01/21/2026
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Hello ELDERBERRY Love = IMMUNE BOOSTING Herbal Ally!
Colds & flus are flying around! So many herbal allies to love, yet a steady one is elder. Adding elderberries to tea, or taking them by the spoonful as syrup, are tasty ways to keep our immune systems supported during the winter season.
It’s easy to make one's own potent elderberry infusion, more about that in our free video lesson here:
https://youtu.be/Plq5A7gLAh4
Or perhaps you’d like to create this tea mix.
Berry Delight: A deeply colorful drink full of vitamin C and bioflavonoids (it's from our book "Foraging & Feasting").
Mix the following dried berries: ¼ handful rose hips, ¼ handful elderberries, 1½ handfuls raspberries, 1 handful blueberries, 1 handful blackberries & a pinch schizandra berries.
Place one handful of the herb mixture (gently crushed right before use) in a quart-size glass jar with a tight-fitting lid. Slowly pour in boiling water until jar is full. Cap tightly and let steep for 3–4 hours. Drink up to 3 cups throughout the day.
Yields 4 batches, about 4 1/3 quarts of infusion. Note that this tea will not taste like the “naturally flavored,” highly aromatic berry teas found commercially, but will produce a more complex yet subtler flavor, reflecting real berries.
The Elder, a native American bush, scientifically called Sambucus canadensis, produces these nutritious, mildly acidic, mineral-flavored berries.
To help with id harvest and use here is the elderberry page from our book "Foraging & Feasting: A Field Guide and Wild Food Cookbook" by Dina Falconi, illustrated by Wendy Hollender. More about our book on our site here:
www.foragingandfeasting.com
Have you been consuming elderberries lately, and if yes, how so?