Elder - Personal Experiences

I have harvested Elder flowers and berries before and the very first thing I try to do is offer tobacco to the plant and I thank the Creator for the gift that has been given. I never harvest all of the blooms or berries, I pick less than 1/2 and when I get the blooms off one tree I won't go back to that tree for berries.

I have tinctured some of the berries because I wanted to have Elder medicine that I knew would keep for a long period of time. I have not used this tincture yet so I do not know from personal experience how well it works.

I tinctured some of the blooms also because I had read that when they are dried their shelf life is only about seven months and once again I wanted something that would keep. I wasn't sure at the time if a dehydrator would dry them quickly enough but I think it will and I am going to try with the next harvest of blooms. I haven't used this tincture either so I have no experience with it's healing qualities.

I made Elder syrup following the last recipe in this paper and it works really well for colds and flu. I have given it to quite a few of my family members, big and little, and it has worked really well for them all. My grandson did get a little bit of diarreha but he is allergic to alcohol so that may have been the problem. The next time I make Elder berry syrup, I am going to use vegetable glycerine instead of vodka. The little ones would like it better and I would feel better about a product with no alcohol for children as I would not have to worry about alcohol allergies.

A couple of years ago after I made a batch of Elder berry syrup, I was having a problem with the blood vessels in my fingers breaking every time a barely bumped them. This can be a symptom that your body is low in flavonoids. I had not eaten much fruit at that time because of blood sugar and systematic yeast problems so I wondered if low flavonoids could be the problem I did some studying and found out dark berries are usually high in flavonoids so I started taking two to three tablespoons of the syrup every week. It seemed to really help. I now eat more fruit, since I learned how to eat it properly,.so I don't need to take Elder berry syrup for that reason.

My niece is taking Elder berry and flower combination and it sees to be helping her get over Strep throat.

Elder is a wonderful, beautiful, healing plant and it will be used until the end of time.