Known for it’s virus fighting capabilities, elderberry syrup packs a powerful punch to the cold and flu! And it is so easy to make your own!
Cold and flu season is right around the corner!
Well, not exactly, but it is a great idea to be prepared ahead of time so you know what to do if and when a virus does attack your house.
I wasn’t actually planning on posting elderberry syrup for at least another month, but as it happens, there is a local outbreak of the hand, foot, and mouth virus in our area pretty bad. I wanted to give my girls’ immune systems a bit of an upper hand against it in case it happened to spread to us, so we have been enjoying plenty of bone broth based soups, making sure we stick to bedtimes for our rest, taking our probiotics
, and I also made up some of this elderberry syrup.
Elderberries
are well known for specifically being very powerful against viruses. Elderberries work well at giving the immune system a boost to fight off the flu faster and more efficient.
I like adding rose hips
to the simmering pot of elderberries since they are a good source of immune supporting vitamin C. It has a very pleasant, kid friendly taste as well so it works well in this syrup.
Elderberry Syrup
Ingredients
- ½ cup dried elderberries
- ¼ cup dried rosehips optional but gives additional immune boosting vitamin c
- 3 ½ cups filtered water
- ¼ cup or more to taste raw honey optional – if you plan to give this to your one year old leave this out as raw honey is not recommended until they turn 2. Your "syrup" will be a little runnier but you will still have the benefit of the elderberries.
Instructions
- Put the elderberries, optional rosehips, and water in a small pot and bring to a boil.
- Reduce to a low simmer for 45 minutes WITHOUT a lid.
- Turn the heat off and mash up the elderberries and rosehips with a potato masher.
- Strain out the elderberries and rosehips and give them a good squeeze to get all the liquid out. Either strain in a tea towel and squeeze, or a mesh strainer and use a spoon to squish them down. A French press works well too.
- Store the syrup in a pint mason jar in the fridge for 3 months.
Tips:
- Doseage while ill is 1 tsp hourly for children, or 1 TB for adults. When we are not ill, but it is during the cold and flu season and we may have been around some virus/flu, I will give 1 tsp daily for a week to the kids, and 1 TB daily for a week for my husband and I for preventative measures.
- I actually prefer to use my French press
to strain out the syrup. I use it to make herbal infusions/teas, and of course coffee too. - Here are my tips on serving it to the kids! I use a medicine syringe because the syrup stains. They do take it off a spoon no problem but I just have accidently dripped too many times and ruined shirts! It is also delicious stirred into soaked oatmeal with berries, smoothies, popsicles, or whole plain yogurt!
- Here is a trustworthy source for your elderberries and rose hips if you don’t have them locally foraged.
- Here is a recipe for nourishing cold bug fighting bone broth to help your family through an illness. Slow cooker method too!
- Other things I like to use during illess is this properly sourced vitamin C. I do also use this vitamin D3 liquid daily even when not ill. Fermented cod liver oil is the best source for vitamin D, however some in my family do not tolerate it well, so I have the vitamin D dropper on hand. I have brought my D levels from in the low 20’s to well above 60 using the liquid D3 in the last year. Living in an area where we only see the sunshine 6 months out of the year, we really need to supplement vitamin D in our family if we want immune systems that function well.
- And since most of our immune system is in our gut, making sure we are eating fermented foods is important to ensure health gut flora. I also like to rotate probiotic supplements especially during the cold and flu season. Rotating helps introduce new flora. Here, here, and here, are the probiotics I like to use.
to strain out the syrup. I use it to make herbal infusions/teas, and of course coffee too.
because the syrup stains. They do take it off a spoon no problem but I just have accidently dripped too many times and ruined shirts! It is also delicious stirred into 
. I do also use this 
daily even when not ill. 
, and 
, are the probiotics I like to use.This post was shared at Fat Tuesday, and The Homestead Barnhop!
I am making this next week!
Great Linda 🙂
You are such a good mama!
I have to say I have never tried elderberries before! I will have to get some next time.
Last year we made a cordial from elderberries and pomegranate juice. It was amazing!!!! And so immunity boosting!
Ooo great idea Daja!
If you order from Mountain Rose…how many batches do you get out of 1 lb or elderberries and 4oz of rose hips?
Hi Megan!
That 1lb bag of elderberries is pretty big – it takes me 2 winters to go through it and I would say I make it monthly from about Sept/Oct until March. I get the bigger bag of the Rosehips because I use it almost daily to make infusions or teas but I would say the 4 oz bag should get you through the winter for just the elderberry syrup. I hope that helps!
I bought one of those 1 lb. bags a few years ago and didn’t use it up. Do you think it is not potent anymore and I should just compost it, or is it usable? I had it stored in the basement in a tightly covered glass jar. Also, if I was to pick wild elderberries, how much would I use of the fresh berries compared to dried? Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Shelley! Dried herbs do lose their potency over time, but I certainly wouldn’t waste what you have. It will still have some properties. If you use fresh elderberries you can double the amount – so use a full cup of fresh elderberries vs the 1/2 cup dried. I hope that helps!
Thank you for your response! I see a lot of elderberries along the roads here ready to pick.
Wonderful Shelley! If you pick more than you need for making one batch you can dry them yourself so they last longer – they also freeze fresh very well.
Hi!
I’m making this right now. When do I add the honey?
Thanks, Renee!
xo
Hi Sarah! Add it in after you strain out the berries. The elderberry infusion should be nice and warm and will melt the honey nicely.
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly! 🙂
What a fantastic post with so much great info! Thank you!!!
I’ve been buying the syrup and putting it in my kids apple sauce and yogurt but I would love to try your recipe of making my own! My only question is- how do you store it? Dark cool cubbard or fridge and have you tried freezing it? TIA 🙂
Hi Juilia! That’s great! And making your own will be much more effective anyway 🙂 Store your elderberry syrup in the fridge up to 3 months. I hope that helps!
It’s not clear at what point do I add the honey? Also if I were to make this into gummis, how many would an adult and a child need to eat.
Hi Savannah 🙂 Add your honey after you strain the berries out – you don’t want raw honey to be heated/cooked so just add it in after and it will be warm enough to melt it. Depending on how much syrup you put in your gummy mixture, I would figure children would need no more than a tsp or so serving per day and adults a TB. I hope that helps!
I’m making this today!
Side note: do you give all your girls the vitamin D supplement? If so, every day? We have tried cod liver oil here…my daughter will take it but I end up gagging with a stomach ache…. Thanks!!
Hi Melissa! Great!
I do supplement all the girls. We live in a very northern state and about half the year is pretty cold and dark so I really think it is important for us to do from about September until April or May. I do supplement them everyday. I purchase cod liver oil when I can afford it but one of my girls doesn’t digest it well so it isn’t super often.
Great, thanks! How much do you give & how do your girls take it?
Ps: I Love Love all of your recipes!
I use this Vitamin D3 dropper and they get one drop – I just put it on their tongue as it is tasteless. YOu can stir it into something if you wish though! (Affil link :: http://amzn.to/1r2hTJR )
How long does this keep if I make it without the honey?
Hi Liz! With the honey or without the honey I would have it used up in about 3 months. The herbs will start losing their potency.
Hi there I’m trying to get my friend to try this, she showed me the Gaia version and that has 4800 mg per teaspoom. I’m wondering how potent 1/2 of blueberries would be I guess in milligrams. Thanks!
Hi Pris 🙂 I am not sure of the potency. My biggest problem with elderberry syrup on the shelf is that herbs lose potency over time. You never know how long that bottle has been sitting there, so I just prefer to make it fresh. Does that make sense?
Recipe looks great — making it as we speak to try to get over this cough we can’t seem to shake. Just your comment about raw honey: I thought it was not recommended until ONE year of age, not two?
Hi Aysin! I see both 1 year and 2 years, and so in my post I want to err on the side of caution. I choose to start raw local honey from a farmer I trust around 1 year with my children.
Hi Renee,
Thank you for the wonderful post with a wealth of information! I’ve ordered all the supplies to make this syrup. I am seeing a lot of post on your Insta with nettle infusion for your girls. Can you please also let me know how you make the nettle infusion teas?
Thanks a lot:)
Hi Renee,
I just received all my herbs for the teas and my new french press! When you get a chance please share how you make/ (your method) the nettle infusion teas for your girls? I cannot wait to try these teas.
Thanks in advance:)
Thanks, Renee! Looking forward to making this today! I bough a 1lb bag. How should I best store them once the bag is open? Thanks!
How would I go about making this in the Instant Pot?
Hi Mary! I am pretty new to the IP so I am not sure. Herbs are quite delicate though and you have to heat them gently and over periods of time to ensure the properties of the herb stay in tact. I am not sure how that would work in a pressure cooker. I am sorry I’m not much help there!
And now I’m sitting here Mary thinking about the possibility of using the slow cooker option on the IP for the slow simmer of it…hmmm I think that might be an option but again I am really so new to using the IP. Just my thoughts!
I make this in my Instant Pot (electric pressure cooker), thanks for the recipe
How long did you set it for? On high pressure?
When do we add the honey??
Hi. During flu and cold season, you wrote that you give ‘1 tsp daily for a week to the kids, and 1 TB daily for a week for my husband and I’. When do you give it again, after ‘a week’ is up? I would like to give it preventatively to my 10 month old son and am wondering how often to give it.
Thank you.
I have been making elderberry syrup for several years. We pick them locally. When you look for the flowering bushes in the spring, it’s surprising how many there are around. They seem to like moist areas around creeks, marshes and ditches that frequently have water. I freeze it in wide mouth pint jars and can just scrape off what I need from the frozen syrup. When colds hit us, I then turn it into tea and add more honey for it’s healing properties. I use approx 2T. of the syrup to 2 c. of hot water. Honey to taste and liberally. It’s comforting, healing and YUMMY!
Hi Renee, I foraged a load of elderberries yesterday, so a bit early for flu season. Can you freeze this or should I freeze the berries and make the syrup later?
Hi Nat! That’s great! Yes, you can freeze the syrup, or the berries. You can also dry out the berries if you want, and make the syrup or a tincture using the dried berries.
My niece gave me a jar of homemade elderberry syrup last winter. I’d been fermenting and so I just stuck it in the back of the cupboard, in the dark and forgot about it. I’m sick and went looking for the syrup and it is very thick, like syrup is suppose to be. It had no mold, off smell or taste. I’m using it and think it’s working. Didn’t realize it needed to be refrigerated. I made a batch today and everyone says to refrigerate it. Am wondering why it’s necessary to refrigerate?
Hi Becky! Yes the syrup should be refrigerated for a couple reasons. Elderberries lose their potency in the syrup if not refrigerated, and they can get moldy.
Just wondering, lets say we use this recipe… if we use powdered ginger, would that help if we didn’t refrigerate? Isn’t there something about fresh ginger root that would need refrigeration or does it all have to do with the elderberries or the honey and that’s why it has to be refrigerated?
Hi Dahlia! There are no preservatives in the elderberry syrup, so it needs to be refrigerated. If you make an elderberry tincture, you don’t need to refrigerate. https://www.raisinggenerationnourished.com/2016/11/how-to-make-elderberry-tincture/
Thanks for this recipe! I went to Harvest Health and bought some organic elderberries. I was in a rush and accidentally bought rose buds instead of rose hips. Oops! Do you know if rose buds have a boost of vitamin c like rose hips? Or should I just forgo them and just do the elderberries? Thank you!
Hi Alesha! I would leave out the rose buds 🙂
I been making it for years but lately my batch develops a weird clumping in the syrup after about a week. We throw it out fearing mold. Has anyone experienced this?
Hi Bernadette! The Elderberry syrup does need to be refrigerated!
Btw I do refrigerate it. It is really weird but last few batches developed clumpy substance. It has to be mold.
Mine does this too. Did you ever figure out why?
Mine does that sometimes as well. I don’t think it is mold. It is almost like the honey clumps together. Did you figure out what it is?
Renee, Have you ever used Brandy or just the vodka for the elderberry tincture? And also, can you recommend a brand of organic vodka or brandy (if you have used brandy).
Hi Nancy! Brandy works too! Our local health food store always has some organic alcohol – brands change but they always have something.
Do you ever use the pulp leftover after you’ve strained the elderberry and rosehip? Also, last time I made it, after a few weeks I thought it tasted like it had fermented. Has this ever happened to you? I refrigerate the syrup.
Hi Jamie! I toss the elderberries when I’m done making the syrup – they are toxic to eat actually! I have never gotten a fermented taste or smell off a batch of elderberry syrup, but best to be safe than sorry and not consume it if it is off!
Hi Renee,
Thank you for the recipe! I love your blog! Do you sell the elderberry syrup as well?
Thank you!
Hi Stephanie! You’re welcome! I don’t sell it currently but let’s chat 🙂
Hi Renee,
I just made a big batch of elderberry syrup today and followed the recipe except I added the honey while simmering since it didn’t specify when. Is it ok that it got heated? I don’t want to be giving it to my family or others if it’s harmful now. Thanks for your input!
Hi Esther – yes it is still fine and safe to use! If the honey was raw, you might have killed off some of the beneficial enzymes with the heat but it is still safe. Next time you can add the honey at the end – I’ll have to adjust my instructions. Thank you!
Can I use molassas in place of honey for a 6 month old? If so do you have a recommendation on which type?
Hi Mary! Yes, that would be fine – anything that says organic blackstrap molasses is fine 🙂
Just stumbling upon this recipe thanks for your IG post. The link to your trusted brand of dried Elderberry’s does not open in my Amazon for some reason. Can you tell me what brand you prefer to purchase? Also, fellow Michigander from West Michigan if you have any local rec’s, happy to purchase either way! Thanks
!
Hi Rita! This is what I use! Thank you for letting me know the link is broken! https://amzn.to/3qY7Tua
You can also find dried elderberries here locally and all of the little health food stores like Health Hutt along the lakeshore or Harvest Health in the GR area!
At what point do you add the honey?
Annette
Hi Annette! At the end when you turn the heat off!
Is there a way to turn this recipe into gummies?
Hi Celsie! I haven’t played around with this particular recipe for gummies, but yes, you could add grassfed gelatin while the syrup is hot and pour into molds!