Why Make Your Own Syrups?

Syrups are useful for coating your throat and are helpful if you {or your children} have trouble swallowing capsules or pills. Any herbal tea can be concentrated and added to a sweet base to create a syrup. Because this process concentrates the herb's active constituents, a syrup can be very effective at treating and healing …

Elderberry Syrup Cockaigne Recipe

The name of this recipe is a homage to one of my go-to cookbooks, The Joy of Cooking, where the extra-special recipes have the moniker “Cockaigne” added. The word comes from a middle-English fable meaning “luxurious and idle paradise;” or abundance! Feel free to add other delicious herbs to the recipe such as organic Vanilla Beans, Hibiscus, Allspice, Star Anise, and more! …

Distillates, Hydrosols, Tinctures, Syrup’s & More.

Distillates and Hydrosols: The aromatic liquids that remain after essential oils have been distilled from plants. We use distillates in herbal preparations, in spritzers as a skin freshener, and if we are sure of the source {if we make them ourselves or know the maker}, in culinary recipes and beverages. If the distillate is made …

DIY Ginger Cinnamon Elderberry Syrup

The elder tree is known to many herbalists as a sacred tree. While we’re sure it has its own stories to tell, there’s already an abundance of recorded folklore. In Scandinavian and Danish myths, this tree was thought to be guarded by a forest spirit named Hyldemoer, also known as Elder Mother. Before anything was …

Let’s Create Some Herbal Medicine – Syrups.

Syrups are useful for coating your throat and are helpful if you {or your children} have trouble swallowing capsules or pills. Any herbal tea can be concentrated and added to a sweet base to create a syrup. Because this process concentrates the herb's active constituents, a syrup can be very effective at treating and healing …