One thing that I've found myself sharing a lot recently is the "medicine juice" that I use to keep myself and my girls' immune systems boosted. In this day of revisiting the juices-n-berries for health instead of relying solely on pharma, things like this are in high demand. Such high demand that shortly after I started making this at home, the prices of my ingredients jumped!
I started making this after trying various OTC and even other small business-small batch versions. The preservatives and sugar in the OTC syrups and the honey in the others (I wanted to serve to my infant under 12mo where honey isn't recommended) guided me to eventually settling on this routine of making this myself. I also looked up sourcing fresh berries (still a future possibility) as well as making whole berry products (apparently the stems and seeds present problems).
I serve medicine juice at the first signs of cough or congestion or hoarseness in my girls or myself. If something happens where they end up actively sick (hello daycare crud!) I double up the dissolving tablets or serve medicine juice twice a day. Because I'm breastfeeding* I also always have some myself.
So what's in this? Well, it's a two part process, but I believe it's worth it. Part one: elderberry extract. Part two: medicine juice, and serve!
Let's break it down, shall we?
--Part 1--
a) Get your dried elderberries, dried echinacea, and fresh ginger. So far I've gotten my dried ingredients from a local Latino spice shop. If you can't get them there, try herb shops, tea shops, or Asian herb/spices shops. Or order online.
b) Dump some of each in a pot and cover with lots of water. I use a 2qt saucepan. And like any good homecook I don't measure the ingredients. Ha!
c) Simmer. This is the set it and forget it part that's great for life with little ones.
d) Strain and store for later use. It keeps for quite a while if you store in mason jars and seal while hot. I can't say for sure how long because I use it up before it even hints at going bad.
To make pot-to-jar transfer easier I ended up buying a canning jar funnel to use here. I also use cheesecloth in addition to my strainer and cover the whole contraption with foil just in case the extract overflows the funnel-strainer combo.
--Part 2--
a) Dissolve an immune booster tablet in a small amount of warm water. I prefer berry flavor. (Even with the added microwave time, it dissolves faster in warm water. Back in the day I used to drink this alone as a hot tea before I discovered the wonders of elderberry.)
b) Add a splash of the elderberry extract made above. How much is up to you.
c) Add splashes of your household's fave juices. Around here it's just plain apple and orange juices.
d) Top with ice or water to round out the party. I have one kid who loves ice, the other doesn't, so I fill partway with water, pour out their portions (watering and icing appropriately) and then top mine off with water.
As you can see from the last pic, medicine juice is eagerly consumed around here. Waiting for mommy to take pics is for the birds.
*Breastfeeding Note: I've been breastfeeding for almost 5yrs straight and the side panel of the tablets caution against use for breastfeeding mamas. If you don't wanna chance it like myself, feel free to use the elderberry extract alone. My personal research and years of experience with it even before and during pregnancy let me feel comfy using it with my nurslings of any age.
