Elderberry!  How I love the elderberry.  From the first leaves in the spring to the delicate, fragrant flowers of summer and finally the dark berry clusters in early fall.  Elder is one of those specimens in my garden that I watch closely with much delight. Elderberries are a powerful medicinal that have been sited in historical texts for more than a thousand years.

“Long referred to as ‘the people’s medicine chest’, elderberries have a strong history of use against upper respiratory infections. In fact, one study found that elderberry had specific immunomodulating constituents that aid in treating respiratory illness.

An herbal preparation of elderberry syrup was shown to be effective against a number of influenza viruses in both human clinical trials and in vitro studies.  In one placebo-controlled, double-blind study, 93.3 percent of those taking the elderberry preparations saw a significant improvement in symptoms within two days; by comparison, it took six days for 91.7 percent of those taking placebo to see improvement. These results were so outstanding that it propelled elderberry syrup into one of the most popular herbal treatment for the flu.” Rosalee De La Foret “Alchemy of Herbs” p.203

I have found this to be true with my family.  For many years now I have made a large batch of elderberry syrup in the fall and at the first sign of illness everyone in the house starts taking it. If symptoms get worse I up the dose, but rarely do I need to do this, my family of eleven typically only suffer minor colds or flu like symptoms and not very often. I attribute this to Elderberry syrup, especially with my little ones, as I can hardly get them to take other tinctures.

“Elder flowers are a nice remedy for those with a feverish cold, but for those with the flu, I prefer elder berries. The most common way to take them is in the form of a syrup. The immune enhancing properties of elder berries are renowned in Europe and slowly gaining popularity in the United States. Elder berry syrup also eases coughs and lung congestion.” Susun Weed

I am also playing with different preparations of elderberries this year.  In the past I have purchased dried berries for syrup making, and I will continue to do this as my bushes are still young and don’t produce enough berries for my needs. This season there were enough for me to play around with a little more and I’m trying my hand at elderberry infused honey and elderberry tincture.  I’m excited at what I am seeing and I hope to be able to offer these preparations next year.

This year as the Farmers Market started to wind down I decided to try my hand at making elderberry syrup to sell at my booth.  I have wanted to prepare and sell herbals for many, many years so this was especially exciting and scary. I have been pleasantly surprised by the response, I can hardly keep it in stock!  If you are interested in purchasing elderberry syrup from us you can contact us on facebook and soon you will be able to buy it directly from our website.  Exciting things are happening here on the farm and I am so excited to see the direction we are going.