Thursday, August 30, 2018

Elder Immune Wisdom

It was bright sunshine a couple of days ago, now  it's hailing outside. It must be August. It is a surprise every year, the days begin to lengthen, everyone begins to look forward to spring, then winter really hits. The temperature has been hovering around 10 degrees  but the weather app tells us it "feels like" 5 (unless it is hailing and then it plummets close to zero. No complaints from me, I am grateful for the rain and wish I could send some of it eastwards to the drought affected farmers.

I adore days like today, a good reason to stay inside and catch up on production, study, craft projects and begin to sort and throw in preparation for true spring cleaning once the sun is back. It seems that this between seasons weather is
when our immune systems become more vulnerable and need some extra support. This summer gifted me an amazing crop of elder berries which is rare in these usually warmer climes. Stripped and dried, they had been waiting for winter. Two weeks ago, on a day rather like today, I turned them into an immune boosting syrup.I have been taking a spoonful each morning as a preventative measure and so far have avoided catching any of the colds and flu around me. The addition of some warming spices makes it easy to take and adding the cooled extraction to the honey helps conserve the properties of our unique raw bush honey.

Elder Immune Booster

2 cups rainwater
2/3 cup dried elder berries
2 tablespoons of fresh ginger, thinly sliced
4 whole cloves
4 cardamom pods, crushed
2 sticks of cinnamon bark
zest of one lemon, peeled

Place all ingredients except honey in a saucepan.
Bring to the boil.

Reduce heat and simmer on a heat proof pad until reduced to about one cup.

Allow to cool.
Press through a sieve, then strain through a muslin cloth.
Stir in equal amount of honey until dissolved.
Bottle and label with date.
Store in the refrigerator.

Dose: 1 teaspoon on an empty stomach first thing in the morning as a preventative.
1/2 - 1 tablespoon every two three hours  when symptoms occur.






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