Elderberry Rob Recipe

Beautiful photo of elderberries by Alla Kemelmakher on Unsplash

Elders have been revered throughout the European continent and the British Isles, significant ritualistically and in herbal lore. Although elderberries and elderflowers are both products of elder trees, they are very different medicinally. While elderflowers are soothing to irritated mucous membranes, making it ideal remedy for hayfever as well as coughs and colds, elderberries are gentle expectorants, and elderberry rob has been the go-to home remedy traditionally.

• Please forage responsibly, taking no more than 10% of any patch of plants/flowers/leaves/berries.

• Forage from area free from herb/pesticides, pollutants (e.g. heavy traffic), mindful of dog poos! There are poisonous and deadly plants including lookalikes, so never consume any plant unless 100% certain of what it is.

How to make Elderberry Rob:

Ingredients

• Foraged black elderberries (not the white ones)

• Sugar (50g per every 100ml of juice) - most effective as cold remedy would be molasses sugar which will take over the flavour of the rob - but if you want to taste the elderberry flavour, then go for lighter brown sugar

  
  

• Any other herbs you may want to include in your rob – suggestions are, hyssop herb, elecampane root, Echinacea root and/or ginger

• Spices also do nicely in this mix – suggestions are, cinnamon, clove, black pepper, cardamom, cayenne pepper, coriander seeds

Directions

1. Clean the berries – make sure you don’t squash them in the process, drain thoroughly

2. Into a pan, separate the berries from the stalks using a fork – stalks are mildly toxic, so it’s best they don’t make it into the pan

3. Put enough water to just cover the berries

4. Here, add any herbs or spices you want to include in the rob

5. Using a potato masher, mash up the berries

6. Bring to a simmer, never boil, and simmer at about 60-70C for 30 minutes

7. Cool, then strain and squeeze out the juice as much as possible – if you have one, apple or wine press would be ideal for this

8. Measure the juice and add appropriate amount of sugar (see above)

9. Bring to a simmer, gently heat, letting the sugar melt

10. Keep the heat below 60-70C while reducing the liquid by half

11. Decant into a properly sterilised bottle, cap while hot and it should keep in the cupboard until spring to early summer

How to use your Elderberry Rob

At the first sign of a cold or sore throat, start taking the rob to soothe your throat – can be taken neat, or with a little warm water. 5ml per serving, up to 4 times daily.