Homemade Elderberry Syrup. September 6, 2023.

There is a single elderberry tree on our loop in Brightwood. The village matriarch who had lived there most of her life introduced me to this tree. Her mother had planted the tree she told me. She found out in one of our many conversations that I was interested in herbs and invited me to pick from the tree. Fresh elderberries were an amazing resource! There were plenty of syrups made with dried elderberries which I was looking at doing, but fresh would be that much better. It was an exciting day when the berries were ripe! I picked a bowlful and went home to make my first homemade elderberry syrup.

The recipe I chose was found on the site of a renowned herbalist, Rosemary Gladstar. The method was easy and produced a very potent syrup. We would use it occasionally, but it was one incident in particular that converted me over to the elderberry for good. One summer I had developed a bad case of allergic rhinitis from smoke that left me miserable for months. I would sneeze for hours on the couch, and my sinuses were a continual mess. Over the counter drugs didn’t work. Nasal rinses didn’t work. And the doctor’s prescription medicines didn’t work. However, one day I remembered from my herbalism classes that elderberry is also an anti-inflammatory. So, I began taking that every day. Over the next few weeks my sinuses calmed down and healed. It was an amazing testament to the efficacy of the elderberry.

Homemade Elderberry Syrup

At Hidden Bluff I am nursing along our own elderberry tree which is still quite small. In the meantime, I was able to get fresh elderberries this year for the season. I have made a few changes of my own to the original recipe. Primarily I have added more spices especially ginger. The final product tastes like Christmas in a bottle and is delicious. This is a very strong syrup made with only 1/4 cup of water added to 2 quarts of fresh berries. The resulting syrup is then boiled down even more, so this is concentrated! If you can get fresh elderberries, I highly recommend this recipe. A link to the original source will be provided in the recipe below.