Elderberry elixir

Elderberry is prolific on the Glasgow Farm. Our honey bees were in bee heaven early this summer with all the  Elderberry blossoms. Elderberry is famous for it’s ability to treat flu and virus symptoms.  This was my first year to make my very own Elderberry elixir. For years I had read how Elderberry  trumps Tamilfu for flu and virus remedy ability, so I decided to make a batch! It is so like God to put the very remedies we need in close proximity to us.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”

Elderberry Elixir Recipe
Two pint canning jar (or other glass jar that seals well)
Two cups washed ripe elderberries (it took an hour to pick the ripe one’s from the unripe!)
Two cups of high quality brandy
One cup of raw honey
Pour all ingredients into mixing bowl together and stir well. Pour into sterilized pint-sized jars. Secure top on and shake carefully. Let sit in cool dark place for four to six weeks. Strain well, reserving liquid and store in airtight jar in cool, dark place. You don’t have to strain if you don’t want. Shake  before using. Store in small tincture bottles if you have any. The elderberry tincture (elixir) will last a year or more. This is the first year I have made it! The remedy goes back to Hippocrates.

Take a teaspoon every three hours at onset of flu or virus. You can put a teaspoon into a cup of water and drink as well.  Take until well! If you’ve come into contact with someone with the flu or virus I suggest to take 3 or 4 times a day.
Of course- rest and eat chicken soup along with your Elderberry elixir!

“Elderberries have been a folk remedy for centuries. Elderberry is used for its antioxidant activity, to lower cholesterol, to improve vision, to boost the immune system, to improve heart health and for coughs, colds, flu, bacterial and viral infections and tonsilitis. Bioflavonoids and other proteins in the juice destroy the ability of cold and flu viruses to infect a cell. People with the flu who took elderberry juice reported less severe symptoms and felt better much faster than those who did not. Elderberry juice was used to treat a flu epidemic in Panama in 1951.”

Make sure you don’t eat unripe elderberries, the stem or leaves. They can make you very sick.

An Elderberry bunch- the unripe ones and the stems are dangerous to eat. Only use the ripe berries, the black ones

Unripe elderberries, in addition to the plant’s leaves, twigs, stems and roots, contain traces of cyanide- So be careful!

Elderberry elixir ingredients: Raw honey, good quality brandy and ripe Elderberries

Pour all ingredients into mixing bowl

Stir elderberries, brandy and honey together

Pour into clean pint-sized jars-this recipe fit into 2 pint jars

Elderberry elixir

Elderberry elixir Secure top on and let sit for 4-6 weeks. You can strain out the berries at that point or let them stay and get stronger.

You can order  Elderberry bushes from  Gurneys.com.

Elderberry tree/bush grew up through our Baler they would take over our field if we let them!

Elderberry bush hanging over bunny