LIVE24SEVEN // Wining & Dining
Forage your own flu cure! THE HUMBLE ELDERBERRY!
Adele Nozedar is an author, food writer, forager, and owner of Wales’ only dedicated foraging centre, Brecon Beacons Foraging. In this regular column she explores ideas that are loosely based around the simple, soul-singing pleasures of spending time in the wild.
People sometimes ask me if I have a favourite wild plant. It’s hard to pick just one, but given a push I’d have to say elder. Elderflowers, not only delicious in a champagne or a cordial, are sometimes used in eye lotions, since they have a soothing effect. Right now, though, as autumn’s tang takes over from the spicy Indian Summer days of September, it’s time to harvest the fruits, which are still glittering in the hedgerows. These small berries have a very high percentage of vitamin C and so are a dramatically good remedy against colds and flu.
Gargling with a decoction of the leaves and stems will soothe a sore throat. The flowers, leaves, stem and root of the elder have laxative and diuretic qualities.
ELDERBERRY FLU REMEDY
Did you know that the humble elderberry contains an incredibly effective antidote to more strains of flu than potions invented in laboratories can cope with? That’s right; a simple syrup made from berries of the black elder tree, swigged once a day, will not only immunise you from the lurgy, but tastes delicious too. The efficacious substance is called Sambucol, from the Latin name for the plant, Sambucus Nigra.
The efficacy of elderberries against flu is a relatively recent discovery. Extensive studies into Sambucol took place a few years ago in Norway and most particularly in Israel, where two types of flu were cured using a simple decoction of the berries in two days (no side effects) whereas Tamiflu took four to five days to simply suppress the symptoms of the nasty lurgies. Unsurprisingly, lots of pharmaceutical companies are jumping on the bandwagon and you’ll be seeing more and more expensive elderberry-based remedies on the market.
Here’s how to sidestep those corporate pill-pushers and make your own delicious flu cure. You’ll need to think ahead since elderberries are at their best prior to the main flu season.
Brecon Beacons Foraging offers day courses, half day courses, workshops and bespoke foraging events. Adele’s books include The Hedgerow Handbook and The Garden Forager. Contact her at
www.breconbeaconsforaging.com, or on Facebook,or via Twitter@BeaconsForage
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