Welcome to Mocktail Monday! Throughout June and July we will be sharing our favorite beverage recipes for having fun in the sun while staying healthy and hangover-free!
Today Pearl is sharing her recipe for an immune (and libido) enhancing Elderberry-Hibiscus Cosmo:
Hi friends! There are many reasons to choose a mocktail over an alcoholic cocktail—health, diet, cleansing, sobriety, preference, and more. Whatever your personal motivation, this recipe is sure to improve your mood and your health while being delicious. It’s a win-win-win!
View the vlog for more info on how to prepare this winning combo of Cranberry juice, Elderberry syrup, Hibiscus syrup and our signature “Get Happy” mood enhancement formula. In this space I’d like to tell you a little bit more about why you’re gonna fall in love with these herbs.
Hibiscus (Hibiscus sabdariffa)
Hibiscus flowers are not only visually stunning, they’ve also been used as food and medicine throughout history. The flowers are revered for their cooling, anti-inflammatory effects and are also strongly anti-oxidant. Hibiscus is also an aphrodisiac (ooh la la!), and has protective effects on the liver and kidneys.
In more recent years, clinical trials have shown that hibiscus flowers may also have beneficial effects on the heart, and have shown the herb to reduce cholesterol, high blood pressure, and inflammation ((Herrera-Arellano et al., 2007; Lin et al., 2007; (Beltran-Debon et al., 2010).
A weight loss aid? One clinical trial in 2014 showed that consumption of Hibiscus extract reduced abdominal fat accumulation, body mass index, and other variables associated with weight loss. (Chang, Peng, Yeh, Kao, and Wang). Couple all of these benefits with its great taste and you might be wondering where it’s been all your life. Hellllooooo hibiscus!
Elderberry (Sambucus nigra)
Elderberries have gained quite the popularity (and deservedly so) for being a kick-ass immune tonic, yet gentle enough for children. These delightful fall berries are not for eating raw, but cook up into a wonderful syrup to make you sail through cold and flu season unscathed (okay, no promises here, but they will up your defenses!) Elderberries have also been traditionally used to soothe nerve, muscle, and joint pain.
The berries are also favored alterative amongst herbalists. Alteratives are herbs that exert a gentle cleansing action, generally acting on the body’s channels of elimination to enhance detoxification pathways. Elder trees grow in most regions and tend to be abundant in the late summer and early fall. Grab your favorite resource for proper identification and consider harvesting some in a few months. Just be sure to leave a sweet treat for the Elder fairies in exchange for the tree’s delightful immune-enhancing gifts.
The Recipes
Elderberry Shrub Recipe
A shrub is a preserve of fruit using vinegar and sugar (or honey). They spruce up mocktails and cocktails, and will make sparkling water your new best friend.
From dried berries:
1 cup dried Elderberries
18 oz water
8 oz honey
10-12 oz Apple Cider Vinegar
Simmer elderberries and water on low in a covered pot for 1-2 hours. Strain, allow to cool, then add honey and ACV.
From fresh berries:
Put fresh berries in a pot on stove with 1 cup of water (or enough to cover the bottom of the pot). Simmer on low heat for 1-2 hours, adding water as needed, periodically mashing and stirring the berries. Strain. Measure the fluid. Add half the amount honey, and 2/3 the amount brandy (thus if you had 8 oz strained elderberry juice add 4 oz honey and 6 oz brandy.)
Hibiscus syrup recipe
This process is very similar to making pour-over style coffee. After we “drip” the strong hibiscus tea we will preserve it using honey or sugar. You can play with the proportions, but the general rule of thumb is to create an equal (or 1:1) ratio of tea to honey. Thus, if you yield three cups of tea, you will add at least three cups of honey to preserve the liquid.
Note: Using a pour-over method will brew the strongest tea and make the most flavorful syrup. Technically you could just combine the hot water and powder together in a jar and then strain, but the results will not be as tasty. This may seem odd, but trust me. We can go into the deets of why this is in future articles ☺
Ingredients:
1 cup Hibiscus powder
3 cups near-boiling water
3 cups honey or sugar
Items needed:
Paper coffee filter and pour-over cone OR reusable mesh (coffee) filter
Jar, measuring glass, or carafe to fit your pour-over cone or filter
Directions:
– Place hibiscus powder in coffee filter (as you would ground coffee), and arrange it over a jar or carafe so your finished tea will drip into the vessel as it seeps through the filter. Very slowly pour near-boiling water over the powder. You may have to do this in rounds as the water can take a while to seep through the powder.
– Once you have your tea, measure the quantity. Some water will be lost/absorbed. While the tea is still warm, add in an equal quantity of honey or sugar to the liquid and stir. Voila! You have a delicious hibiscus syrup. Add to your favorite sparkling water and enjoy!
Hibiscus-Elderberry Cosmo
2 Cups Cranberry Juice
4 tbsp Hibiscus Syrup
4 tbsp Elderberry Shrub
1 tsp of “Get Happy” mood tonic (optional)*
Combine all ingredients in a martini shaker with ice, shake and serve. Optional: Add a splash of sparkling water and serve with dried hibiscus flowers on the rim of a martini glass.
*Get Happy includes mood enhancing, or thymoleptic, herbs such as lemonbalm, tulsi, rose, wood betony, Saint John’s wort, American ginseng, damiana, and bacopa. You can use this formula, any of the herbs listed above, or add your favorite thymoleptic herbal remedies.