Easy Instant Pot Elderberry Syrup

You’ve probably heard about the health benefits of elderberry syrup. It’s been garnering more attention in recent years and for good reason!

Health Benefits

Elderberry syrup helps support the immune system, which can help prevent illness.

Want more good news? In addition to illness prevention, elderberry syrup is also useful for reducing the duration of cold or flu symptoms if you do happen to catch a virus. (It’s said to be much safer than tamiflu, by the way.)

Why Make Your Own?

I nearly fell over when I bought a small bottle of elderberry syrup at the store once. It was thirty dollars. Do you know how long a 4 ounce bottle lasts in a household of nine? Yeah. Like two days. (Okay, maybe a wee bit longer.)

But seriously, making your own elderberry syrup is waaaay more economical than purchasing a bottle from the store, and it’s so dang easy. Once you do it, you’ll kick yourself for not trying it sooner. 

Another benefit to making your own syrup is that you have control over which ingredients go into your elderberry syrup. You can tweak the recipe to accommodate taste preferences, food sensitivities, veganism or whatever floats your boat.

This sweet potion can certainly be made on the stovetop, but today I’m sharing my recipe for Instant Pot Elderberry Syrup because it’s the easiest! Do you like easy? I like easy.

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried elderberries
• 4 cups water
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 2 Tbsp fresh ginger
• 1 cup raw honey, local if possible***

Instructions

1. Add the elderberries, water, cinnamon and ginger to the Instant Pot.
2. Cook on Manual, High Pressure for 7 minutes.
3. Perform a Quick Release.
4. Strain the liquid into a bowl using a fine mesh strainer, pressing the berries with a spoon or measuring cup to squeeze out as much of the valuable juice as possible.
5. Allow to cool for 15 minutes.
6. Stir the honey into the warm (but not hot) liquid.
7. Transfer to a glass bottle with a tight-fitting lid. I like to use the wide mouth mason jars, either a quart jar or two pint jars.
8. Store in the refrigerator. Your homemade elderberry syrup will keep for at least a couple months if you followed the recipe.

Dosing – Adults

I’ve read various “dosing” instructions, and here’s how I do it:

Prevention/Maintenance: 1 tablespoon daily

Treatment: 1 tablespoon every 4 hours while awake

Dosing – Children Over One Year Old

Prevention/Maintenance: 1 teaspoon daily

Treatment: 1 teaspoon every 4 hours while awake

***NEVER GIVE HONEY TO A CHILD UNDER THE AGE OF ONE YEAR OLD.