Every Fall, I try to prepare for the cold and flu season by making some herbal remedies to help get me through the winter. I always make some Elderberry syrup and maybe a garlic tonic…things to nip a cold in the bud. This year, I thought I would invite some people over to share in the fun of making medicines. So, I had a small group of people at my house today for a winter herbal medicine making class. It was a blast! We made a huge batch of Elderberry syrup, some nutritional vinegars, and some herbal cough drops. They all turned out very yummy! Here are the recipes we used if you are interested in trying them out.
Laura smelling the cooking Elderberries.
Rachel straining the Elderberries.
Andrea stirring the cough drop tea and supporting her back (She’s due anyday! :-))
The nutritional vinegars with Astragalus, Ginseng, Shitake mushrooms, and Umboshi plums.
Greetings!
I have some questions about making very large batches of the elderberry syrup.
Is the proportion of dried to fresh berries always 1:3?
What about frozen berries what’s the proportion of frozen to fresh?
How much alcohol should I use if I’m using it as a preservative?
Last, is it always 1 cup of filtered water to 1 cup of fresh berries?
We are trying to triple this recipe and I want to be exact. I know that sometimes things change when you change the amount of your primary ingredient.
If anyone has experience making this commercially that would help me out or if you just have a lot of knowledge on the subject.
Thanks so much for your help!