Five Herbs to Get You Through Winter

Every season has its herbs, the plants that speak to what the body needs when conditions are specific. Winter is not a time to be without plant allies, and these five are the ones that matter most when the days are short and illness is more likely to be around....

Elderberry Syrup: Making the Best Immune Syrup at Home

Elderberry syrup is one of those preparations that sounds like it requires specialist equipment or expertise. It does not. At its most basic, it is simmered elderberries, honey, and warming spices combined into something that tastes extraordinary and is backed by more...

Making a Simple Elderberry and Thyme Oxymel

An oxymel is honey and vinegar together as a vehicle for plant medicine. The word is ancient Greek and the preparation is at least as old as Hippocrates. In the winter context, there is no better combination of herbs for this format than elderberry and thyme: two...

Elderflower: From Spring Blossom to Medicine Cabinet

The elder tree (Sambucus nigra) is almost entirely useful from root to berry tip. Most people know the berry from winter immune supplements, but fewer know the flower, which has its own distinct and valuable medicinal character. The flower and the berry come from the...

How to Make a Healing Herbal Broth

Herbal broth is the preparation that lives most naturally at the intersection of cooking and medicine. It is soup’s more deliberate ancestor: a slow-simmered liquid that extracts the mineral, medicinal, and nutritive properties of both food ingredients and...