Hawthorn is a superior heart tonic and restorer, as well as emotional support for broken hearts. Make this easy Hawthorn Syrup as a heart tonic and restorative for tired hearts.
In the snowy winter weather, I look out my kitchen window at the bare, thorny branches of a Douglas Hawthorn (Crataegus Douglasii) Tree. In May the tree is covered in white flower clusters. In July, here in zone 3, it has small, dark blue-black haws that are hard with a little juice and a large single seed. It would take a lot of berries to make a single batch of jam. Most people ignore the berries where Saskatoons, huckleberries, and wild strawberries are plentiful. The birds love them though and plant them so that the tree expands its territory over the bare pasture. It’s a weedy tree here in zone three.
Hawthorn is a superior heart tonic and restorer, as well as emotional support for broken hearts. It’s worth risking the thorns to harvest the fruit in the season just for this tasty hawthorn syrup that is an exceptional heart tonic. It’s also highly cost effective to harvest and make your own, compared to purchasing capsules or pre-made syrups.
Hawthorn both the European hawthorn, with red berries, and the native North American species of Hawthorn are from the rose family. There are over 300 varieties of hawthorn worldwide, a few varieties on every continent.
The berries are astringent and nourishing to the heart. But the black haws, of Western North America, also have heart-healthy anthocyanins, antioxidants that fight free radical damage and are important for circulation, heart health, and also eye health.
While hawthorn is a long term tonic herb, it doesn’t just mask symptoms but strengthens and restores the heart. It can balance blood pressure and heal heart injuries, over the long term. But it takes time to work. It is a tonic and needs to be taken daily to have an effect.
Tinctures are fine when a person needs something for a sudden illness, but when you want to take it several times a day this hawthorn syrup is easier to use. It can be added to hot water to make a hot beverage or poured over ice for a cooling refreshment. Hawthorn syrup also tastes good.
The serving size is ½ teaspoon three times a day, but since hawthorn is a tonic food, more won’t harm.
When you make this recipe you’ll get both Hawthorn Tincture and Hawthorn Syrup for your DIY Apothecary. While the three-step process may seem complicated, it really isn’t. It takes just a few minutes of hands-on time for each step. Then, like most DIY activities there’s the waiting period as the herbs merge with the menstruum.
Hawthorn Syrup is a generous gift for older family members, neighbours, and friends. It is a food and isn’t known to interact with medication. It doesn’t build up in the body so there is no risk of toxicity. No scientific studies are showing any negative interaction with any common heart drugs, including digitalis (Barnes, Anderson, and Phillipson, Herbal Medicines, 3rd Edition). However, if you are under a doctor’s care for heart issues, check with your doctor before starting to take hawthorn syrup regularly.
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Hawthorn Berry Syrup
Description
The syrup is made in three steps. First a tincture is made with the berries and the brandy. This needs to macerate for 4 weeks. Then the tincture is strained and the same berries are simmered with water to make a strong decoction to which honey is added. This makes the syrup. Then some of the tincture is added to the syrup to create the final shelf-stable syrup.
Both the alcohol and the honey are important to make this shelf stable. Without them, this preparation would spoil quickly. Don’t be tempted to cut back on the honey or reduce the alcohol. The proportions are important to the success of the recipe.
Ingredients
Part 1
- 750 ml. brandy (about 3 cups)
- 3 cups of dried Hawthorn Berries (or 4 cups of fresh Hawthorn Berries)
Part 2
- 4 cups of filtered water
- 2 cups of honey
Part 3
- ¼ cup of tincture from part 1, for every cup of syrup
- Syrup from part 2
Instructions
- Step 1:
Add the hawthorn berries to a sanitized wide mouth quart jar.
Pour the brandy over the berries, so that all the berries are covered with brandy.
- Infuse the hawthorn berries in the alcohol for 4 weeks.
- Check the alcohol level over the next 5 days and top up the jar with brandy to keep the berries submerged in the alcohol.
- Shake the jar once a day, or as often as you remember.
- After four weeks, strain the berries from the alcohol. The alcohol is your hawthorn tincture. But don’t discard the berries. You’ll need them for step 2.
- Separate 1 cup of the hawthorn tincture and bottle the rest to use as tincture. Label and date it. It will keep indefinitely at room temperature in a cool place, protected from light.
- Step 2:
- Add the strained berries to a 1 ½ quart stainless steel pot.
- Pour the water over the berries and simmer gently for 1 hour. At first the water will boil rapidly as the alcohol is evaporated from the berries. Then it will simmer normally. Stir the decoction frequently to prevent it from scorching.
- After one hour, strain out the berries. Squeeze them through potato ricer or a jelly bag to get the most juice. The berries can be composted.
- Return the decoction to the pot. Simmer until the decoction is just 2 cups, and is reduced by half.
- Add 2 cups of honey to the decoction. Heat gently, keeping the temperature to just below boiling, in order to fully dissolve the honey. Remove from heat as soon as the honey is fully melted.
- Step 3:
- Measure the syrup. Add ¼ cup of hawthorn berry tincture for every cup of the prepared syrup.
- Store in sterilized bottles. Label and date the bottles.
Notes
- This syrup is preserved both by the alcohol and the honey in the recipe. For short term storage, place the bottles in the fridge. For long term storage, dip the cap and neck of the bottles into beeswax to make a wax seal. Sterilized and sealed bottles will last 1 year if kept in a cool place, and protected from light. Open bottles should last 3 months in the fridge.
Hawthorn Syrup Heart Tonic
Yield: 16 ounces
Part 1
- 750 ml. brandy (about 3 cups)
- 3 cups of dried Hawthorn Berries (or 4 cups of fresh Hawthorn Berries)
Part 2
- 4 cups of filtered water
- 2 cups of honey
Part 3
- ¼ cup of tincture from part 1, for every cup of syrup
- Syrup from part 2
Directions for Hawthorn Syrup:
The syrup is made in three steps. First, a tincture is made with the berries and the brandy. This needs to macerate for 4 weeks. Then the tincture is strained and the same berries are simmered with water to make a strong decoction to which honey is added. This makes the syrup. Then some of the tincture is added to the syrup to create the final shelf-stable syrup.
Both the alcohol and the honey are important to make this shelf-stable. Without them, this preparation would spoil quickly. Don’t be tempted to cut back on the honey or reduce the alcohol. The proportions are important to the success of the recipe.
Step 1:
Add the hawthorn berries to a sanitized wide mouth quart jar. Pour the brandy over the berries, so that all the berries are covered with brandy. Infuse the hawthorn berries in the alcohol for 4 weeks. Check the alcohol level over the next 5 days and top up the jar with brandy to keep the berries submerged in the alcohol. Shake the jar once a day, or as often as you remember. After four weeks, strain the berries from the alcohol. The alcohol is your hawthorn tincture. But don’t discard the berries. You’ll need them for step 2.
Separate 1 cup of the hawthorn tincture and bottle the rest to use as a tincture. Label and date it. It will keep indefinitely at room temperature in a cool place, protected from light.
Step 2:
Add the strained berries to a 1 ½ quart stainless steel pot. Pour the water over the berries and simmer gently for 1 hour. At first, the water will boil rapidly as the alcohol is evaporated from the berries. Then it will simmer normally. Stir the decoction frequently to prevent it from scorching.
After one hour, strain out the berries. Squeeze them through a potato ricer or a jelly bag to get the most juice. The berries can be composted. Return the decoction to the pot. Simmer until the decoction is just 2 cups, and is reduced by half.
Add 2 cups of honey to the decoction. Heat gently, keeping the temperature to just below boiling, to fully dissolve the honey. Remove from heat as soon as the honey is fully melted.
Step 3:
Measure the syrup. Add ¼ cup of hawthorn berry tincture for every cup of the prepared syrup. Store in sterilized bottles. Label and date the bottles.
This syrup is preserved both by the alcohol and the honey in the recipe. For short term storage, place the bottles in the fridge. For long term storage, dip the cap and neck of the bottles into beeswax to make a wax seal. Sterilized and sealed bottles will last 1 year if kept in a cool place and protected from light. Open bottles should last 3 months in the fridge.
Make Hawthorn one of your special herbal allies:
Our members in the DIY Herb of the Month studied the hawthorn in May 2021. They learned about the paradoxical nature of this heart healing shrub by spending 5 to 15 minutes a day in guided learning to get to know this herbal ally better.
The folk beliefs around the hawthorn are paradoxical. The tree is believed to offer protection, when it stands guard as a hedge around a property or as a solitary tree in a garden. Yet, cutting down the tree is believed to bring a curse.
The tree is associated with Christ’s crown of thorns, and with Joseph of Arimathea. An ancient hawthorn stood in Glaxonbury near the Abby and was believed to originate with the staff carried by Joseph from the Holy Land. Clones of this tree, which blossoms twice a year, in mild climates, can be found in botanical gardens and university campuses throughout the English speaking world.
Hawthorn boughs were harvested in May in honor of the mother goddess for Beltane rituals. The Catholic church transferred this honor to Mary. Hawthorn is also called the May tree.
The pilgrims who fled religious persecution in England travelled to North America on the May Flower, a ship named after the hawthorn blooms.
The Hawthorn finds its way into literature from Shakespeare and Milton to Harry Potter. Paul Bunyan, of American folk lore, used a hawthorn tree as a back scratcher. In Harry Potter hawthorn wood is used to make wands. — excerpted from The DIY Herb of the Month.
Hawthorn Materia Medica
Hawthorn (Crataegus spp.) Family Rosaceae
Common names: May Flower, Thornapple, Haw Tree, Mayapple, White Thorn
Parts used: Berry, flower, and leaf
Constituents: Flavonoids: vitexin, quercetin, hyperoside, rutin, oligomeric procyanidins,
Triterpene acids: Ursolic, oleanolic, crataegolic acids
Phenolic acids: Caffeic, chlorogenic,
Vitamins and minerals: Chromium, Selenium.
Actions: Cardiotonic, diuretic, astringent, hypotensive, cardio-protective, digestive, antithrombotic, bitter, sedative.
Indications: A true cardiovascular tonic. The whole berry should be used as the individual parts were ineffective when tested on animals. In hypertension, it lowers blood pressure. In hypotension, it increases vascular tone and normalizes blood pressure. In mild to moderate congestive heart failure, it improves heart function and quality of life. It improves circulation, dilates coronary arteries, and relieves hypoxemia. Hawthorn improves the efficiency of heart contractions and reduces ankle and leg swelling and discomfort.
Hawthorn is useful in cases of a heart murmur, rapid pulse, angina, arrhythmic heartbeat, congestive heart failure, and atherosclerosis.
Safety: Hawthorn enhances the activity of cardio-active drugs such as Digitalis. It is also cardio-protective reducing the toxicity of heart drugs. People on heart medication may be able to reduce their drug dosage, in consultation with their doctor, when taking hawthorn.
Dosage: Syrup: ½ teaspoon 3 times daily. For acute conditions 1 teaspoon three times daily. In the elderly treatment should be continued over many months. Tincture: 2 ml 3 times daily.
History of use:
Hawthorn has been used for heart problems for hundreds of years in Europe. Ellington, an American herbalist, said of hawthorn, “…it is superior to any of the well known and tried remedies…for the treatment of heart disease because it seems to cure while other remedies are the only palliative at best.”
A 1994 German Mongraph recognized hawthorn as a heart remedy. According to the monograph, hawthorn can be used for long term treatment of the loss of cardio-function, any condition where the patient feels congestion or heaviness in the heart region, mild cardiac arrhythmias, and conditions of the ageing heart that are not serious enough for digitalis. The monograph further states that hawthorn has no side effects or contraindications.
David Hoffman states that any degenerative condition of the cardiovascular system will benefit from the use of hawthorn. It is safe and effective.
The flowers and leaves can be used in early spring as a potherb and salad green. The fruit remains on the plant in winter, unless eaten by wildlife. It can be foraged when other fruits are gone. The tree is drought resistant making hawthorn good food in times of famine and war.
The inner bark of the black hawthorn (Crataegus douglasii) is used in a similar way to “Cramp Bark” from the high bush cranberry, which is related. It’s a useful antispasmodic for period cramps and muscle cramps.
Get to know hawthorn and your other herbal allies by studying one herb at a time
Hi there, I absolutely love this recipe and love forraging for my own hawthorn berries when possible. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge.
I recently made a batch and have not bottled it yet. The hawthorn syrup has been sitting on my counter unrefrigerated and formed some mold on top. Do you think the entire container is contaminated or can i simply scoop the mold from the top?
I really appreciate your time. Thanks again,
Helmi
My syrup turns to gel after a few days. I am sure it is from the pectin in the berries. when I first started making this a few months ago, this did not happen. But the last few batches I end up with hawthorn gel. We like the syrup much better. Why is this happening and is there a way to stop it? Have you or anyone else here had this problem?
I LOVE the Hawthorne syrup. I’ve asked a similar question before, but I put the dried berries in the Brandy moths ago – close to a year. Is it still good to use to make the syrup?
Probably after a year, most of the flavor and anthocyanins are in the alcohol. Its not unsafe but it won’t have as much benefits. I would just use it as a tincture. Start the syrup with fresh berries.
I have made this for years but im thinking of adding a couple of handfuls of Hibiscus your thoughts?
I made extra jars of tincture using fresh and dried berries, then when spring comes I drain and use same liquid over flowers, drain when ready and add more berries in fall and so on. can I just continue to do that to concentrate?
Hi again! I forgot ask about adding other herbs to the tincture or the syrup. I would like to add a couple of dried herbs to this formula. I was thinking I could add them to the brandy with the H. berries and also add them to the hawthorn berries in the distilled water for that part of the recipe as well. What would you say about this?
How much of the tincture would be equivalent to 1.5 teaspoons of this syrup? I would like to be consistent with how much hawthorn I take each day and when the syrup is used up I want to then take the tincture instead to use it up. ~ Thank you! : )
can I buy it it ready made
Amazon carries it under the Dr. Christopher brand.
I am trying to determine whether or not the black hawthorn berries in my yard are ripe. The inside is somewhat greenish which leads me to believe they are not ready yet. Worried if I wait too long that they will dry out. I also have read that red and black have the same medicinal qualities. Can you confirm that?
Thanks
Yes, all hawthorn are useful medicinally. The black hawthorn berries have the added benefit of anthocyanin antioxidants. I look at the seeds to determine ripeness. The seeds should be tan colored not white.
Sept 2021 – LDL cholesterol at 168. 6 months of this hawthorn tonic, averaging probably barely over 1 tsp/day. Apr 2022 – LDL cholesterol at 107. No other significant changes in diet. Doctor says she’s looking into taking hawthorn herself. So there. 🙂
So awesome. Thanks for sharing, Andre.
Hello Chris…
I used your recipe to make both tincture and syrup and have been using it steadily now for quite some time. I give a scant tsp. to myself and my mom twice a day in water. My mom is 98 and has CHF. I have high blood pressure. I’m convinced that this has helped both of us more than I realized until I began reading how effective it was as a remedy for heart problems.
What I would like to know is can the syrup be made from the tincture alone? When I made the recipe, it gave me at least 1 1/2 cups of tincture which I still have left over after having used it in the recipe with the honey. I was thinking I could just make more syrup from the tincture alone, but don’t know if that is possible and am unable to locate information about how to do that. All recipes begin with needing the berries. I have more dried berries, but how can I use the tincture and how much tincture do I use to make a new batch of syrup if I can make more syrup? Or do I just use 1/2 tsp. of tincture alone mixed in water just as I do with the syrup? I’ve kept it unrefrigerated in a mason jar in the pantry. Is the tincture alone still useable?
You can just use the tincture. You don’t need to use a syrup. The syrup is just a way to stretch the hawthorn berries. I personally just make the tincture and use it straight.
Thank you so much for this recipe! For the tincture, I accidentally forgot about the macerating alcohol and berries and now it has been 2 months (8 1/2 weeks). Will this change anything with the tincture or the syrup? Thank you for your help!
You will be fine. It shouldn’t change anything. Once the berries are in the alcohol they are preserved.
I’ve made this several times but for some reason this time my syrup turned almost jelly like. What can I do to fix this?
It could be that your hawthorn berries had a lot of pectin. You can put it through a blender to smooth it out and make the consistency more uniform. I generally just use it like a jelly if that happens. It is the reaction between the alcohol in the tincture and the pectin in the syrup that causes the gel and it is harmless.
Hi Chris,
I made the Hawthorne Berry Syrup from your instructions last year, and it turned out perfectly, (although I learned you really have to watch the liquid level when you boil the berries or you won’t have 2 cups worth).
I’m just waiting for this year’s berries so I can do it again, but my question is, I have tincture left over and don’t much like taking it that way. Can I mix some honey or better yet, agave, into it to sweeten it up without screwing it up? Can I use agave instead of honey in the syrup recipe? Thanks so much for your help.
PS- I was going to use vodka, but tried Captain Morgan’s Apple Jack (brandy) and it was delicious!
Certainly you can mix a sweetener in. You’ll end up with hawthorn liqueur.
I made this syrup twice, and gave it to friends an family, as well as for myself. I’m now starting my third batch. It’s so much fun to make and tastes amazing.
Hi,
I have had bipass surgery, so I was very interested in using Hawthorn berry to lower my blood pressure so that I could cease taking statin drugs.
I made on lot of jelly by removing the flesh off the seeds, and then cooking the flesh which I then dried and powdered.
I took a teaspoon of this powder on my morning cereal, and after three months my blood pressure had dropped to 130 over 80.
I had no troubles with this.
The second year I cooked berries with the seeds in them.
Again I made powder and took a teaspoon on my cereal. This time I developed chest pain after a few weeks. I stopped taking the powder, and after two weeks I had no more pain.
As the seeds are toxic I think that leaving them in the berries until after cooking probably leached toxin into the jelly.
Two questions:
1) how do you avoid getting the toxin into your product?
2) What is the easiest way to get the seeds out of the berries before cooking?
I have been squeezing them by hand which is difficult and very time consuming.
A further question would be, Can I include leaves in my mix?
I will appreciate any feedback
Yes, there is some amygdalin in the seeds. The issue is that you cooked the seed and then ground them, this broke the bonds in the seeds. I would remove the seed if you plan to grind the hawthorn into powder. I use the berries whole and have no issue because the seed is left intact. I’m glad you found hawthorn helpful.
Thank you so much for this recipe. After simmering the berries for 1 hour they were still too hard to squeeze any extra juice from them. Why did they not soften? I purchased them from Mountain Rose Herbs. Were the dried berries old?
Hi Chris. Thank you again for this great recipe. I have made several batches now and am confronted with the tincture jars multiplying since I’m taking the syrup.
Question: can you use the tincture from the previous batch in lieu of fresh brandy? I don’t want to throw the tincture away and have taken some while awaiting the next batch to reach 4 weeks soaking in brandy, but don’t much like it. Thank you!!!
Yes, you can. You’ll have a double strength tincture then.
Hi,
I my tincture is ready to make but i have one question. With the leftover tincture would i make more syrup when needed or can i just take the tincture? If the syrup is made how do i do it without the berries as they have been discarded after initial batch?
Thank you
You can reuse the berries from tincture making or you can use fresh dried berries for the syrup.
Ihave a question. Can i just simmer a fresh batch of berries without doing the 4 week soak and add some of my leftover tincrure?
Yes you can. That’s what I do most of the time.
Hi Chris,
I strained my tincture and was simmering the berries today, but most of the water cooked off before the hour was up. I pulled it from the stove but I don’t have much liquid left. Is there any way to fix this or simmer the berries again?
Just add in more water to the amount you need for the recipe. Bring to a simmer for 10 minutes and remove from the heat.
Hi there, my creation turned out more jelly-like. I guess the pectin was high in my berries? Did I mess up the recipe? Instead of turning into a jelly, do you have any recommendations on either how to reverse to a syrup or turn into a candy?
Add more water and that should make it less jelly like. Or spoon it into a jar and use as is.
Thank you for this great recipe!
I made my first batch and when it was getting low I started my second batch soaking. I had surgery just before the end of the 4 weeks. It has now been soaking 12 weeks. Can it be salvaged? The dried berries are well submerged in the brandy and it looks fine
Yes. That’s fine. The brandy preserves the fruit and keeps bacteria from growing.
This Hawthorne recipes sounds awesome! My haws froze on the trees this year. Can I use them anyway in this recipe?
Thank you
Janet
Yes, freezing shouldn’t damage them.
Chris, is there any particular kind of brandy you use or would recommend? I’ve only ever used vodka but would like to experiment with brandy for some of my tinctures.
I use VSOP French Brandy. It’s probably the cheapest brandy available to me here in BC. The thing with brandy is it is distilled from grapes so no chance of wheat contamination. One member of my family has a severe wheat allergy so we must avoid it.
Hello, I don’t have a hawthorn tree, and I need this stuff. Can I buy somewhere? I have a-fib and my research suggests this wholesome version would be best. PLease email me! Thank you SO much. ELaine
Amazon- https://amzn.to/2QjFWvq
Could the same process be done with elderberries?
What should the consistency of the syrup be? Mine is very runny, not thick and gooey. Should I add more honey? It’s been setting over night and it’s still thin.
Also, for those asking, Hawthorne’s active components are not water soluble, you need the alcohol so don’t skip it.
It’s the pectin in the Hawthorn berries that makes the syrup thicken.
I have used this hawthorn recipe several times, but , I too, was wondering about using it with elderberries. I don’t need a thick syrup, I simply wanted to know if the recipe using elderberries would give the same anti cold and flu properties as the elderberry gummies and syrup available at the health food store?
Yes. For sure. I do this with elderberries as well. I make an elderberry syrup and an elderberry tincture and then combine them 50/50 for a shelf stable product. However with elderberries it’s important that you use dried elderberries for the tincture due to the cyanide alkaloids. These are rendered harmless with heat. See this post for more information: https://joybileefarm.com/elderberry-syrup-fresh-elderberries/
So is it possible to freeze this stuff? Because I got all the way to the simmering on the stove part before I saw the thing about sealing with beeswax (don’t have any) and canning is a little more than I was prepared for…Going to go for the freezer option…
You can certainly freeze it.
I followed your instructions for Hawthorn Berry Syrup. My tincture turned brown in the jar with brandy. So I have brown syrup. Is this normal?
Yes. The color depends on the color and the ripeness of your berries.
We have just been out collecting hawthorn berries today and have started the process as directed above, many thanks fro taking the time to publish ths
What is the advantage of the syrup? Why not just take the tincture?
By making a tincture and then making the syrup you get more medicine from the berries, so more bang for your buck.
Could this be made with powdered? I don’t have the berries.
Yes, but it is hard to strain then.
I actually meant to just do the syrup method without the alcohol extraction. Do you know if there is any info available on whether the active ingredients are water soluble, or alcohol soluble, or inactivated by heat? Or even which compounds are the active ones?
In the meantime though I have some berries extracting with alcohol and I’ve also made a hawthorn/crab apple jelly – which is quite delicious!
Hi, I am looking to harvest the many haws I have and preserve in some way. I was thinking of a tincture as well. How did your tincture work out?
Perfectly.
I see that the alcohol extraction is a cold extraction. If the syrup method, with water and boiling is used instead do you know if there any of the active compounds that will be destroyed by the heat? I thought about making the syrup and canning to preserve it Also, should the berries be mashed a little to aid in the extraction?
I have a bumper crop this fall as the cedar waxwings did not make their usual assault on the berries. They still came through in the spring and ate the flower petals. Love watching them….
I don’t think the syrup would be harmed by canning as you would jam. Do you mean so you could add the tincture later? This recipe takes both the alcohol soluable constituents and the water soluable constituents from the hawthorn berries.
Can you use 80 proof vodka, or is it important to use brandy for this recipe?
Vodka is fine to use. The brandy is traditionally used as it is grape based.
Do you feel the finished syrup could also be frozen? Or not a great idea?
Is it okay to use 100 Proof Bourbon to make this? Don’t have brandy on hand, but if that’s better I can wait to get some. What do you think??
Yes.
hi Chris, I have what I think is a hawthorn tree in my back yard but it is just starting to bloom out for spring. Are the berries an autumn event?
The berries will come in late summer or early autumn. Mine show up at the same time as blueberries in my area.
The recipe calls for 3 cups of berries but says to put them in a pint jar and cover with 3 cups of alcohol. Was that supposed to say quart jar? A pint jar is only 2 cups. I really want to make this but don’t want to waste the berries and alcohol by doing it wrong. Thanks.
You’re right. That should be a quart jar. Thanks for letting me know. I’ll correct.
Is there a non-alcoholic version?
You can leave it out and just make the syrup but it won’t be shelf stable at room temperature. You’ll have to keep it refrigerated. The alcohol in this case is a preservative.
Good afternoon, I accidentally threw out the berries. I only have the tincture can I make something with just the tincture?
Nicole you can use the hawthorn tincture as is. Use 1/2 to 1 teaspoon for a dose or 3 to 5 ml.