Elderberry: Mom’s Winter Secret Weapon

 

Tis the season for sickness…

 

 

Who is sick of hearing about the flu hitting their area? Who is ready for summer?  This momma definitely is. I am not here to argue whether it is best to immunize your family against the flu or not. What I am here for is to give you tools for your ‘mom tool belt’ and to let you know there are options out there.

I use to think people were all crunchy and talking a bunch of ‘woo woo’ and ‘hooey’ when they talked about using elderberry. But this year something changed in me. I decided to give it a try. I learned of elderberry kits that an Instagram mom made and a local blogger and podcaster Rebekah from ‘Simply Rebekah’ was sharing it on her Instagram stories. I decided to bite the built and buy it and make the syrup myself.

Now I have started my own elderberry tree from a friend’s bush that she gave me a propagation from. However, you must wait a year or two until you harvest from a new elderberry bush. So, I’m hoping soon, I can start picking from my own backyard. So that’s exciting.

 

 

So what is so special about the kits…

The kits that I purchase from Lexie:Naturals are dried elderberries with a concoction of spices that have antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-fungal (yeast infections). Star of Anise actually has the Shikimic acid which is in Tamiflu.

When you get your kit. You want to either add the contents of your kit to water and bring it to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes or I put them in my instant pot and let it to it’s job on Manual, high pressure for 7 minutes. Do a ‘quick release’ and strain the mixture with a strainer/cheese cloth and squeeze the remaining juice out with the cheese cloth in a ball or pressing with a spoon in the strainer.

You then add honey per the instructions included in the kit. I did add ginger as recommended but I think that made it too ‘spicy’ for the kids. It definitely gave it a kick. I put the syrup in a quart mason jar and pop it in the fridge and take 1-2 teaspoons a day.

To order you can use my link and click ‘elderberry syrup’ to order yours!

 

 

Elderberry Gummies

I decided to make gummies since I knew I wouldn’t be successful giving my boys the syrup. I bought a set of 3 molds with a dropper off of Amazon. This gives me 150 gummies. To make them, place the molds in a cookie sheet or pain. I use my metal brownie pan. You add the 1 cup of elderberry syrup in a saucepan, heat up a bit on medium heat and stir in gelatin. You need to work quickly as the gelatin will begin to set.  Use the dropper and fill each well in the molds. Put in the fridge overnight. These can be frozen for up to a year.

Now since my oldest refused to take them (again I think it’s because of the ginger) I decided to buy these gummies. They are like fruit snacks, so be careful! However, there is only 60 vitamins. Each kid is suppose to take 2 a day. You do the math. My 150 gummies idea looks like a money saver doesn’t it? So, when they start running out, I am going to make more gummies without the ginger and adding some lemon juice to keep them from molding too soon and I think I may keep some in the freezer or, not making so many at once.

One thing I do recommend is if you are going to continue making gummies, you might want to buy a bulk container of gelatin. If not you are going to be buying a box of 4 packets of gelatin every time.

 

 

Results…

We have been taking elderberry since October and my husband and I have not gotten sick. No runny nose, sore throat, nothing. My oldest had a fever, cough virus thing in November (he didn’t take elderberry because of it being ‘spicy’) and my youngest had the same thing around Christmas (because there was a lapse in my gummy making). Since then, nothing. Knock on wood.

Y’all, I’m a believer.

Let me know if you make the syrup or the gummies!

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