This weekend while we were cleaning all the elderberry harvest out of the freezer to brew elderberry wine, I decided to make this conifer and wild berry tonic syrup recipe from my wildcrafting heroes at Gather Victoria.
While the elderberries were boiling on a burner outside for the wine, I filled a pot on our stove with elderberries, Douglas-fir needles, grand fir needles, spruce tips, orange peels, hawthorn berries, lavender, rosemary, nettle, sage, cinnamon, allspice and ginger, simmering it in enough water to cover everything. The house smelled delicious. I tried to boil it down as long as I could to reduce the syrup, and then added honey and a little plum brandy.
I had some flip top bottles left from kombucha making, and filled a few of those with my concoction. It didn’t come out quite as thick as I imagined, but it’s great for sipping and mixing with mineral water. I also plan to try pouring it on pancakes. This stuff is pretty much the holidays in a bottle.
Here’s that recipe, because you need it:
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