Elderberry

I could feel myself coming down with something the other day. Aching all over, low energy, weird headache, vague sore throat. I assumed I was coming down with what had been going around @ my partner's work. So that night I decided to put the elderberry tincture I had made a couple months ago to the test (didn't think of it earlier- duh!). I took 20 drops, went to bed early (around 9:30), and woke up the next morning feeling fine. Not sick. Full of energy and ready to take on the day. Maybe it was mostly the sleep, maybe it was mostly the elderberry, maybe my body did most of the work itself... We could speculate all day. Elderberries are rich in Vitamin C, potassium, and antioxidants. They have been used for a long, long time to shorten the duration of colds and other illnesses, and also as a preventative. Here's the recipe if you want to make your own elderberry tincture- it was very easy, and I literally had no experience with tinctures prior to making this. Here's the recipe, courtesy of Clean, which is a great website that I encourage you to check out.


Fresh Elderberry Tincture


1. Locate: Find a site with abundant wild elderberries (sambucus ssp.). We honor the wildcrafting rule of 10/1. For every ten plants (or flowers, or fruits, or mushrooms) in the immediate area, you may take one home. If there are fewer than ten leave them to propagate the area and check back another year. You can also purchase dried elderberries online or at your coop, but I prefer fresh.


2. Harvest: Pick your elderberries right on the umbels (umbrella-shaped berry clusters). The stems are hollow and the fresh clusters snap off with ease. Don't fuss with picking off the individual berries. We'll get to that at home. Gather the ripest, almost black berries.


3. Freeze: When you have a bag-full take the berries home and pop them in the freezer. When frozen the berries will crumble with ease off of the stem.


4. Separate: Crumble the berries off of the stem into a bowl and transfer to a quart jar. Fill the jar with berries to just below the shoulders. Allow to thaw.


5. Muddle: With a wooden spoon or kraut pounder break the berries open a bit. You don't need to pulverze them, but muddle them up a bit. Some seeds will become exposed, and they look a little like bugs - so don't freak (see photo above).


6. Steep: Cover to in inch or two above the berries with good brandy (in Wisconsin a basic decent brandy is Korbel, so that's what we use). Lid, label, and tuck away in a dark quiet corner for 4 to 6 weeks. Tip the jar over and gently shake every time you think of it.

7. Bottle: Strain through a stainless steel colander lined with a thin cloth. Store in amber dropper bottles or glass jars in your medicine cabinet.


You can take a few drops of elderberry tincture often throughout the winter months. Dosage is as follows when feeling under the weather:


Adults 20 drops 2 - 3 times/day in water
Children 10 drops 2 - 3 times/day in water


*FYI- Do not eat elderberries. Make sure the berries you select to use are ripe.

*Notes: I used vodka (Pinnacle), instead of brandy, and it worked fine. It would obviously be sweeter with brandy, though. Also, for my son I put it in water, but for me I put the drops right on/under my tongue. We had previously ordered some baby vitamin D drops for my son so I used the old cleaned out dropper bottle from the used up D for the elderberry. (If you needed to buy one, I'm sure your local health food store would have some for purchase, or look it up online if you don't have that resource handy). The batch I made ended up making more than I could fit in one bottle, so I strained what couldn't fit and put it in a mason jar with the cap on tightly and tucked it away for when I need a refill. If you make it, or have made it in the past, let me know how you like it!




Ask your doctor before taking any supplement or medicine, especially if you are on other medications.