September 13, 2024September 27, 2024

Elderberry Syrup Recipe: A Sweet Treat for Your Immune System

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This elderberry syrup recipe shows you how to forage, clean, and use elderberries to make a sweet, dark purple syrup. You can use it as a delicious alternative to maple syrup in food recipes or take it by the teaspoon to help boost your immune system. This recipe uses simple ingredients, easy-to-follow instructions, and gentle heating. It makes over a pint (625 ml) of elderberry syrup that can be stored in the refrigerator or freezer.

As we head into late summer, hedgerows and wild spaces are filled with a bounty of wild berries and fruit. Some of the best are blackberries, rosehips, sloes, and elderberries; you may have picked some before. All are packed with vitamin C and antioxidants, but the berries, in particular, have gorgeous flavor. Blackberries are relatively easy to identify, but elderberries make truly delicious preserves. They’re naturally tart but have a deep and earthy berry flavor that comes out when you cook them with sugar. It’s so good!

Let’s look into how to find them, the best practices for foraging, and how to use them to make elderberry syrup. Sometimes found in health food shops, elderberry syrup is a traditional sweet preserve known for its deep berry deliciousness and immunity-boosting properties. Homemade is always better than shop-bought since you can avoid overheating the fruit and reducing its vitamin C levels.

Health Benefits of Elderberries

Elderberries have a delicious flavor but are also famous as a natural immune system booster. Studies have shown that sambucol, found naturally in elderberry extract, appears to short-circuit flu symptoms by inactivating the flu virus. It also contains modest amounts of vitamin C, which also helps strengthen the immune system. This validates what people have known for years since elderberries are heavily featured in traditional North American and European folk medicine.

Three small swig top bottles filled with a dark purple liquid. The third bottle is only two thirds full. — This elderberry syrup recipe needs 3.25 cups of fresh elderberries to make.

Though elderberries shouldn’t be eaten raw, they’re perfectly safe after cooking. They pair well with citrusy flavors and sugar, which is why elderberry syrup is such a great recipe for them. The syrup is a delicious topping but may also have immune system-boosting properties. So, when you’re feeling a little unwell, have a tablespoon on its own or mix it with raw honey. Honey is another amazing natural medicine that’s helpful for soothing sore throats and coughs and fighting infections.

Identifying Elderberries

Though you can buy dried elderberries to make this recipe, you can also pick the berries fresh. I live in the British Isles, and elder trees are abundant and relatively easy to find here. The predominant species is Sambucus Nigra, the European elder, and they love growing along roadsides and the edges of fields. They also often grow densely with other native shrubs to form hedgerows. I’ve planted two hedgerows on our land, and both include elder trees. That means I don’t have to go far to forage for the berries, and there’s no second-guessing that they actually are elderberries. I encourage you to do the same if you can.

Clusters of dark purple elderberries hanging down from reddish-purple stems and green leaves. — Elderberries growing on S ambucus nigra, the native European elder tree.

However, elderberries are unlikely to be confused with any other autumn berry here. In spring, elder trees bloom with umbels of creamy-white flowers that smell and taste delicious. I use them to make cordial and bubbly but leave plenty to turn into berries later in summer. Elderberries are initially small, hard, and green, developing in droopy clusters. As they ripen, they plump up and turn a mauve color, then glossy dark purple. The stems also turn a beautiful reddish-purple.

Around twenty separate clusters of elderberries on a tree. — Elder trees produce elderberries in late summer.

When foraging, please do not strip the entire tree of berries. Wild birds and animals depend on them for food. My rule is to take no more than ten percent of what’s on a wild tree. If you grow your own elder trees, feel free to harvest more.

North American Elder

There’s a variety of European elder with pink flowers and dark leaves that can also be used in recipes. It’s commonly known as Black Elder and is only found planted in gardens—usually as an ornamental. You can find it and the European elder in the Americas, but the American Elder is the predominant species across the pond. It grows wild, mainly east of the Rockies and from Canada south to Bolivia.

Also known by its Latin name, Sambucus canadensis, it’s a sub-species of the European elder and looks very similar. The only difference I’m aware of is that it doesn’t grow as tall. It grows to about twenty feet tall, while European elder can grow to about thirty. There’s a European elder that grows on the other side of our hedgerow, and it’s probably just over thirty feet tall. The berries that form on it are mainly at the top and much enjoyed by birds.

How to Clean Elderberries

Once you have picked elderberries, it’s time to clean them. After that, you can either freeze them or use them in recipes. First, I pluck the berries from the stems. You can gently pull the berries off with your fingers, but using a fork is far quicker. I then sort through the berries, removing as many small pieces of stem as possible. I don’t stress out if there’s a small amount left. Elder stems are mildly toxic, so it’s best to remove them. They’re not harmful if only a few are in the pot when you’re cooking the berries, though.

A metal bowl filled with elderberries and water. Unripe elderberries and stems are floating on the surface. — Unripe berries and stems float to the surface.

After I’ve plucked and sorted the elderberries, it’s time to rinse them. This removes any dust or residue from birds or other animals and helps me remove the unripe berries. I fill the bowl they’re in (or the sink) with cold water and gently swish them around. Unripe berries and stem pieces float to the surface, and it’s easy to scoop them out – I use a sieve for this. When that’s finished, I pour or scoop the purple elderberries into a colander and let them drain.

More Elderberry Recipes

This homemade elderberry syrup is my favorite way to use a small bowlful of elderberries. The recipe I’ve shared below makes light syrup perfect as a topping for pancakes, waffles, or ice cream or to mix into a berry dessert. However, if you’re looking for even more elder and autumn berry ideas, check out these other recipes:

A simple recipe for elderberry syrup, a rich, fruity syrup that tastes delicious and can boost your immune system. Includes information on foraging the berries and cleaning them #foraging #elderberry #wildfood #herbalmedicine

Elderberry Syrup Recipe

Tanya Anderson

A sweet dark purple syrup made with elderberries, a wild berry filled with flavor and health benefits. Use it to boost immunity over the winter months and to pour over pancakes and desserts. This recipe makes just over 1.3 pints (625 ml) and can be stored in the refrigerator for up to three months.

5 from 2 votes

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Prep Time 30

Cook Time 30

Draining time 2

Total Time 1

Course Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine American, British, European

Servings pints

Calories 42.12 kcal

Equipment

Ingredients

3.25 cups elderberries ((fresh or frozen) / 500 g / or 1.5 cups dried elderberries)
1 cinnamon stick (optional*)
1 lemon
2.25 cups white sugar (500 g)

Instructions

Make the Elderberry Juice

This recipe can be made with fresh, frozen*, or dried elderberries. If using fresh, gently pull the berries from the stalks, discarding the stalks and any green berries. A fork is a handy tool for this step.
If you're using dried berries, put them in a large saucepan and pour enough scalding water over them to cover them by half an inch (1 cm). Leave them to sit for an hour before adding the cinnamon stick and skipping to step 5.
If freshly picked, rinse the elderberries in cold water. Green berries and stems will float to the surface for you to pick off.
Measure the berries and place them in a large saucepan with the cinnamon stick. Fill the saucepan with enough water to cover the berries by up to a half inch (1 cm).
Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium. Cook for five minutes, mashing the berries with a potato masher.
Strain the berry mixture through a fine mesh sieve and into a heat-proof bowl. You can line the sieve with cheesecloth to ensure no sediments pass through, but this is optional.
Allow the juice to drip through the sieve until it stops. This can take a couple of hours. Alternatively, leave it to drip overnight.

Make Elderberry Syrup

Measure the elderberry juice. For every 2 ⅛ cups (500 ml), you'll need 2 ¼ cups (500 g) of white granulated sugar.
Juice the lemon. For me, the juice of one lemon is about 2 TBSP.
Add the lemon juice, elderberry juice, and sugar to a large saucepan.
Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium. Allow it to simmer for ten minutes*, and stir it often to ensure that the sugar dissolves.
After ten minutes, take the elderberry syrup off the heat. You can either pour the hot syrup into warmed jars or bottles or allow it to cool before pouring it into containers or ice cube trays*.
Homemade elderberry syrup can be refrigerated for up to three months or frozen for up to a year. If not freezing as ice cubes, ensure that the container the liquid is in is freezer-proof and has space for expansion.

Notes

* Other optional spices include cloves, cardamom, allspice, fresh ginger and vanilla.

* Frozen berries do not need to be defrosted before making the recipe. However, they should be cleaned of most of the stems and unripe berries. The weight and measurements of frozen berries is the same for fresh.

* Cooking the elderberry syrup for ten minutes helps the pectin in the lemon juice to thicken it. However, if you’re more concerned with vitamin C integrity versus syrup consistency, you can gently cook it on low only until the sugar completely dissolves.

* It may stain ice cube trays so, be aware.

Nutrition

Serving: 1TBSPCalories: 42.12kcalCarbohydrates: 10.6gProtein: 0.06gFat: 0.06gPotassium: 23.3mgSugar: 10.46gVitamin C: 0.948mgCalcium: 1.2mgIron: 0.025mg

Keyword elderberry, foraged

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