Our native land and surroundings prepare the final ingredients to gather in advance for the cooler season ahead, with an abundance of wild berries packed full of immune harnessing and supporting properties to nourish our bodies. As nature prepares to hibernate, we too synergise with this cycle and make provisions to go inward and deepen into the stasis of winter. This elixir is an infusion from the potency of our hedgerows to the contemporary interest in conscious living, a simple remedy to alchemise in your kitchen turned apothecary.
Ingredients:
475 ml water
73 g Fresh Elderberries
73 g Fresh Blackberries
73 g Fresh Hawthorn Berries
2 tablespoons (6 g) Fresh Thyme
2 tablespoons (30 ml) lemon juice
1 whole cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon lemon zest
118 ml liquid sweetener, such as honey, maple syrup, agave nectar or date syrup.
Method:
Add the Water, Elderberries, Blackberries, Hawthorn Berries, Thyme, Lemon Zest and Cinnamon Stick to a pan
Add the pan to your stove and create a gentle simmer, apply a potato masher to your berries to crush them and simmer for 15 minutes
Strain your infusion into a jug through a fine mesh sieve lined with a piece of muslin cloth
Add your chosen sweetener and lemon juice to your strained infusion, pour into a jar and keep in your fridge for up to 3 months
Take 1 - 2 times daily before cold and flu season and throughout winter as a natural preventative or if you’re feeling a little under the weather.
If you can't access fresh ingredients, using these herbs dried works just as well too, these herbs can be found online provided from most herb suppliers, if you're unsure about identifying these plants please check with a professional before use, such as a qualified herbalist and forager.
Enjoy alchemising your Wild Autumn Berry Elixir, it's the perfect plant medicine ally to harness our health and wellbeing for the colder season coming, these herbs work great as a natural preventative for common winter ailments, such as the classic cold and flu.
- Blessings, Harriet - Medicinal Herbalist and Founder of West Apothecary.
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