Immunity Apple Cider
and
Cinnamon-Echinacea Syrup
I pretty much always add cinnamon to any echinacea preparation for the little people (or for me, actually) because it does a nice job of cutting the extremely grassy, bitter aftertaste of the echinacea. Of course, cinnamon is also warming and very nutritious, so it's a perfect addition to any cool-weather medicine.
Immunity Apple Cider is a great way to use up any leftover apple juice from your RoseHip Jam! First, we make a super-concentrated cinnamon-echinacea tea. I use 1/4c dry echinacea and a goodly dash of cinnamon (or about 3 cinnamon sticks) in 6 cups of water.
Bring this to a boil and simmer till the water is reduced by half, so you'll end up with about three cups.
Strain your tea and set aside 2 cups of it, put the last cup back in your pot. Add your fresh raw or store-bought organic apple juice to the pot, tasting as you go, and maybe add a pinch of stevia. I usually use about 2 cups juice to 1 cup tea plus a hefty pinch of stevia, and some vanilla extract. Mmmmmm. Heat just till warm enough to drink.
We like this with our lunch, or as a morning tea with bread-with-honey.
Cinnamon-Echinacea Syrup
Now, rinse your pot and add your 2 cups of tea concentrate, add 1 cup raw honey and gently heat only till warm enough to mix together well. Bottle and refrigerate. This syrup, if your cinnamon is strong enough, is absolutely yummy right off the spoon, or stirred into tea.
Many syrup recipes call for a 1:1 tea to honey ratio, and calls for simmering the syrup till it thickens. However, this kills all the enzymes in the honey and is unnecessary. A thinner syrup is just as effective; in fact, it's more effective with the enzymes intact.
Enjoy! Tomorrow we will be making our Herbal Iron Syrup, so do come back to visit then.
"Bittersweet October. The mellow, messy, leaf-kicking, perfect pause between the opposing miseries of summer and winter."
~Carol Bishop Hipps
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