Try this easy recipe for homemade elderberry syrup! Learn to make elderberry juice concentrate, then add raw honey and spices (or essential oils). The article includes information on storage and even canning. Stop buying and start making this simple elderberry syrup! (This post has been updated for your use from its original publication in 2014.)
The following advice comes from an interview with Rhonda at The Provident Homemaker. These are the things she’s learned about keeping families healthy, including her 2-way recipe for elderberry syrup.
Keeping Kids Happy and Healthy
For new and seasoned parents, here is some simple homestead wisdom from Rhonda for keeping a family healthy.
- Be outdoors in the fresh air and sunshine.
- Grow your own food as much as you can.
- Let the kids have a homestead chores outdoors; learning to keep chickens is a great endeavor.
- Preserve your own food as much as you can. We dehydrate fruits and vegetables, use my garage as a root cellar in the winter, cook from scratch most of the time, and read labels like crazy when packages or cans are involved.
- While we do go to the doctor on the occasions it seems necessary, more often we use home remedies, wellness plants from our yard, and essential oils.
Homestead Lady butts in: You can learn the basics of growing your own elderberries, plus several other wellness herbs with our article, Must Have, Must Grow Wellness Herbs.
Keeping Perspective for Young Mothers
Everything comes in cycles. Whatever your insane schedule is now, it will change later. Enjoy the good about each one; there’s always beauty in there someplace.
Sometimes it becomes harder, sometimes easier, but it always helps you become a better person if you culture a grateful and giving heart.
To help you get started with your herbal journey, grab your copy of our eBook, The Potted Herb. You don’t need a lot of space to start growing herbs this year in pots!
Elderberry Syrup 2 Ways
There are two ways to make this syrup:
- One is with fresh elderberries and spices.
- The other is with elderberry juice and essential oils.
You’ll first make a concentrated elderberry juice, then you can choose between spices and oils.
You can learn to grow your own elderberries easily, but they also grow naturally in many climates. Read the linked article if you’ve never foraged for wild, free food before because there are some handy tips to take out with you.
Elderberry Syrup Two Ways
Ingredients
Elderberry Juice
- 4 oz. Elderberries (2/3 Cups)
- 3 1/2 Cups Water
- 2 Cups Raw Honey
Elderberry Syrup with Spices
- 1 inch Length of Fresh Ginger, peeled
- 1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. Ground Cloves
Elderberry Syrup with Essential Oils
- 2-3 Cups Elderberry Juice
- 5 Drops Ginger Essential Oil
- 3 Drops Cinnamon Essential Oil
- 2 Drops Clove Essential Oil
Instructions
To Make Elderberry Juice Concentrate
- Simmer 2/3 cups elderberries in 3 1/2 cups of water in a medium pan on medium heat until the liquid is reduced by half. (If you're making the spiced version of this recipe, add the 1-inch piece of peeled ginger at this time.) This will create an elderberry juice base, or concentrate, with which to make the syrup.
- Using a fine mesh sieve, strain the berries. Gently press on them to remove all the liquid and set the berries aside.
- Cool the elderberry juice concentrate until just warm and add 2 cups of raw honey. Stir until incorporated.
Elderberry Syrup with Spices
- If you're going to use the 1-inch piece of skinned fresh ginger, add it to the initial elderberry concentrate before you simmer it down.
- Stir in the 1 tsp. of cinnamon powder and 1/2 tsp. of cloves. Stir.
- Bottle and store in a cool place like the fridge for 1-3 months.
Elderberry Syrup with Essential Oils
- Mix into the plain elderberry juice concentrate
- Add 5 drops ginger essential oil, 3 drops cinnamon essential oil, and 2 drops clove essential oil. Stir and bottle. Store in a cool place for 1-3 months.
Notes
More Elderberry Ideas for Later:
Low Carb Chocolate Elderberry Torte
Make Healthy Juices with a Steam Juicer – you can use these instructions for elderberries!
Elderberry Syrup Notes
You may compost the heated and pressed berries. You may also add them to ice cream, granola, yogurt, or yogurt cheese. The livestock would also appreciate eating them.
- If you’ve heard that elderberries are toxic and unsafe, please read the following useful article from Joybilee Farm: 3 Elderberry Myths.
How to Store Homemade Elderberry Syrup
I store my elderberry syrup in the fridge to prevent any botanical material from molding. The odds of that are small since there’s such a high concentration of honey (a natural preservative), but I like to be on the safe side.
The kids prefer taking it cold, too.
- It will store safely in a cool environment for several months.
Make the Elderberry Syrup Shelf Stable
You could also can up the syrup to make it shelf stable, but be sure to omit the powdered spices and/or oils. Add these once you’ve opened the jar. If you can them, the flavor will be very intense and unpalatable, most likely.
You may even omit the raw ginger from the concentrate, if you intend to can it. We don’t mind the flavor canned, but it can be strong for some.
You may also want to swap out the raw honey for raw sugar. The raw properties of the honey will be destroyed in the canning bath, so no sense wasting it.
The sugar is required to create a shelf-stable product, though, so be sure to use it. You may add some raw honey to taste when you add the powdered spices or essential oils once the elderberry syrup is opened.
- Visit Joybilee Farm for great instructions on canning elderberry juice.
To Use Elderberry Syrup for Wellness
But first, here’s my standard disclaimer:
To use for wellness, take a tablespoon straight or mixed in 6-8 oz warm water, every 3 hours if you’re sick and an adult, or take once a day as a general immunity booster.
- Learn more about how elderberry syrup boosts your immune system with Souly Rested.
Many thanks to Rhonda and be sure to visit her at The Provident Homemaker for more wonderfully useful information for you and your family!
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Stopping by from Wildcrafting Wednesday. Very enjoyable article. Elderberries are great, and they grow with wild abandon in many locations. Check out the Wild Edibles section of my blog, for an article on how to find, identify, and harvest elderberries, if interested.
Thanks so much for sharing, Janet! What a fun section on your blog – loved it!
Thanks for introducing us to another homesteading blogger!
We should all have a conference, or some such! But then, I doubt you could drag us away from the homestead long enough!
If anybody is looking to start your own black elderberry patch, I have cuttings for sale until the end of February in my Elderberry Shop .
I love elderberry syrup, our whole house does, so much my stash is gone, have to make some more. Thanks for sharing again on Real Food Fridays.
Same here – I never can keep it in stock in my house!!
My best friend raves about elderberries! I want to plant a couple of bushes on our property this year! Great recipes!
They really are so wonderful to have around! They usually get pretty large – wide and tall – so make sure you have the space.
Thanks for stopping by, Ruthie!