Spiced Elderberry Syrup

Rich in colour and medicinal properties, Elderberry has many health-bolstering properties to support our seasonal immunity as we move from summer to autumn. Packed full of flavonoids and anthocyanins, also an excellent source of vitamin C to help stave off colds, congestion and inflammation, supporting our respiratory, blood, and heart health - an essential for your natural medicine cabinet.

Here’s a simple recipe to make a Thyme Spiced Syrup… You’ll need:

Elderberries, 2 sprigs of fresh thyme, Nob of fresh grated ginger, 2 star anise, 4 cardamom pods, 4 dried juniper berries.

Gathering your berries

When foraging for any wild plants, be sure to identify them carefully and accurately. Choose elderberries in unpolluted areas that look ripe and rich in colour, gathering from different trees, leaving plenty for other beings and maintaining the natural balance of these areas.

Take foraging or kitchen scissors, and a Tupperware box you don’t mind getting stained. Snip the elderberry heads into the Tupperware box, then once home, pop them in the freezer for a couple of hours. 

Preparation 

Cover yourself with an apron or wear old clothes and gloves, as these inky berries will leave their mark. Strip the elderberries from their stems, either by hand or by lightly combing through with a fork to loosen them. Rinse well in a sieve or colander, removing the smaller stalks and any unripe berries - this can feel like an arduous process, but you can lose yourself in the monotony.

Process 

Add the washed berries to a saucepan, along with your spices: a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme, a chunk of grated fresh ginger, star anise, cardamom pods and juniper berries, crushed a little to release their flavour.

Cover all ingredients with water, bring to a low boil, then simmer for 20 minutes, stirring until your liquor is richly coloured and scented.

Strain the liquor through muslin or sieve into a measuring jug to measure. Return to the saucepan and add organic, unrefined sugar - for every 500ml of liquor you’ll need around 300g of sugar. Simmer and stir for another 10 minutes until the sugar has fully dissolved, then pour the syrup into sterilised bottles to store in a cool, dark place. 

Foraging Notes

When foraging for any wild plants, be sure to identify them carefully and accurately. The elder is an easy tree to recognise especially when in flower of berry. It has gnarled grey bark and pointed oval leaves with serrated edges that grow in leaflets of two opposite pairs. The berries are tiny, deep black, hung from red-tinted stems.

Forage your elderberries by harvesting the whole 'head' of the elderberry (meaning the stem with all the elderberries attached). If you attempt to pick the individual berries, you'll make a lot of mess and collect very few berries!

It is important to note that elderberries and their stems are toxic when raw - so don't be tempted to eat any while picking. Once cooked, the berries lose toxicity, and we cook them twice in this recipe, so you're doubly safe.