01/07/2025
The elder tree has been described as a medicine chest in one plant, and you still have a chance to stock up on elder flowers!
You can freeze them, or dehydrate them at about 40 degrees, or make glycerite or cordial (though the heaps of sugar in this might counteract some of the health benefits).
The flowers are traditionally used to:
- encourage sweating to break a fever
- promote elimination via the skin and urine
- ease congestion and inflammation of the upper respiratory tract from colds and flu
- reduce hay fever symptoms (used with nettle tops)
- reduce hot flushes
- reduce fluid retention
If you are using elderflower as a hot or cold tea, then it doesn’t matter too much if you have little stems amongst the fresh or dried flowers that you use, but I like to consume the whole flowers in various ways (to maximize the health benefits from them), so I wanted to find a way to effectively separate the flowers from the stalks quickly and easily. (If you’ve tried fingers or forks before, you’ll know how difficult this is.)
Here’s how it’s done!
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