The benefits to consuming Elderberry Syrup are numerous, and you can read all about them on other blogs or here. The 2017/2018 cold and flu season is especially harsh, and the current flu shot being only 10% effective, many people are looking towards alternatives to boost their immune systems and fight the germs plaguing their system.

This is why Elderberry and Essential Oils are a match made in heaven! Essential Oils have many health benefits to support wellness and we can take advantage of these myriad benefits by adding them to our homemade Elderberry Syrup. I’m a big believer in packing a punch in whatever I do. I load my smoothies up with as many nutrients as I can. Have you ever heard of bulletproof coffee? You can make your coffee a nutritious beverage! So let’s take the same concept and do that with our homemade Elderberry Syrup.

I prefer to use the Instant Pot when making my Elderberry Syrup. There is much information that pressure cooking helps to extract the nutrients more effectively. And, let’s be honest, if you are a mom reading this article and you don’t have an Instant Pot, then you better get yerself one stat! You can do the same recipe below on the stove top, but you’ll want to simmer for about 45 minutes or longer to cook the syrup and reduce the liquid.

A note about quality ingredients: To ensure the most potent, powerful and effective syrup, it is important to use the highest quality, trusted ingredients. Elderberries should be organically grown, or even better, obtained from a grower where you know the source and how they were grown, but that isn’t always possible with Elderberries, I’ve found. Honey should be made by local-to-you bees and unprocessed (raw). Essential Oils must be approved for internal use and from an extremely reputable source. As such, I can only recommend and stand behind Essential Oils from Young Living. The vast majority of Essential Oils on the market are aromatherapy grade only! Do not ingest these oils! If you don’t have a friend who is a Young Living distributor, I’m happy to be your friend and help you order these high grade oils. PLEASE do not buy from Amazon or other third party resellers. For one, you cannot trust these to be truly Young Living oils, and for another, Young Living is a referral based business and by choosing to buy with your friendly distributor you are supporting a fellow mama in her home based business.

Instant Pot Elderberry Syrup

1 cup Organic Dried Elderberries
4 cups Filtered Water
1 inch Fresh Ginger Root, cut in 4ths
2 Cinnamon Sticks
3 Cloves
~
1 cup Local Raw Organic Honey
3 drops Thieves Vitality Young Living Essential Oil Blend
2 drops Lemon Vitality Young Living Essential Oil
2 drops Orange Vitality Young Living Essential Oil
2 drops Cinnamon Bark Vitality Young Living Essential Oil
1 drop Ginger Vitality Young Living Essential Oil
1 drop Clove Vitality Young Living Essential Oil
1 drop Nutmeg Vitality Young Living Essential Oil

1. Place all ingredients, EXCEPT for honey and Essential Oils, inside of your Instant Pot

2. Set IP to 12 Minutes, Manual.

3. When finished, Quick Release, then Saute function for about 10-20 minutes, to reduce liquid

4. Mash berries with a potato masher an strain through a fine mesh strainer. Let liquid cool to close to room temperature then add honey and Essential Oils. You want to make sure the liquid has cooled to at least 118F to preserve the enzymes in the raw honey and the therapeutic properties of the Essential Oils.

Store in a jar in the refrigerator for up to a few weeks. Standard dose is 1 TSP for kids and 1 TBSP for adults each serving. If the flu strikes, take the normal does up to every 2-3 hours until symptoms resolve. For longer storage place in ice cube trays and freeze for later use.

UPDATE: My most recent batch I added about 3 TBSP of this super enriched raw honey and I will definitely be including this in my future batches!!

Another alternative to help get these amazing nutrients in your kiddos’ bellies is to make Elderberry gummies. I like to make a batch at the same time I make the syrup, because you need the syrup to be warm and this prevents you from having to heat up the syrup again, preserving the precious therapeutic qualities.

Elderberry Gummies

1 cup warm Elderberry Syrup
3-4 TBSP Grass-Fed Gelatin

1. Warm Elderberry Syrup (do not boil!), slowly add gelatin while you whisk to combine until fully dissolved.

2. Spray molds with coconut oil (I love the spray from Trader Joe’s!) and using a dropper, add liquid to silicone molds (see below).

3. Put full molds in refrigerator for a few hours to overnight, until liquid solidifies into gummies!

Store in a glass, airtight container in fridge for up to about 2-3 weeks. See dosage information above.

I like these molds for gummie bears, but find I have to eat several for a dose. My favorite are these from Ikea or you can buy them on Amazon here.