Elderberry Syrup

Now that I have a 17 day break with holidays coming up, I expect to share some tasty new food finds with you but first, I wanted to let you know about my recent experience making my own anti-flu medicine because I am just so thrilled to be able to make a proven antiviral flu remedy for a mere fraction of the cost of the commercially prepared variety.

Elderberries grow on tall, spindly bushes and the tiny dark blue-black berries develop in clusters after the feathery flower fade. Elderberry bushes are apparently quite easy to grow so I will be looking to add one to my garden soon as elderberries are extremely nutritious, rich in antioxidants, an known to stimulate the immune system in response to flu viruses. As the H1N1 hysteria grows (along with the pressure to subject our children to a virtually untested vaccine) you can bet I want something safe and free of side effects to give my family when we head into crowded synagogues and classrooms later this month.


Elderberry syrup, as it turns out, is super easy to make. The only hard part is finding your berries. Here in the Portland metro area Morning Shade Farm has a row of u-pick elderberry bushes. It took about 10 minutes to fill our buckets with snipped berry clusters. The only fiddly bit is coaxing the berries off the stems. After that, a quick rinse, a bit of a simer, some straining, adding honey, and bottling. That's it! Seriously. Instead of paying $9-12 for a 4 ounce bottle of Sambucol, I have nearly a quart of the stuff which cost about $2, plus another 4 batches worth of berries in the freezer. How cool is that?

The recipe I used came from Rosemary Gladstar's Family Herbal which is the source of The Dreaded Tonic, our standard homemade cold remedy. I made a double batch of the elderberry syrup by gently simmering 2 cups of washed elderberries in 4 C water for 45 minutes. I let things cool a bit and then strained the juice through a fine mesh strainer, mashing all the solids to extract as much liquid as possible. I then mixed in about a cup and a half of honey and poured into a 1 liter ez cap bottle (I buy mine here). I will keep this refrigerated. The great part is that, unlike the tonic, this stuff is good. Really good. Like pour it on your pancakes or drink straight from the bottle good. I only used about half the suggested quantity of honey and it's still sweet and fruity and ever so delicious. I won't have any trouble getting my kids to take their daily dose. That would 2T/day for big kids and adults and 1 T/day for younger ones as a preventative measure and twice that amount to reduce severity if someone falls ill with the flu. Because of the honey I wouldn't give this to babies.

One thing I learned as I did a little research: under no circumstances should you substitute red elderberries which are quite toxic. And don't eat your black elderberries raw--they can cause stomach upset.

I understand that the hard part here is finding the elderberries. But they are out there--ask around. And if you can't find fresh, you could make this with dried elderberries purchased online though I don't know how the cost would compare to commercially made. I figure that using my u-pick berries I can make close to 5 quarts of this stuff for under $10 which might be an incentive to plant a bush in your garden. I hope you are able to try this and that we all stay healthy this fall.

Edited 9/9/09: I just learned that you can buy dried elderberries from The Herbalist and it's still very cost effective at $2.33/ounce. You only need 1/2 cup of berries to make 4 C of syrup so making your own is still a huge savings.

Not Exactly Tasty

Normally I only write about the tastiest things from my kitchen but cold season is rapidly approaching and I decided today was a good day to share a great (but not exactly tasty) recipe with you. I wrote about it nearly two years ago on my other blog but I know I have some new readers who might appreciate this.

The Tonic is a fearsome brew of garlic, onion, horseradish, cayenne, and turmeric steeped in apple cider vinegar and eventually sweetened with honey. It's like salad dressing for Satan, really. It's hard to choke down but this stuff works. With its powerful combination of natural germ-fighters, it will kill the bugs that try to make you sick.

This needs to sit for3 or 4 weeks before it reaches full potency so run out and find yourself some fresh horseradish root today. Then when those sniffles start up in late October you will be prepared.

The recipe is here. Good luck.

Cold-Fighting Chickpea Curry

Most sick people, it seems, want simple food: broths and juice, nothing too complicated or taxing for a body already fighting invaders. Not me! When I have a head cold all I want is food that's hot and spicy. I can't taste it unless it's highly spiced, but there are good reasons for spicing up the sickroom food: onions, garlic, and chiles are all great for the immune system.

Spicy chickpeas with tomato over rice is a perfect cold-fighting dish. The tomatoes provide lots of vitamin C, the onions and garlic have antiviral properties, and cumin, coriander, and turmeric boost the immune system. All that spice clears the head quite effectively, too!

I got the recipe from a friend who copied it out of her favorite Indian cookbook for me. I had to adjust to what I had on hand (no more fresh chiles, alas). While it hasn't cured my cold yet, it was a delicious dinner and an even better breakfast reheated.

I think the only reason I got this darned cold is because I've failed to brew up a fresh batch of The Tonic yet. Clearly that needs to happen before we get much further into cold season.

Sniffle. Drip. Repeat.

The only good news about this evil head cold is that I should be over it by the time my 3 week break starts on Friday. This is a bad one. Even my dreaded tonic has failed to stop it. I did virtually nothing nothing all day other than discover that I can now watch movies instantly on Netflix thanks to our upgraded DSL. Isn't technology wonderful? If only it could cure the common cold...

Yuck

So I feel like I've had a cold for at least 2 weeks. In the old days, pre-Graves', I'd run to New Seasons and stock up on immune stimulating products and kill those bugs dead in their tracks. But the doctor says I'm to avoid such things for now. She did give me the OK for The Tonic, as we refer to it around here. It only occurred to me yesterday to brew up a new batch of this stuff which, alas, takes 3-4 weeks to reach full potency. It's a powerful mixture of onion, garlic, horseradish, cayenne, turmeric, and vinegar, sweetened with honey. Did I mention that it's powerful? It kept some of us virtually bug-free for most of last winter which is saying a lot around here. I finally mixed up a new batch (it's only finding the fresh horseradish that's a tiny bit challenging) and it's merrily steeping away on my counter in all its screaming yellow glory. I won't say "enjoy" but maybe it will be useful.

Posole Verde

I wonder how many of us have cookbooks that have been kicking around for years, allowed to languish with the dependable standards, all for one perfect recipe. That's the case with Martha Stewart's Healthy Quick Cook, a book which ended up in my collection for free after I bought the requisite cartons of orange juice many years ago. It's full of recipes for nice enough meals based mostly meat and shellfish. I can't remember making anything out of this book other than posole but I've made that many, many times and served it to I don't know how many appreciative eaters. For this one recipe, the book stays on my cookbook shelf.Posole is a traditional Mexican/New Mexican dish with a long history. There are numerous versions of the stew, most of which include pork. One constant ingredient is hominy which makes the dish hearty and filling and adds a lovely flavor and body. This is a delicious vegetarian version which is rich and spicy and full of flavor. The base is a cumin-scented, oniony broth and it's filled out with hominy, diced tomatilos, and finely sliced Swiss chard.

Because it's served with a variety of garnishes, diners can customize their bowls to taste. I usually put out small bowls filled with chopped cilantro, minced chiles, avocado chunks, sour cream, crumbled cotija cheese, and lime wedges. I find that my children love any sort of meal with lots of options so I make the stew itself fairly mild, let them load up on avocados and cheese, and add lots of minced serrano chiles and lime juice to my own bowl to get things where I like them. Something about the vitamin rich chard and tomatillos always makes me think of this as a restorative tonic, but it may just be the contrast of the rich warm broth and all the bright add-in flavors at the end. It's a pick-me-up for sure, perfect to bring to a sick friend, and just the thing for a rainy day.

I have a bit of a curse going on with this recipe. I always manage to forget one of the key ingredients. And yesterday was no exception though lunch was saved by the lovely Elizabeth who went traipsing about looking for tomatillos. It seems the tomatillo truck didn't make it to Portland this week. What she found after hitting two stores were some decidedly puny specimens, but I used them nonetheless as they are a key component and I was desperate. This was certainly not my best ever batch of posole but it was enjoyed by everyone and there was barely a bowl leftover for today's lunch. Give this simple dish a try. You'll be glad you did. The recipe is here.