Today is a great day to make the syrup from the elderberry juice I froze a month ago. I sure wish it was easier to pick them. They are a tall bush and/or they hang down over embankments or the road and are out of reach. I have a black lace elderberry from a store here but I want one of the wild ones for medicinal use.
As a child we picked elderberries every year for mom so she could make jelly and wine. We made everything from scratch on the goat farm I grew up on in Takilma, Oregon. South of Cave Junction about 9 miles. We had a grade b goat dairy. Lilac Valley Dairy Goats. All of them purebred, 100 usually. We milked them twice a day. We had a bulk tank to keep the milk real cold. A cream separator was used to separate the milk from the cream. Goat milk is 4.3 butterfat and cow milk is 3.4 butterfat. Goat milk will digest in 30 minutes as opposed to cow milk which takes 1 and half hours to digest. That is why babies can't drink cow milk at a young age. I put my daughter on it at the age of 4 months as we got sick with the flu and my milk left me. So I put her immediately on goat milk and she never had a problem. Take it from me, if you can give your baby goat milk instead of formula, you really should. The health benefits alone are tremendous.
It seems my story became a story of goats and what wonderful animals they are. They are a great way to have that all natural food in your diet, as a cow is so much more work, more food, more care. Bigger.
The elderberry juice (2 cups) thawed and I cooked it on the stove till it boiled. I added a cup of honey. and let it melt in and stirred it. Set aside.
In another sauce pan, put 2 cups of water in it. Put on the stove and turn on the heat to medium. I bought some of these ingredients from Mountain Rose Herbs, here in Eugene, OR. If you are ordering from around Eugene/Springfield area, you can pick up your supplies at the office the next day usually. They are located at 4060 Stewart Road in Eugene. Market of Choice has some bulk ingredients also.
In this pan I added:
1/8 tsp. ginger root, chopped
2 whole cloves
1 tsp. licorice root
1 T. Echinacea Leaves
Grated nutmeg, fresh, 6 grates over the mandolin
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
Let all these ingredients simmer for 20 minutes . Check to make sure the water is not boiling down too far. If it is, add some more. You want one cup of liquid when you are done boiling this mixture.
Strain these ingredients into a bowl and add that liquid to your elderberry juice in the other saucepan. Stir the water ingredients with the juice well. Simmer for a few more minutes and then add 2 T. of pectin to make a consistency of syrup. It gets thicker as it cools.
I have saved some bottles from hazelnut syrup I used to buy from making mocha's at home. They are tall skinny bottles and nice to look at. Put the lid on it and put in the frig. It will last about 2 weeks. Remember we did not use any preservative in this.
You can also use this on your pancakes or waffles too. It tastes just like syrup. Your kids will never know there is herbal medicine inside it.
Elderberry Tea
I wanted to use the elderberries for some tea I am making. If I drink the berry juice in my tea, then it will help me to stay healthy. I make tea by the gallon and here is how to make tea . Sun tea is not a real tea. It takes heat to infuse tea bags or leaf tea to get the important medicinal ingredients out of the tea. Sun tea is only dark water that tastes like tea; all the other things are not in it.
You start by heating up your kettle with it full of Cold water. Always start with cold water. Heat to boiling. Add the sugar and tea to your one gallon container. Pour the boiling water on it and let it steep for 4 minutes. A timer is good for this. If you steep it longer than 5 minutes you will get bitter tea. After 4 minutes take the tea bags out. IN your 2 cup measure, add 2 T. Elderberries. Pour boiling water on them and let them infuse for 15 minutes. Strain them into another cup . Use a coffee filter to do this with. Add the two cups of berry juice to your tea and finish filling the gallon to the top with cold water. I use 1 1/4 cup of sugar for a gallon of tea. Four ounces of agave for sweetness works also. The tea tastes great!
As a child we picked elderberries every year for mom so she could make jelly and wine. We made everything from scratch on the goat farm I grew up on in Takilma, Oregon. South of Cave Junction about 9 miles. We had a grade b goat dairy. Lilac Valley Dairy Goats. All of them purebred, 100 usually. We milked them twice a day. We had a bulk tank to keep the milk real cold. A cream separator was used to separate the milk from the cream. Goat milk is 4.3 butterfat and cow milk is 3.4 butterfat. Goat milk will digest in 30 minutes as opposed to cow milk which takes 1 and half hours to digest. That is why babies can't drink cow milk at a young age. I put my daughter on it at the age of 4 months as we got sick with the flu and my milk left me. So I put her immediately on goat milk and she never had a problem. Take it from me, if you can give your baby goat milk instead of formula, you really should. The health benefits alone are tremendous.
The elderberry juice (2 cups) thawed and I cooked it on the stove till it boiled. I added a cup of honey. and let it melt in and stirred it. Set aside.
In another sauce pan, put 2 cups of water in it. Put on the stove and turn on the heat to medium. I bought some of these ingredients from Mountain Rose Herbs, here in Eugene, OR. If you are ordering from around Eugene/Springfield area, you can pick up your supplies at the office the next day usually. They are located at 4060 Stewart Road in Eugene. Market of Choice has some bulk ingredients also.
In this pan I added:
1/8 tsp. ginger root, chopped
2 whole cloves
1 tsp. licorice root
1 T. Echinacea Leaves
Grated nutmeg, fresh, 6 grates over the mandolin
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
Let all these ingredients simmer for 20 minutes . Check to make sure the water is not boiling down too far. If it is, add some more. You want one cup of liquid when you are done boiling this mixture.
Strain these ingredients into a bowl and add that liquid to your elderberry juice in the other saucepan. Stir the water ingredients with the juice well. Simmer for a few more minutes and then add 2 T. of pectin to make a consistency of syrup. It gets thicker as it cools.
I have saved some bottles from hazelnut syrup I used to buy from making mocha's at home. They are tall skinny bottles and nice to look at. Put the lid on it and put in the frig. It will last about 2 weeks. Remember we did not use any preservative in this.
You can also use this on your pancakes or waffles too. It tastes just like syrup. Your kids will never know there is herbal medicine inside it.
Elderberry Tea
I wanted to use the elderberries for some tea I am making. If I drink the berry juice in my tea, then it will help me to stay healthy. I make tea by the gallon and here is how to make tea . Sun tea is not a real tea. It takes heat to infuse tea bags or leaf tea to get the important medicinal ingredients out of the tea. Sun tea is only dark water that tastes like tea; all the other things are not in it.
You start by heating up your kettle with it full of Cold water. Always start with cold water. Heat to boiling. Add the sugar and tea to your one gallon container. Pour the boiling water on it and let it steep for 4 minutes. A timer is good for this. If you steep it longer than 5 minutes you will get bitter tea. After 4 minutes take the tea bags out. IN your 2 cup measure, add 2 T. Elderberries. Pour boiling water on them and let them infuse for 15 minutes. Strain them into another cup . Use a coffee filter to do this with. Add the two cups of berry juice to your tea and finish filling the gallon to the top with cold water. I use 1 1/4 cup of sugar for a gallon of tea. Four ounces of agave for sweetness works also. The tea tastes great!
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