with cold water in a pot, I like using my big dutch oven and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat and allow herbs to simmer 45 minutes.
3. The goal here is to decrease the liquid by half. So we should be left with 2 cups of liquid after we strain the berries.
4. Strain berries and herbs through a fine strainer. Discard used herbs in compost.
5. Once the liquid has cooled to just above room temperature, add honey and stir to incorporate.
6. If canning, add your ¼ cup of lemon juice now.
7. Bottle in a sterilized glass jar.
8. If canning in pint jars, hot water bath them for 25 minutes.

Tip:

This recipe is easy to multiply if you’d like to make a big batch to store, freeze or give as gifts (glass bottles- I love these!). My family enjoys a teaspoon for adults and ½ tsp. for the kids right out of the fridge, just about every day during the sniffle season.

To use:

Use 1 tablespoon of elderberry syrup every 2 hours at the first sign of a cold.  Reduce the serving size to 1 teaspoon for children under 12. Children under 2 can be given ½ teaspoon safely.   Elderberry antioxidants enter the bloodstream rapidly and are excreted within 2 hours of eating, so it is safe to take elderberries often. Read more about the amazing little elderberry here.

Benefits

Here are just some of the benefits of elderberries.  To see their full benefits check out the elderberry here.

• Antiviral
• Antitumor
• Decongestant
• Antibacterial
• Anti-inflammatory
• Anti-diabetic
• Helps with weight loss
• Antidepressant
• Lowers cholesterol
• Antioxidant

Printable Recipe:

LOVE the taste of GINGER?

Other lovely drinks with using ginger.

Hello, I’m Emily. I’m so glad you’re here! Join me and my family as we find beauty in our everyday life on the farm, hearty recipes, and a handmade home. Find more about me and our story here.

Cheers!