• 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.