Making Healthy Elderflower Tea

Elderflower tea may boost your immune system in the same way that elderberry juice does. This healthy tea, served hot or cold, is a refreshing drink that’s available in the early summer, well before elderberries are ripe. And tea from elderflowers is simple to make, with only a few things to watch out for. Check out this video for the full instructions. The elderflower tea recipe and some cautions are below the video.

Elderflower Tea Recipe

Harvest 3 elderflower heads from an elder bush*
Remove the white flowers from the stems by hand or with a fork (see video)
Put flowers in a quart mason jar
Add spigs or leaves of mint or other herb (to taste)
Pour 2/3 quart of boiling water over the elderflowers
Stir or shake
Let steep for 4 hours or more (I leave mine overnight)
Strain out the leaves and flowers
Add honey or other local sweetener if desired to taste
Enjoy your Elderflower Tea! (and contact me with any recipes you enjoy!)

Elderflower Tea Cautions

  • *When harvesting the bunches of elderflowers for your tea, make certain you only take a few bunches from your elder bush. Remember, the elderflowers are what turn into elderberries. If you take all the elderflowers for tea, you wont have any elderberries later on in the season!
  • Use only the flowers for your elderflower tea. Remove as much of the stems and leaves as you can, as they contain some toxic matter.
  • Make certain to use boiling water to steep the flowers for tea. Elderflowers and elderberries contain a toxin which must be heated to be removed. It won’t kill you, but it can upset your stomach — so heat before you eat!
  • Elderberry juice and elderflower tea is said to boost your immune system. During the Covid-19 pandemic, many people say drinking these, combined with taking zinc, can help avoid or lessen the effects of colds, flu or viruses. DISCLAIMER: I’m not a medical doctor or scientist. I’m just NaturesGuy who tries to eat healty. So I make no guarantees about immunity boosting from drinking elderberry juice, tea, or any other natural drinks or foods. I just like how elderflower tea tastes, and how it makes me feel to harvest, make and drink the fruit of my land here in Northwest Georgia!

Only harvest a few elderflower clusters from each bush to make elderflower tea elderflower tea finished in a quart jar

 

 

 

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David Kuhns

Dave Kuhns is originally a quasi-city boy from suburban Milwaukee, but he spent weekends and summers in nature on Lake Winneconne in central Wisconsin. After raising his kids in a Seattle suburb, he moved to a small town in central Utah. He figured he’d buy some rural property there, or back in the Badger State.

Then he fell in love. Through a series of amazing events, he bought a rural property (a few acres) across the creek from the Chickamauga National Military Park (Civil War battlefield). There, he and his new wife are putting into reality the conservation, gardening and land management practices he learned from his grandmother, his forest ranger Dad, his little brother, and his own surburban experience.