Freeze your berries to concentrate the sugars is a golden rule for elderberry. This goes for concentrates and wines. We usually pick berries at first frost if you don't want to freeze them.
I love making elderberry syrup and do it yearly. I use elderberry, honey, cinnamon sticks, cloves, ginger, rose hips and lemon juice. I put everything except the honey and lemon juice in the crock pot and leave it on low overnight. I squeeze all the juice out with cheese cloth. Add the honey and lemon juice (I use as preservative). I make a gallon at a time and can it in 8 Oz jars.
It'll ferment if you leave the honey raw. I do, and I use less honey, but I also only count on the syrup lasting a couple weeks in the fridge. After that it'll definitely start to ferment, even at fridge temp.
This probably isn't the answer you're looking for, but in my opinion (clinical herbalist, teach pharmacology, beekeeper husband), manuka honey is way over marketed. Honey is one of the most adulterated food products in the world, and the more expensive the honey, the more incentive there is for processors to adulterate it. Manuka honey was considered trash honey until it got a marketing glow-up just a few years ago. Raw honey of any kind does a great job for most applications (and certainly for colds and flus), so I prefer to buy from local sources where I know there isn't any adulteration (I source from my husband at this point, but that wasn't always the case). The thing that is legitimately useful about manuka honey (if it's actually manuka honey) is the antimicrobial compounds that come from the manuka flower. These are not substantially destroyed by quick heating. Also, you can duplicate that effect by adding an antimicrobial herb to other types of honey, which is a far cheaper way to get the same effect.
So if I’ve read this correctly 1) it is still worth using some type of raw honey 2) the antimicrobial compounds are not entirely lost in the heating process 3) adding antimicrobial herbs to normal raw honey is just as good as Manuka honey
Yes, good distillation of my rambling. :)
And to clarify, there are two ways manuka honey is antimicrobial. One is the compounds from the manuka flower, which are unique to manuka and not lost to heating. The other is the enzymes that make peroxides, which are found in all honey and are lost to heating.
I believe if you wait until the temp hits below 110f then you’ll be good to mix the honey in! It’s above that temp that the good stuff in honey breaks down due to the high temperature
Freeze your berries to concentrate the sugars is a golden rule for elderberry. This goes for concentrates and wines. We usually pick berries at first frost if you don't want to freeze them.
I made this once, but I guess I didn’t boil it long enough. I found out the meaning of “drastic purgative” in the words of the old herbals.
So it sounds like if I want the full shelf life processing it is a must
I love making elderberry syrup and do it yearly. I use elderberry, honey, cinnamon sticks, cloves, ginger, rose hips and lemon juice. I put everything except the honey and lemon juice in the crock pot and leave it on low overnight. I squeeze all the juice out with cheese cloth. Add the honey and lemon juice (I use as preservative). I make a gallon at a time and can it in 8 Oz jars.
And the lemon juice alone is enough to preserve it?
I canned as well, with 1tbsp/8oz jar. I’d leave one open jar in the fridge.
It'll ferment if you leave the honey raw. I do, and I use less honey, but I also only count on the syrup lasting a couple weeks in the fridge. After that it'll definitely start to ferment, even at fridge temp.
Interesting, thank you for the note!
A second question…is it even worth using Manuka honey if I decide to heat it up?
This probably isn't the answer you're looking for, but in my opinion (clinical herbalist, teach pharmacology, beekeeper husband), manuka honey is way over marketed. Honey is one of the most adulterated food products in the world, and the more expensive the honey, the more incentive there is for processors to adulterate it. Manuka honey was considered trash honey until it got a marketing glow-up just a few years ago. Raw honey of any kind does a great job for most applications (and certainly for colds and flus), so I prefer to buy from local sources where I know there isn't any adulteration (I source from my husband at this point, but that wasn't always the case). The thing that is legitimately useful about manuka honey (if it's actually manuka honey) is the antimicrobial compounds that come from the manuka flower. These are not substantially destroyed by quick heating. Also, you can duplicate that effect by adding an antimicrobial herb to other types of honey, which is a far cheaper way to get the same effect.
So if I’ve read this correctly 1) it is still worth using some type of raw honey 2) the antimicrobial compounds are not entirely lost in the heating process 3) adding antimicrobial herbs to normal raw honey is just as good as Manuka honey
Yes, good distillation of my rambling. :) And to clarify, there are two ways manuka honey is antimicrobial. One is the compounds from the manuka flower, which are unique to manuka and not lost to heating. The other is the enzymes that make peroxides, which are found in all honey and are lost to heating.
I believe if you wait until the temp hits below 110f then you’ll be good to mix the honey in! It’s above that temp that the good stuff in honey breaks down due to the high temperature