Winter Wellness Elder Honey

I have been wanting to make an immune building and general illness recovery formula. There is a very traditional cold and flu remedy that incorporates Elder, Yarrow and Peppermint so I put my own twist on it.

I pulled together elder berries(antiviral, tonic and blood building), astragalus root(immune building), reishi mushroom(immune building and restoring inflammatory balance), fresh echinacea root(cool, stimulating diffusive immune stimulant, ), ginger root(pungeant, diffusive, warming to core), rosehips(vitamin c, drying, cooling), and simmered them for about an hour.
I then turned the heat way down to infuse in peppermint leaf(pungeant, warming and cooing, stimulating diaphoretic) and yarrow(diaphoretic) blossoms.  I let the mixture steam off for about another hour and strained out plant material.  I then reduced the mix down to about 1/3 of the original amount by steaming it for several more hours.  I added in about 1 oz of cleavers glycerite, both as a preservative and to bring cooling, moistening energy to the lymphatic system into the blend.
Once cool, I poured an equal amount of raw texas honey into the formula to preserve and offer a nice medium for taking the mix. Raw honey has antimicrobial properties and is warming and moistening.
The result is a delicious syrup that can be added to hot water, cold water, porridges, teas, or just taken by the spoonful during the winter to prevent or help in recovery from a cold or flu.  It tastes sweet, sour, bitter and slightly pungeant.