Wow, I sure hope you feel better soon - and all the rest of the family! That was a great description of the problem and how you were able to help her, congrats on three healthy kids
Actually, it is a syrup with Elderberries. Some make it with sugar. But it is most effective if it is made with raw, unfiltered, local honey and fresh ginger. There is something in the elderberries, that prevents the virus from replicating.
I have been making it for a couple years now.
1 cup dried Elderberries
1-1/2 inches peeled, fresh, ginger
24 oz (by weight) Raw, unfiltered, Local Honey
Approx. 4-1/2 to 5 cups water
I simmer dried elderberries and sliced ginger in water, for 20 minutes, and cool to room temperature. Next I use a spoon and a screen sieve, to separate the pulp from the seeds & mash the ginger, occasionally rinsing with water. Reserve this water to use in the syrup. One final rinse, to make sure the seeds are rinsed. Then I put the liquid in a sauce pan and heat slightly, to help dissolve the honey, making sure to not make it too hot, as heat destroys the healthy enzymes. I remove it from the heat & stir in the honey until dissolved.
When flu season starts, we start taking an ounce a day, to prevent the flu. If I start to get a sore throat, I increase to one ounce three times a day, and continue until several days after I start feeling well. The last time I did that, I was feeling better within two,days, and by day five, I was not sick at all.
In addition to the Elderberry Syrup, we also drink Echinacea/Goldenseal tea & Camomile tea (with fresh ginger and raw honey), and take 1000 mg Vitamin C at least three times daily, as well as Vitamin D, which helps build the immune system.
I haven't had to deal with chest congestion, since I started eating homemade sauerkraut (which helps build the immune system, with natural probiotics) and doing the above. But, in the past I have drunk Linden Flower tea, to help liquefy the mucous, and that helps.
A friend tried it and it helped her congestion go away a lot faster. In the past, she suffered with coughing and congestion for a month or two. With her last bout of the flu, I have her a bottle of Elderberry Syrup and she did what we do (above) and her symptoms went away a lot faster. Best of all, she didn't have to go to the doctor for antibiotics, since the congestion didn't turn to bronchitis, as it has so many times in the past
Very happy right now!
Lucy's doeling for some reason wasn't eating well today and most of yesterday… like only a few sips at a time. She'd act hungry and just stop. It was getting very concerning as we couldn't find any real reason for this.
Now the doeling just chugged 2 ounces right down and was begging for more!
@Devonviolet shared her elderberry recipe with me and I haven't been sick this winter! DH takes it too! It actually tastes good enough that I would love a big glass of it, but restrict ourselves to tablespoons.