{"id":54812,"date":"2018-11-23T08:00:32","date_gmt":"2018-11-23T13:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/?p=54812"},"modified":"2018-11-20T19:19:11","modified_gmt":"2018-11-21T00:19:11","slug":"elderberry-syrup-winter-cold-flu-herbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/elderberry-syrup-winter-cold-flu-herbs\/","title":{"rendered":"A Spoonful of Elderberry Syrup Kicks the Winter Off Right"},"content":{"rendered":"

And just like that, winter has overtaken the homestead. It seems like the trees just turned their beautiful golden hues, but now the leaves are in piles on the ground and limbs are covered in snow and ice. The first snowfall has hit the Bluegrass, and now things can officially slow down and turn inward.<\/p>\n

I have to admit, life in the country has turned me into a cold-weather lover. There\u2019s nothing cozier than hunkering down in cuddly PJs in the evening or more fulfilling than taking a brisk hike through a shower of sparkly snowflakes. Plus, it gives me an excuse to do more of what I love most: play around in the kitchen.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve been busy this summer putting up the food that we foraged, grew or received from friends, and now we have much in the way of winter treats. This year, one of the focal points of our outdoor endeavors was the elderberry\u2014we planted some new canes<\/a> and harvested berries and flowers from the ones already growing along our creek\u2014so it seems fitting that one of the first indoor projects of the season was to make elderberry\u00a0syrup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Elder is my go-to herb during cold and flu season. At the first sign of a sore throat or sniffles, I start myself on an elderberry regimen, as elderberry has been\u00a0proven to fight flu and lessen symptoms<\/a>. My go-to way of consuming elderberry is through tincture, a high-proof alcohol infused with the berry. A dropperful several times a day usually does the trick for me; however, for the little one, I\u2019m trying out syrup this year.<\/p>\n

Making elderberry syrup is simple: Make a strong tisane (aka herbal tea) with the berries, strain, and then add honey. Because I can\u2019t let anything be that<\/em> easy, I tried three different versions: a plain elderberry syrup, an elderberry-echinacea syrup, and an elderberry-rose hip syrup with cinnamon and cloves. Unfortunately, they all came out tasting about the same\u2014I probably could have added more warming spices in the third variety for true flavor variation\u2014but I\u2019m excited for my family to put them to use. We decided plain elderberry would be our daily tonic, the elderberry-echinacea would be for when we feel the twinges of illness, and the spiced version would for when we want an extra treat and high dose of vitamin C (rose hip is great for that).<\/p>\n

Because the little human doesn\u2019t love taking “medicine” via spoon or syringe, I put a teaspoon in her water bottle daily. I also take some myself so she can get the goods when she nurses. I\u2019ve also thought we could add the syrup to her fruit to make it an extra sweet treat. Maybe I\u2019ll also try making elderberry gummies for her to eat \u2026 another project for another day.<\/p>\n

After last year\u2019s string of illnesses to hit our household<\/a>, we\u2019re not messing around. We\u2019re arming ourselves with flu-season prevention, and dreaming about cultivating more berries in the coming year as we enjoy the view of this season\u2019s snowfall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As snow hits the homestead, we stock our “medicine” cabinet with homemade elderberry syrup to help us navigate cold-and-flu season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":54851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,428],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beginning-farmers","category-homesteading"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Spoonful of Elderberry Syrup Kicks the Winter Off Right - Hobby Farms<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As snow hits the homestead, we stock our "medicine" cabinet with homemade elderberry syrup to help us navigate cold-and-flu season.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/elderberry-syrup-winter-cold-flu-herbs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Spoonful of Elderberry Syrup Kicks the Winter Off Right\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As snow hits the homestead, we stock our "medicine" cabinet with homemade elderberry syrup to help us navigate cold-and-flu season.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/elderberry-syrup-winter-cold-flu-herbs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hobby Farms\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hobbyfarms\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-11-23T13:00:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-11-21T00:19:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/20125212\/elderberry-syrup.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"462\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rachael Dupree\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@hobbyfarms\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@hobbyfarms\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rachael Dupree\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/elderberry-syrup-winter-cold-flu-herbs\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/elderberry-syrup-winter-cold-flu-herbs\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rachael Dupree\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3ff486e23b5a9205cd04c27e73adcd2d\"},\"headline\":\"A Spoonful of Elderberry Syrup Kicks the Winter Off Right\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-23T13:00:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-11-21T00:19:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/elderberry-syrup-winter-cold-flu-herbs\/\"},\"wordCount\":531,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/elderberry-syrup-winter-cold-flu-herbs\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/20125212\/elderberry-syrup.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Beginning Farmers\",\"Homesteading\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/elderberry-syrup-winter-cold-flu-herbs\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/elderberry-syrup-winter-cold-flu-herbs\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/elderberry-syrup-winter-cold-flu-herbs\/\",\"name\":\"A Spoonful of Elderberry Syrup Kicks the Winter Off Right - 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