Elderberry Cough Syrup

    Last spring I ordered a number of seedlings from the Missouri Conservation Department including blackberries, aronia berries, and elderberries.  After getting them planted in early April, I discovered that I already had a number of wild elderberry shrubs growing on my land.  They are pretty easy to recognize after they begin to bloom because their small clusters of flowers are very distinctive.  By July and into August the berries on my wild shrubs were ripe and ready for picking.  Each cluster of flowers ripens into a nice little bunch of deep purple berries.  It was a struggle to stay ahead of the birds that seemed to really like them.  To harvest them, I just clipped off the entire bunch and put them in freezer bags, stems and all.  I then froze them, so that I could remove the berries from the stems as I had the time to do it.  As time permitted I would take out a bunch of frozen berries and use a fork to scrape them from the stems into another freezer bag.  You have to keep as many pieces of stem out of the berries as you can, because the stems themselves can cause nausea and stomach cramps if digested.  You are not going to get all of the little pieces of stems out and a small amount isn't going to hurt you.  So you don't have to spend hours picking through the berries, just get out the big ones.  After harvesting and removing all of the stems, I really wasn't sure what I was going to do with them.  I knew that they made good jelly, and I knew you could make elderberry wine, but other than that I was not sure.  I started doing some research on elderberries and found that they have antiviral qualities, I also discovered that they have been used for centuries to treat coughs and respiratory problems.  I eventually found some recipes for homemade cough syrup, so I though I would give this a try.  Most of the recipes included a large amount of sugar and some form of alcohol, but I really wanted to avoid these things so that I would feel good about giving it to my kids.  I finally came upon one that only used elderberries, water, honey, and lemon.  It appeared to be very easy to make, and I knew that honey and lemon are also commonly used to treat coughs, so I decided to give it a try.  Here is the recipe:

Elderberry cough syrup

   1 to 2 cups of frozen elderberries

   1 cup of honey

   2 tablespoons of lemon juice

   1 cup or less of water

    You start out by putting the elderberries in a sauce pan and cover them with just enough water that they won't burn or stick to the bottom of the pan.  Bring them to a boil and let them simmer for about half an hour.  You then remove them from the heat and strain out the berries and bits of stem, being sure to mash the berries in order to extract all of the juice.  This will leave you with only juice.  You then put the juice back in the sauce pan and simmer for another half hour until it reduces by 1/4 or 1/2 depending on how thick you want the syrup to be.  I prefer it to be on the thick side myself.  When it is done simmering and has cooled a little, you add the honey and lemon juice, and stir until it is well blended.  Then after it cools completely, you can put it in a mason or jelly jar or whatever and put it in the refrigerator until it is needed.  The honey and lemon juice will naturally preserve the berry juice for several months.  You just have to give it a shake each time you use it.  As far as dosing, I used 2 teaspoons every 4 hours or so when I needed it.  For the kids, I cut that down to 1 teaspoon.  It seemed to me to be just as effective as over the counter cough medicine, but is all natural, and tastes good.  I was lucky enough to have some honey from a local apiary that was not processed or pasteurized, just wonderful raw honey.  Honey has natural antibiotic qualities and is good for treating seasonal allergies, so I thought this cough syrup would cover all the bases, antiviral from the elderberries, antibiotic and good for allergies from the honey, and good for suppressing coughs from the combination of the elderberries, honey, and lemon juice with no sugar or alcohol added.  I have to say that I am pretty pleased with the results so far.