When making medicinal elderberry syrup from fresh elderberries there are just a few important caveats. If you ignore them your elderberry syrup can cause more harm than good. If you keep them in mind your medicinal elderberry syrup can keep you healthy through the flu season.
My friend called me on Thursday night and asked if I could use some fresh elderberries. She had pruned all the berries off her elderberry bush and didn’t want to see them go to waste. She was a little nervous about processing them herself because she read that they contained cyanide, a deadly poison. 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.
We brought home about 18 pounds of ripe elderberries from her single elderberry bush. My plan was to make elderberry syrup from fresh elderberries. These elderberries are a special treasure this year. You see last year there was a worldwide shortage of elderberries. Elderberries are a proven and effective antiviral herb. The flu season was already bad by January last year. There were so many people looking for elderberries that the herb suppliers ran out of stock and as soon as a new shipment of berries came in, they were immediately sold out again.
The elderberry shortage was so serious that friends were sending other friends dried berries from their personal stash, hoping that their own family would stay healthy. I’ve had dried elderberries on an alert with Mountain Rose Herbs for months. I’m still waiting. Finally, last week I gave in and tried this supplier of wild elderberries from the Alps, on Amazon. The bag is sitting in my mailbox at the UPS station waiting for me to pick it up. The day after my parcel arrived at the UPS depot I got this phone call from my friend.
(Update: This supplier was excellent. The elderberries were overweight. The berries are fragrant, clean, and flavorful. I couldn’t ask for better quality. As of September 17, 2019, they are still in stock.)
If you are looking for a recipe for elderberry syrup from dried elderberries try this one.
Are elderberries safe?
Elderberries (leaves, stems, and seeds) contain cyanogenic glycosides which are toxic but rendered harmless through heat. You’ve probably encountered other plants that also contain these cyanide compounds like apple seeds, grape seeds, bitter almonds, apricot and peach pits, for instance. It’s the same ingredient as Amygdalin, the cyanide compound found in bitter almonds. When ingested in small amounts these compounds are naturally excreted by the liver and kidneys and pose no concern for healthy people.
Folk remedies often use the bark and leaves of elderberries therapeutically, in spite of the cyanogenic glycosides, which can cause nausea and vomiting when consumed in large amounts. The cyanide compounds are more concentrated in stems and leaves than in the flowers or the berries. When using the flowers and berries in herbal remedies the stems should be removed so that the concentration of cyanogenic glycosides is less. These cyanogenic glycosides evaporate out of the fruit at 26C (78F) so heat-treating the flowers or berries should render them harmless.
Most of the elderberry syrup recipes on the internet or in herbal remedy books offer recipes for working with dried raw elderberries, like this one. They involve adding water to rehydrate the berries and then cooking the rehydrated berries for 30 minutes at simmering temperatures to extract the active compounds from the elderberries. This simmering renders the cyanide compounds harmless. Cyanide has a boiling point of 26C. (78F) So provided the elderberries are heat-treated, simmered, or steamed to at least 26C the cyanide compounds will dissipate into the air.
A tincture made with dried berries that have not been heat-treated could pose a danger to young children, the elderly, or those with liver disease. However, fermentation at 30 to 40 C (86 to 105F), as when making elderberry wine or elderberry vinegar, will also render the cyanide harmless.
When making elderberry syrup from fresh elderberries, always remove the stems first. (Hint: Freeze the berries on the stems first. Then take the bags of frozen berries and whack them on a counter or table. The berries will fall from the stem easily)
Simmer the berries in water OR extract the juice with a steam juicer. When heat processed, elderberries will not contain any cyanide compounds. These will be evaporated out of the berries by the heat treatment.
How to use a steam juicer to extract elderberry juice
The steam juicer has 3 parts. Water is placed in the bottom part. The middle part catches the juice. It has a hose attached with a clamp to siphon off the juice into a jar. This middle part has a hole, sort of like a chimney, that allows the steam to move from the bottom of the steam juicer, through to middle part to the top layer. The top part is a strainer that allows the steam to penetrate the berries and aids them in releasing their juice.
The steam juicer works by steaming the berries in the top layer until their tissues break and the juice is released.
The juice trickles through the strainer holes and is caught in the second layer of the juicer. This second layer has contact with the boiling water in the pan below. Any juice caught in the middle pan is heated to pasteurization temperatures by the water below. Juice from the steam juicer can be transferred to sterilized and heated glass jars or juice bottles and vacuum-sealed or processed in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes at sea level or 15 minutes above 1000 foot in elevation, for long-term, safe storage.
Elderberries that are juiced in a steam juicer have any cyanide in the berries evaporated out. The elderberry juice from the steam juicer is completely free of cyanide compounds and safe for consumption.
Benefits of elderberry syrup from fresh elderberries
Elderberry syrup is effective as an antiviral. Double-blind tests show that those who consume 1 tablespoon of elderberry syrup 4 times a day at the first sign of a cold or flu will lessen the duration and severity of the virus. Elderberry effectively prevents viruses from replicating in the cells.
Here are just some of the benefits of elderberries. To see their full benefits check out the elderberry materia media here.
- Antiviral
- Antitumor
- Decongestant
- Antibacterial
- Anti-inflammatory
- Anti-diabetic
- Helps with weight loss
- Antidepressant
- Lowers cholesterol
- Antioxidant
How to Make Elderberry Syrup from Fresh Elderberries the Safe Way
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 2 cups 1x
- Category: Syrup
- Method: Herbal Medicine Making
Description
A proven antiviral, steam juiced elderberries are safe and effective. Gather them while they are in season and waterbath can the syrup to keep it for long term storage.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds of elderberries, fresh
- 1 cup of honey
- 1 – 2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and shredded
Instructions
- Remove stems from fresh elderberries.
- Place elderberries in the top part of a steam juicer. Steam for 30 minutes until the juice is running freely. Press berries lightly to release as much juice as possible.
- Draw off the hot juice into a saucepan. You should have about 4 cups of juice. Add ginger to the saucepan.
- Simmer the juice with the ginger at low temeratures for 30 minutes until the juice is reduced to 2 cups. Remove the juice from the heat. Pour the juice through a mesh strainer to remove the ginger pieces.
- Add 1 cup of honey to the strained, reduced juice and stir well to combine. Pour into prepared sanitized bottle. Label.
- Keep refrigerated. Will keep for several weeks in the fridge. For longer storage, can in a water bath canner for 10 minutes for pints (15 minutes for pints above 1000 feet).
To use:
Use 1 tablespoon of elderberry syrup every 2 hours at the first sign of a cold. Reduce the serving size to 1 teaspoon for children under 12. Children under 2 can be given 1/2 teaspoon safely. Elderberry antioxidants enter the blood stream rapidly and are excreted within 2 hours of eating, so it is safe to take elderberries often.
This syrup can be used regularly as a food.
Notes
This recipe can be multiplied keeping the ratio of 1 cup of honey to 2 cups of reduced juice.
Keywords: Elderberry syrup, Medicinal syrup,
How to use elderberry syrup from fresh elderberries
Add elderberry syrup to soda water or add it to a shrub
Pour elderberry syrup over ice cream
Use it on pancakes, waffles, or toast
Homemade Sports drink – Make Switchel for Electrolytes
If you’ve got a lot of elderberries try some of these healthy ideas for preserving wild berries.
Hi – I used some elderberries and infused them raw in gin and sugar. Should I have cooked them first? I am worried now that I am making some poisonous alcohol concoction rather than a vitamin infused elderberry liquor.
If I should have cooked them first, could I just strain them out of the gin now, cook them and replace them back into the gin, or do I need to treat the gin?
Some say yes. If it will be used for adults, I think you’ll be fine. They will likely ferment and fermention also removes some of the cyanide-glycocides. The ill effects would be diarrhea and nausea if a large amount was consumed. Reserve it for adult dosing only though. Any concern in this case would be for a very young child or someone with a compromised digestion.
The freezing to de-stem tip worked like a champ!! Thank you!!
Hi! I made some syrup last night, boiled for 3 minutes, simmered for 30. There were thousands of tiny stem pieces and I assumed the cyanide would cook out like the berries but when I posted in an Elderberry page on Facebook someone freaked out saying my syrup would harm my kids now. do you think its safe even with so many tiny stem particles?
If there are only a few it should be fine — a few pieces of stem won’t be harmful if the berries are cooked. But ideally if you could make another batch without the stem pieces that would be better for very young children. Freezing the berries and then wacking them on a counter (inside a bag) will get them off the stems quickly and you won’t have so many stem pieces to deal with.
Well, we were out picking and my kiddos each ate elderberries from a cluster as we were picking. Do I freak out and call poison control , just give them a little activate charcoal, or not worry at all? I didn’t let them eat much simply because I didn’t want them getting the trots from eating to much fresh fruit. Will be watching them closely.
They will probably be fine. Just watch them and if they complain of nausea then you might be concerned. Generally a little bit of fresh elderberries won’t cause harm. Its when people gorge on fresh berries that it becomes a problem. But if you are concerned talk to your doctor. I’m not a doctor.
Well, no one got sick but I’ll make sure they don’t munch while picking next time. I will also be canning without any honey or sugar (just researched and that is totally safe) then I can add raw honey when I use it and get the benefits of the raw honey too! We got over 25# of clean berries yesterday but it’s looking like it will only make a few quarts by the time I’m done cooking it. I don’t have a fancy juice cooker so I just squished them enough to make some juice, then simmered and now straining it out. Thanks for your post! Looking forward to using this wholesome goodness!
Help! I harvested nearly 10 lbs of berries and when I brought them in and started the process of stripping the berries from the stems my son started screaming that there were tiny bugs/worms on them. I read that soaking them for 10-15 minutes in cold salt water and then rinsing them will kill them, and that they were in all berries regardless of how healthy your plants are that they are fruit fly larvae. PLEASE tell me that this is something you encountered before and how you got rid of them! I worked so hard this summer to keep my plants healthy and the berries are so beautiful! I did not freeze my berries first instead I brought them in and started processing them. Thank You So Much!!!!
I would do exactly as you are doing — soak them in cold salted water with a squirt of soap. Then drain and rinse to remove the soap. Then I would freeze them over night and remove them from the stems that way.
I have read that heating the raw honey above 118 degrees destroys the natural medicinal properties. Do you agree? If so, how can the syrup be water-bathed and still maintain effective qualities?
It doesn’t destroy the medicinal properties of the elderberries.
I made elderberry syrup an added the honey just like I add the sugar when I make jelly, an canned them in a bath the suyrp came out fine.
Thank you so much for this information! Is there any use for the leftover strained berries? If so, I wonder if they have any nutritional value and how they should be stored.
When using a steam juice extractor, do I still need to remove all the stems, leaves and such? Thanks!
Hi, Nancy Its better if you remove the leaves and larger stems. They will add a bitterness to your juice and syrup. But I don’t worry about the smaller stems.
Hi – I’m using a steam juice extractor. Do I still need to remove all the stems and such? I like your recipe, it doesn’t want any sugars. We want to become invulnerable to as many of the viruses going around as we can!
I have a steamer juicer – after getting the pure juice like that – you do still need to reduce it by half?
About how many cups are in a pound?
Thanks!
Hi, Suzanne with most juices 2 cups is approximately a pound.
Question: your article mentions that the toxic components evaporate out at around 78 degrees Fahrenheit. So if I’m living in New Orleans, LA, and we’ve just a heat wave of mid 90s, with a heat index of up to 120, are the ripe, raw berries considered no longer toxic? I wanted to do a tincture, possibly not cooking the fruit but leaving it raw and just extracting. What do you think?
Hi, Brook, you’ll still need to heat the berries in some water to break the cells and allow the glycocides to evaporate.
Hi Chris!
Thank you so much for your informative recipe!
I have been looking for a good recipe that uses fresh berries and honey and can be canned for shelf stability, but I keep reading that sugar is needed for canning! How long did your syrup stay shelf stable? Is there anything else I’ll need to add to make it work with honey?
Thank you so much!
Danielle
It lasted a year with no issues. But was used up by then.
So are these the correct steps for fresh elderberry syrup just using my pots:
Wash them,
Freeze them & knock the stems off,
Simmer them & reduce by half,
Put them through a Foley Mill (Is this step necessary?)
Add the honey and spices (can I add additional spices like Anais Star, cinnamon etc. If so in what amount?)
Then can to preserve them for a longer shelf life?
How long do I water bath them for?
You want to strain them. You can use a jelly bag or fine sieve. You can use any spices you want. You’ll need to do your own experiments since I didn’t test it with other spices. You can water bath can them for the same length of time you would can jam.
I was told i needed to get seeds out they were bitter can I use a food mill.
You can remove the seeds from the syrup after cooking. Just use a jelly bag, or a steam juicer. A food mill will work but its extra work that is unnecessary. The bitter alkaloids evaporate from the mixture as the juice starts to steam.
I usually dehydrate my elderberries in a dehydrator at around the 130 degree setting. Do you know if they get hot enough in a dehydrator to eliminate issues with the cyanide? I am making elderberry tincture with my dehydrated berries and the recipe doesn’t say anything about heat to treat them.
Hi! Thank you for the wonderful information! I recently harvested elderberries from a friend’s bush, they typically make elderberry jam but I plan to make syrup. When I harvested the berries, they were not sagging on the bush but they are all (save a couple) a nice dark purple color. Would you say that they are ripe even though they were not sagging on the bush?
Thank you!
Hi, Trisha, Yes if they are dark purple they are ready. Some people wait until the berries are blushed with yeast, but you don’t have to. If they are dark purple they are ready.
I had dried elderberries from a supplier to make elderberry syrup. There were many tiny tiny stem pieces in the mix. I tried my best to sort them out, but there were still some left behind before processing. I made the mixture in my instant pot. Do you think that my syrup will be safe to eat even though there were some stems in my batch I cooked?
Yes, your syrup will be fine to use. The concerning alkoloids will have evaporated out when you cooked the syrup. The instant pot definitely reaches a high enough temperature to make the syrup safe to consume.
I have been trying to separate all. All the tiny stems and any green berries. I just want to make a pie. Can I
Boil the berry’s I couldn’t clean good, and cook down to thicken juice to use in pie. Thank you
Sincerely
Very frustrated
If you put them in the freezer overnight and then bang the bag on the counter, the frozen berries just fall off the stems.
Hello before I read this I was in the process of steaming elderberries in the three-part steamer the problem is I did not remove berries from stems and pressed the berries after .I’m left with 8 cups of juice but now that I’ve read your recipe I’m unsure if it is safe to use? Will be awaiting your response. Thank you for your time and advice much appreciated! Ns
Ally, you’ll be fine. The steam in the steam juicer should vaporize any toxins in the berries.
What if I don’t have a steam juicer, is just simmering the fresh elderberries enough for this to be safe? Also in the past I have used tried elderberries and make tea in the morning by placing dried elderberries in a tea infuser and just pouring in boiling water and letting this seep for a bit, is this safe?
Yes that works. Both methods are safe.
I do not have the steam juicer either and planned on just boiling on the stovetop. How much water should I add per cup or lb of berries when I initially boil them?
Try 1/4 cup to start. You’ll need less water though, the more berries you are doing. The water just functions to keep the berries from burning before their own juices start to flow. So if you are simmering 4 cups of berries you’ll need 1 cup of water, but if you are only doing 1 cup of berries you might need slightly more water to keep the berries from scorching before their own juices flow. So keep an eye on them as they start to simmer.
Thank you. I will use that ratio. And how long should they boil then, to be effectively reduced and ready to use?
Until it’s reduced by half.
I just plucked some in the woods and some of the berries still have dried flowers on them. Is that an issue?
If the berries are ripe the dried flowers should just wash off. Don’t use immature berries.
Thanks for sharing the recipe and all the information about elderberry benefits.
I’m excited to have bags of elderberries in the freezer for this syrup.
Thank you for answering questions about the cyanide. I added some raw elderberries to a natural ferment wine, everyone had a fit! I thought fermentation took care of it and now I can show them your post.