If you hesitate to make elderberry syrup, because it won’t be shelf stable, try this recipe. It is made in two parts, and combined to make shelf stable elderberry syrup that doesn’t need to be canned or refrigerated for storage. Store in bottles, or jars, for winter cold and flu season.
Making normal elderberry syrup, as needed, throughout the winter cold and flu season can be challenging if you have limited time. You can make a stable version, that doesn’t need canning, and store it for your winter needs. This variation of elderberry syrup is made in two parts with an alcohol, or vinegar, infusion and then an elderberry and honey syrup is added. Using a vinegar for the first part makes it an oxymel. Once you start using the syrup, refrigerate it to help it stay fresh.
There are three, currently circulating, myths about the safety and efficiency of using elderberry for food and medicine. Check out the explanation behind these myths, and the safety protocols for working with elderberry.
Shelf stable elderberry syrup:
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Shelf Stable Elderberry syrup
Description
This recipe is made in two parts. First an elderberry tincture is made by infusing elderberry and brandy. In the second part additional elderberries are made into syrup.The two formulas are added together to create a more potent remedy that is stable at room temperature.
Ingredients
Partย 1 Ingredients:
- ยฝ cup dried elderberry or 1 cup fresh elderberries
- 1 cup brandy
Part 2 Ingredients:
- ยฝ cup dried elderberries or 1 cup fresh elderberries
- 2 inch piece of ginger, sliced (optional)
- 3 cups water
- 1 cup honey
Instructions
Part One: Directions
- Place elderberries and brandy together in a pint jar. Cover with a lid. Shake well. Set aside.
- Shake daily for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, strain, reserving liquid
Part Two Directions:
- Put elderberries, ginger,and water into a saucepan. Simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes, with the lid off. Remove from heat. Cool slightly.
- Strain out elderberries. Return the liquid to the pan. Simmer until liquid is reduced by half. Remove from heat.
- Cool to just warm to the touch. Stir in honey and elderberry tincture.
- Pour your shelf stable elderberry syrup into sanitized pint jars. Cap tightly. Label and date:
Yield: 3 cups
Time: Hands On: 30 min. Wait: 2 weeks.
This recipe is made in two parts. First an elderberry tincture is made by infusing elderberry and brandy. (For those who avoid alcohol, elderberries may be infused in cider vinegar instead, for this recipe.) In the second part additional elderberries are made into syrup.The two formulas are added together to create a more potent remedy that is stable at room temperature, this is your shelf stable elderberry syrup.
Part 1: Ingredients
- ยฝ cup dried elderberry or 1 cup fresh elderberries
- 1 cup brandy
Directions
Place elderberries and brandy together in a pint jar. Cover with a lid. Shake well. Set aside. Shake daily for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, strain, reserving liquid.
Part 2 Ingredients:
- ยฝ cup dried elderberries or 1 cup fresh elderberries
- 2 inch piece of ginger, sliced (optional)
- 3 cups water
- 1 cup honey
Directions:
Put elderberries, ginger,and water into a pot. Simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes, with the lid off. It should come to a vigorous boil. Remove from heat. Cool slightly. Strain berries out, saving liquid and discard the spent berries. Return the liquid to the pan. Simmer until liquid is reduced by half. Remove from heat. Stir in honey while still fairly hot, then add the elderberry tincture. Pour your shelf stable elderberry syrup into hot, sanitized pint jars. Cap tightly. Label and date. This stable syrup is safe for adults, make one without alcohol for kids.
Shelf life: 1 year. Refrigerate after opening.
To use:
Adults: 1 teaspoon at the first sign of a cold or flu, and up to every 2 hours thereafter; Children under 12, ยฝ teaspoon at the first sign of a cold, and up to every 2 hours thereafter; Infants and Toddlers: ยผ teaspoon at the first sign of a cold, and up to every 2 hours thereafter.
But you can also use this syrup to support your immune system all year. Just add a teaspoon, or tablespoon, to your bottle of water that you carry around with you. It gives the water a nice flavor. Elderberries are functional food. Make them a regular part of your diet.
Variations:
You can adjust the flavor profile of this elderberry syrup by switching out the ginger with other herbs. You could use cinnamon or cloves, alongside the elderberries to give both a different flavor, but still keep most of the same benefits.
This is the best shelf stable elderberry syrup recipe, and you can add in elderflower, other herbs, and spices since the alcohol is what avoids other types of preservatives. There are many benefits of elderberries, including immune support and their high antioxidant content. I use elderberry berries for jello, when toddlers are sick, with maple syrup for sweetener instead of honey for the really young ones.
If you have fresh berries, use those instead of dried ones. Use the elderberries you have on hand.
More than just an herbal supplement
Elderberries are so much more than just an herbal supplement.ย Elderberries are rich in anthocyanins, antioxidants, and vitamin C.ย They are one of our richest sources of quercetin, a flavonoid that acts like a zinc ionophore, helping the body utilize zinc more efficiently.
They are a readily available wild fruit throughout North America and Europe.ย In areas that are too cold for grapes, elderberries have been used for wine and mead making.ย And if you have a wild patch growing near you, they are free for the picking.ย (Always make a positive ID before picking any wild plant for use as food or medicine)
Those flavonoids and anthocyanins in elderberries make them one of the best natural defenses against viruses, scientifically shown to prevent viruses from replicating in the body.ย But the key to this action is to take them early, often, and after.
One of the best ways to use elderberries is to incorporate them into your daily menus by adding the syrup to smoothies, using the juice for jelly, candy, and dessert, or adding them to salad dressings, and sauces.ย Elderberry mead is an amazing way to add more elderberries to your diet.
You can find my recipe for elderberry mead in Everything Elderberry: How to Forage, Cultivate, and Cook with This Amazing Natural Remedy by Suzannah Schmurak.ย This brand new book couldn’t have come at a more needed time.
Suzannah’s book shares the latest research on elderberry’s medicinal properties, foraging and growing information, and more than 60 recipes for making the most of your elderberries and elderflowers.ย ย Whether or not you’ve used natural remedies before, Everything Elderberry will show you how best to make use of this versatile medicinal plant.
It is full of well researched information about growing, harvesting, and using elderberries and elder flowers in the kitchen and in the home apothecary.
It goes deeper than simple elderberry cough syrup, with creative desserts, from cakes and pies, to candy, and fruit leather.ย There are apothecary staples too, like immune boosting elderberry tincture, elder flower lip balm, and elder leaf salve.
This book is a collection of elder wisdom that draws on experts in the fields for herbalism, homesteading, and gardening.
What I found most helpful was the information about propagation.ย Having stuck elder sticks in the ground to multiply my bushes, with more failure than success, I appreciated the cultivation and propagation chapter the most.
With health threats affecting every country in the world every garden should have an elder to watch over it.
This book is beneficial for those brand new to herbal medicine.ย It takes the mystery out of making herbal remedies and demonstrates that herbalism is just good nutrition with a little extra help when you need it.ย Everything Elderberry is also inspiration for experienced herbalists and a good reminder that “food is medicine.”ย
Get your copy of Everything Elderberry here.ย ย
I made the self stable elderberry syrup. It came out great. I have a question. Could I dry the Marc and make a powder
Sure, that’s possible. Generally we wouldn’t break down the seeds of cyanide containing herbs, since its a variable that hasn’t been tested for safety.
I am excited to try this recipe with the brandy in it! Might give it a little extra “boost”. Thank you!
I followed this recipe exactly and just checked on my bottles Iโve been storing in my bedroom and they must have been fermenting because full of bubbles and when opened it blew all over. Iโm afraid if I had left even longer they would have exploded. This isnโt a ferment recipe so I sure why this happened to me?
That’s strange. I’ve never had that happen. Did you add the tincture? Were you using dried elderberries?
I had this same thing happen to 2 of my bottles, but not the other 3!! Is it still edible? or should I throw it out?
Hi. Thanks for sharing. A very important information was omitted regarding dosage as it unsafe to consume anything containing honey for kids under 2 years old.
Sugar can be used or maple syrup in place of the honey.
Thanks very much for this. I’ll be sharing it with a friend who forages elderberries every year
Thank you for sharing the process! Making elderberry with alcohol vs apple cider vinegar vs decoction, does each solvent bring out a different nutrient from the elderberry?
What do you think of simmering the elderberry to remove the cyanide and use the entire decoction (juice and elderberry marc) in food so that we are ingesting the entire elderberry for its nutrient?
If you need a 5 year shelf stable remedy just make a tincture with 80 proof vodka. Need it to last longer than 5 years? Use a higher proof like 100 proof. Why the use of brandy which is just an alcohol made from fruits? It’s more expensive than a plain clear vodka and won’t provide anything different as a solvent.
The reason you make an Elderberry syrup is due to taste. Children and adults both like the taste of a syrup but might frown on a tincture due to the alcohol content. Elderberry syrup takes 30 minutes to prepare and keeps for months in the refrigerator, which is plenty to get you through a cold and flu season. I don’t mean to knock it but I fail to see the use for this hybrid recipe.
Is honey required? Can it be omitted?
Thank you so much for sharing! I made some of this from an elderberry bush my mother has!
My only questions is should the jars naturally seal themselves once the lid is screwed on tight?
Thanks!
The jars will not seal themselves and with the alcohol you won’t want to put them through a boiling water bath. That would evaporate the alcohol and they would no longer be shelf stable once they are opened.
They AREN’T shelf stable after they are opened:
“Shelf life: 1 year. Refrigerate after opening.”
So, this recipe doesn’t REALLY make Elderberry Syrup shelf stable at all.
Better to just make some and either can or freeze, or make and take daily until gone. Or tincture.
Can I use dried elderberry instead of fresh? Would it be the same measurements?
Yes. Use 1/2 the amount of elderberries dried.
the dried form would have no juice therefore it would be need to be reconcentrated. my question is why use alcohol or cider vinegar to make the Elderberry juice and then kill all the good properties of each with heat? after I make juice I just need to know how much alcohol will preserve it so that I can add it to my cider vinegar which I make regularly. it’s my understanding that both alcohol and cider vinegar become null of Health benefits once they’re heated.
would I be able to use blackberry brandy for added benefits?
dosent elderberry have a toxin that need to be heted up to go avay?
If I am using apple cider vinegar instead of alcohol, do I need to add more or do anything more to the process? I want to be sure it will still be shelf stable for at least several months.
Hi, Emily This recipe won’t work with Cider vinegar which is only 5% acid. You’ll need to try a different recipe for that. The alcohol used is 40% alcohol. At this dilution it brings the total alcohol content to 20% which is shelf stable.