The Elder
– the medicine chest of the country people (Ettmueller, physician in the 1660’s)
The Elder (Sambucus nigra) is such a beautiful versatile tree gifting us with a wealth of medicinal benefits. It’s THE antiviral to turn to during the winter months of potential ills. The homemade elderberry syrup recipe below is easy to make and will provide you with support through the coming months.
Elderberry really is the winter remedy of choice and nature provides us with these wonderful berries just as cold and flu season begins. We are blessed to have this powerful medicine at our fingertips.
When the fragrant elderflowers arrives in the summer
it takes me right back to my youth going out with my father collecting these heady blossoms ready to be made into a tincture.
We would take them home where they would dry out in racks positioned over the closed lids on top of the AGA. The house would be filled with the most beautiful summer fragrance. My father would then make a tincture. Always labelled in the Latin name, Sambucus nigra.
The elderflower has a diaphoretic effect ie it induces sweating to break a fever. I actually remember being given this when I was a child to bring out a flu and when the fever breaks the body starts to heal. Interestingly elderberry juice was used to treat a flu epidemic in Panama in 1995. It is also noted in the 2000 Mosby’s Nursing Drug reference for colds, flu, yeast infections, nasal and chest congestion, and hay fever. Elderberry has also been shown to be effective against avian flu.
Both the flowers and berries have therapeutic benefits. Properties include immunostimulant, expectorant, emetic, diuretic, sedative and anti-inflammatory. More studies are being published all the time to show what a potent antiviral this is. Research has demonstrated that the HIV infection is inhibited by elderberry, so this incredible plant has far reaching benefits.
Homemade Elderberry Syrup Recipe
Ingredients
3 cups of elderberries (berries removed from the stocks)
3 cups of Billington’s molasses sugar (packed with vitamins and minerals)
Method
Rinse the berries with water in a sieve and add to a saucepan with the sugar (no extra water required).
Gently bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
Pour through a sieve squeezing the syrup through into a bowl below with the back of a tablespoon.
Let it cool and pour into a clean jar and store in the fridge.
Dosage:
Preventative measure – 1 teaspoon daily for children and 1 tablespoon for an adult.
If unwell dosage can be increased and taken every 2/3 hours.
Purchase Elderberry syrup
Studies on the Elderberry
Elderberry, a potent antiviral in the treatment of HIV
Elderberry action against influenza
