With beautiful berries dripping from the trees and hedgerows here at Wicor we decided to put some to good use. Our apothecary garden has recently been revitalised and we are enjoying getting to know what the medicinal properties are of the new plants in there.
Coughs, colds and sore throats are a common complaint coming into the autumn months and we guess a remedy to help with any of these would be a winner. One plant we all know in our apothecary garden is ginger, so this gave us a perfect ingredient to mix with our elderberries and some spices to create a smooth and soothing elderberry syrup.
If you want to fill your room with a rich mulled aroma and try a natural cure for coughs and sneezes then try our natural remedy, take a look at our recipe below.
Elderberry Syrup
Ingredients
400g fresh elderberries
2 cinnamon sticks
3 star anise
2cm piece of fresh ginger
10 cardamom pods
5 whole cloves
1 teaspoon dried orange peel
Caster sugar
Method
- Place the elderberries, spices and sugar into a large saucepan and pour over 500ml of cold water.
- Bring to the boil and then simmer, uncovered for around 20minutes. Stirring occasionally the liquid will reduce slightly.
- Remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool.
- Strain the liquid from the pan through a piece of muslin cloth into a jug. Press down on the berries with the back of a wooden spoon. Measure how much liquid you have strained.
- Pour this into the pan and add equal quantities of sugar as you have liquid into the pan, grams to millilitres.
- Slowly dissolve the sugar stirring with a wooden spoon and bring to the boil.
- Simmer for around 10 – 15 minutes until the liquid has reduced and is thicker.
- Pour the hot syrupy liquid into hot sterilised bottles, seal, label and date.
Year 6
