Teach Anything: How to Make Elderberry Syrup

 Botanical name: Sambucus spp. 
Common name: Elder, Hylde Mor, The Elder Mother

Elderberries have been used in folk medicine in both Europe and America for hundreds of years. Elderberry syrup is a wonderfully delicious way to preserve the medicinal benefits of the elderberries; to create a remedy for cold and flu during winter. Elderberries contain antioxidants, potassium, beta carotene, calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin C. They can be harvested in early Autumn, when the bunches begin to droop down because of the weight of the fruit.

What you need: 

1 cup of fresh elderberries

3 cups of water

1 cup of local honey

First, find elderberry bush. Do your research: make sure it's elder.

Wait patiently while berries are being harvested.

Use scissors to cut the bunches. Don't forget to save some for the deer and the birds!

Pick all the berries off the bunches (this is a lesson in patience)
*Though tempting, do not eat berries that haven't been cooked!

Make sure to pick out all the little stems & any green/brown berries.

                                 

Place the berries in a saucepan and cover with water. 

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, then simmer for about 30-45 minutes.

Strain liquid and berries into a bowl.
Use the bottom of a cup or spatula to press all the remaining juice out of the berries.  

Add honey. Taste & add more honey if desired. 

Bottle syrup and keep refrigerated for 2 to 3 months.
Take a teaspoon daily as a preventative or take more frequently at the signs of cold.
Enjoy & be well!

Tincture Making: Fool-Proof

Tincture making is seriously fool-proof medicine making. 

It is so easy to do...I mean, you can make it complicated...but I don't.

It's a great way to start making your own medicine at home if you never have before. Store bought tinctures are SO expensive, so if you do buy them you will be saving yourself a lot of money by making them instead. Making your own tincture is medicine in itself (every time you shake it think good thoughts!) because you are part of the process. 

And I'll add that tinctures are really handy to have...right before bed (instead of a cup of tea that will make you pee) and they are indispensable when traveling.

Now a lot of the time tinctures are used to preserve the fresh plant, but dried plants work well too (sometimes better for some herbs, in my opinion). So don't let that factor stop you--use what you have/can get!

And lastly, if you are avoiding alcohol you can make a glycerin-based tincture instead of an alcohol-based tincture. My personal preference is alcohol-based though.

The process:

   1. Put fresh or dried herb in a clean mason jar

   2. Add 100 proof vodka

3. Label jar with herb name & date

   4. Cap and store it out of the light in a cool dark place

   5. Shake daily, or as often as you can remember, for at least two weeks

   6. Uncap the jar

   7. Pour out the tincture into a bowl or something and squeeze out the wet herbs as best you can

   8. Filter the tincture through clean cheesecloth or something of that nature

9. Put back into clean mason jar and/or put into a small dropper/tincture bottle & label.

Congratulations! 
You just made medicine!

Passionflower in vodka.

Always label herb name, whether it is fresh or dried, date, and you can add alcohol type.

Passionflower tincture already turning colors after two days.

Electrolyte Replacement Recipe

One of the scariest things about being a parent is seeing your child hurting and feeling helpless. One of the best things about being trained in herbal medicine is having knowledge about plants that have been used for centuries. My herbal education, both formally and informally, has made me feel like I have more power over protecting and caring for my family and myself. I don't have to rely on doctors and modern medicine that I do not necessarily trust all of the time. Holistic health care is something that I really and truly believe in. I have been practicing and using natural home remedies for years and years, but now that I have a child I am given the opportunity to use this knowledge on a little human. That being said, it can be scary to give your child herbal or natural remedies for the first time. I have been reassured by other moms, herbalists, and books and it has given me the confidence to treat my daughter during colds, flu, rashes, vomiting, etc. I cannot recommend enough Naturally Healthy Babies and Children by Aviva Jill Romm. I turn to this book often and it is reassuring to see this information, even if I know it already, from a knowledgeable herbalist.

This week our daughter was vomiting for about 48 hours. We used this Electrolyte Replacement Drink recipe so that she wouldn't get dehydrated. She is finally feeling better and on the road to recovery. I wanted to share this recipe with you, as it is simple to make and uses ingredients that most people have in their kitchen. Maybe this will entice you to buy or borrow this book!

Electrolyte Drink Replacement 

by Aviva Jill Romm

This drink ensures that the body maintains its mineral balance, prevents dehydration, collapse and shock. Do not use honey if your patient is under one year old.

  

8 ounces water (warm or at room temperature

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

a pinch of salt

2 tablespoons or more of honey or maple syrup

To prepare: Combine all the ingredients.

To use: You can administer the drink by tablespoon often or by 1/4 to 1/2 cup every half hour or so. 

Fire Cider

Glowing fire cider

Your best friend in winter. A cold & flu preventative (coined by the lovely Rosemary Gladstar) that is easy to make and included ingredients that most people have in their kitchen already.
Chop up raw garlic, onion, lemon, grate ginger & horseradish,
and add it all into a glass canning jar.
Add a dash of cayenne and tumeric powder.
Pour apple cider vinegar over the top. Cap with lid (we prefer the plastic lids when using ACV).

Store in a cool, dark place, or your fridge for several weeks. Or be inpatient like us and use immediately.
Take a tablespoon daily as a preventative or take more often throughout the day if you are sick.
The great thing about the age-old herbalist remedy is that you can add or subtract ingredients and play around with it. Don't have horseradish? Don't use it. Want to add fresh herbs? Go for it! I think no matter the combination we always include lemon, onion, garlic, and ginger. Other things vary.

Have fun & be healthy!

10 Steps to Reducing Your Allergies

1) Stay hydrated
Drinking enough water is a foundational aspect of any allergy elimination program. It is important to drink ½ your weight in water. If you weigh 120 pounds, drink 60 oz water. To make sure you drink enough water, measure it out first thing in the morning. Be familiar with how many ounces your water container holds and set aside your day’s worth of water before your day begins. If you don’t drink enough water then the body creates more mucus to counteract the dryness. Getting enough water is the first step upon which you can build other changes to reduce your allergic symptoms and susceptibility.

2) Eliminate poor quality fats from your diet
The fat that you eat helps make up every cell wall in your body. Eating poor quality fat compromises the integrity of the structure of your cells and they become more susceptible to inflammation and damage. Inflamed cells are more reactive and can increase allergy symptoms. Read all of your food labels and watch out for Trans Fats. Don’t eat hydrogenated oils, partially hydrogenated oils, margarine, shortening, deep fried food, fast food and cotton seed oil

3) Eat high quality fats
Good fats include olive oil, avocados, coconut oil, ghee and palm oil. Take an Essential Fatty Acid supplement that is high in Omega 3 oils. In the supplements section of my website I recommend several good EFA supplements including my favorite one Frutol by Pharmax. High quality fats build healthy cells that aren’t as susceptible to becoming inflamed.

4) Eliminate inflammatory promoting foods
Again read your labels and let go of any foods that have ingredients that increase inflammation in the body. Eliminate nitrates, sulfites, MSG, dies, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, genetically engineered foods, preservatives and pesticides. All of these substances can increase your susceptibility to being more inflamed and allergic. Take a look at all the foods in your pantry and just throw the things away that have these ingredients.

5) Take medicinal mushrooms
Build your immune system and reduce inflammation by taking a regular dose of medicinal mushrooms. On my website I have a link to all of my favorite medicinal mushrooms. Reishi is one of the best mushrooms that can be taken in capsule or tincture form long term to reduce systemic inflammation and allergic reactions.

6) Nourish your beneficial bacteria
The beneficial bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract play an important role in your inflammatory response. You can reduce the severity of allergic reactions by increasing the integrity of your gastrointestinal tract. Take a high quality probiotic (probiotic is the general name for a beneficial bacteria supplement) especially if you have a lifestyle that compromises your beneficial bacteria. Beneficial bacteria are destroyed by anti-biotics, medications, stress, birth control pills, chlorine and excess coffee and sugar consumption.
Another way to nourish the beneficial bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract is to eat fermented foods such as raw sauerkraut, kim chee, whey, whole plain kefir and whole plain yogurt. Don’t be fooled by the high sugar yogurts like Danon and Yoplait. Healhty yogurt is plain and has a little bit of a sour taste.
These foods contain the beneficial bacteria that feed your gut. Half of the immune cells in your body are found in the digestive tract. Keeping your immune system strong and your allergic reactions to a minimum require a strong digestive system full of healthy beneficial bacteria.

7) Love your liver
Your liver helps to mediate the inflammatory response to whatever you are allergic to. The liver has more than 600 different jobs; including figuring out what to do with any chemicals and pesticides you put in your body. If the liver is backed up and bogged down with daily toxic exposures, it is less able to help you with your allergic reactions.
Don’t underestimate the negative effects of accumulated exposure to daily chemicals in your household. Everything adds up and gives the liver extra work to do. Read the labels on all of your body care products, you will be shocked at how many chemicals you are putting on your body. Make a commitment to using all natural body care items. I am talking about detergents, the soap you wash with in the shower, your shampoo, shaving cream, lotions; make up, hair care products, etc. The personal care industry is unregulated and many of products contain known cancer causing ingredients. If you have allergies, don’t stress out the liver by using body care products with chemicals.

8) Drink nettles
A couple of months before your allergies usually begin, start drinking nettles infusions.

Nettles Infusion
1 quart room temperature water
4 tablespoons dried nettles
Let the nettles and water sit over night in a quart glass mason jar. In the morning strain the herb out and drink the quart of nettles infusion over the next two days. Especially in warm weather the infusion can go bad so it is important to keep it refrigerated. When you are ready to drink it take it out of the fridge and warm it up. Normally a nettles infusion is good for two days if not left out in the heat.
You can drink 1 to 3 cups of nettles infusion a day for several months. Over the years I have watched many of my clients eliminate their spring allergies following the above protocols along with drinking nettles for about two months prior to allergy season and then continuing to drink it throughout the time they would normally have allergies.

9) Use herbal remedies
Two of my favorite herbal remedies for allergies are:

Turmeric honey
In a clean glass jar put 6 tablespoons uncooked honey and 6 tablespoons powdered turmeric. Stir until the turmeric is well mixed into the honey. When you feel your allergy symptoms coming on, you can eat one teaspoon of this honey 4 or 5 times a day. It will help to reduce your inflammatory reaction.

Elderflower tea
3 cups water
3 tablespoons dried elder flowers
Let steep for two hours. Strain out the flowers, re-heat and drink 3 cups a day. Drink this throughout allergy season and it will help to reduce your symptoms

10) Use saline nasal rinse
If you already have allergy symptoms do saline nasal rinses to tighten and tone your mucus membrane and help to reduce the inflammation

Saline nasal rinse
1 cup warm water
¼ teaspoon salt
Mix the salt and warm water together and then put it into a Neti pot or nasal rinse plastic container that you can purchase at any drug store. Let the warm water go all the way back into one side of your nose through your nostril and let it drain out of the other side. Do this on both sides. If you have never done this or cannot visualize what I am talking about, read the directions on the box and ask around to see if you know someone that can show you how to do it. This simple technique is a life saver if you have acute allergy symptoms; you can do this one to three times a day. I often put 30 drops of golden seal tincture in the warm water and salt mixture to help get rid of acute allergy symptoms

Source:  http://www.livingawareness.com/ArticleDetail.aspx?hArticle=1

Guide to Tincture Making

"Navigating the world of herbal medicine can inspire a hungry fascination. Finding wellness through herbs often leads to an experience that’s transformative and empowering. This experience can also bewilder our curious minds! We are lucky to have an incredible wealth of information about plant medicine at our fingertips today, but the beautiful complexity that comes with herbal healing makes learning the nuances a lifelong task.

A sip of herbal tea or a dropperful of tincture can easily unlock the door to herbalism. Most of us begin our studies making these simple and effective preparations. However, basic concepts sometimes become muddied when juggling Latin binomial nomenclature, formulation considerations, physiological effects, historical research, and other pursuits within the art. The most common mix-ups arise from misused terminology. One term that tends to be applied to a variety of preparations is tincture. What is a tincture and is there any difference between a tincture and an extract?

All tinctures are extracts, but not all extracts are tinctures!

Tinctures are concentrated herbal extracts that have alcohol as the solvent. If you are using water, vinegar, glycerin, or any menstruum (solvent) other than alcohol, your preparation is an extract – not a tincture. Although, there are exceptions to every rule and sometimes an acetum is defined as “a vinegar tincture” in the tomes.

 

The Folk Method

Fresh Herb
• Finely chop or grind clean herb to release juice and expose surface area.
• Fill jar 2/3 to 3/4 with herb. ~ OR ~ Fill jar 1/4 to ½ with roots.
• Pour alcohol over the herbs. Cover completely!
• Jar should appear full of herb, but herb should move freely when shaken.

Dried Herb
• Use finely cut herbal material.
• Fill jar 1/2 to 3/4 with herb ~ OR ~ Fill jar 1/4 to 1/3 with roots.
• Pour alcohol over the herbs. Cover completely!
• Roots will expand by ½ their size when reconstituted!

Alcohol Percentages

40% – 50% (80-90 proof vodka)
• “Standard” percentage range for tinctures.
• Good for most dried herbs and fresh herbs that are not juicy.
• Good for extraction of water soluble properties.

67.5% - 70% (½ 80 proof vodka + ½ 190 proof grain alcohol)
• Extracts most volatile aromatic properties.
• Good for fresh high-moisture herbs like lemon balm, berries, and aromatic roots.
• The higher alcohol percentage will draw out more of the plant juices.

85% – 95% (190 proof grain alcohol)
• Good for gums and resins.
• Extracts aromatics and essential oils that are bound in the plant and do not dissipate easily.
• The alcohol strength can produce a tincture that is not quite pleasant to take.
• Often used for drop dosage medicines.
• Will totally dehydrate herbs.

Extraction Time and Bottling

Store jar in a cool, dry, dark cabinet. Shake several times a week and check your alcohol levels. If the alcohol has evaporated a bit and the herb is not totally submerged, be sure to top off the jar with more alcohol. Herbs exposed to air can introduce mold and bacteria into your tincture. Allow the mixture to extract for 6-8 weeks.
Now it’s time to squeeze. Drape a damp cheesecloth over a funnel. Pour contents of tincture into an amber glass bottle. Allow to drip, then squeeze and twist until you can twist no more! Optional: Blend herbs into a mush and strain remaining liquid.
The last step is perhaps the most important of all! Once you’ve strained and bottled your tincture, be sure to label each bottle with as much detail as possible. You will be so happy to have this information to play with next time you tincture the same herb. Don’t plan to lean on your sense of taste or smell alone – regardless of how well honed your organpleptic skills may be. Skipping this step will surely lead to a dusty collection of unused mystery extracts.

 

That’s it!

Keep in a cool, dark place and your extracts will last for many years. Making your own tinctures is simple and rewarding. The process allows you to form an intimate relationship with both the herbs you study and the medicines they offer."

Source:  http://mountainroseblog.com/guide-tinctures-extracts/