I was hospitalised with what was called covid, and was entirely unprepared as I did not believe it was real. Hypoxia of unknown cause, and double pneumonia nearly killed me. When I got home from hospital, I decided to make up some elderberry tincture (just soaking dried berries in vodka) in case I collapsed again. I left the tincture in …
I was hospitalised with what was called covid, and was entirely unprepared as I did not believe it was real. Hypoxia of unknown cause, and double pneumonia nearly killed me. When I got home from hospital, I decided to make up some elderberry tincture (just soaking dried berries in vodka) in case I collapsed again. I left the tincture in my freezer. My health has never recovered from whatever it was that flattened me, and 6 months later I had a bout of shingles. I went to a doctor and reluctantly took an antiviral which seemed to do nothing. (I was suffering brain fog and so not thinking well enough to really look after myself.) Again, too late, I searched the internet for natural shingles treatment and the ONLY one that returned was elderberry. I remembered the bottle hidden in my freezer and started taking that. Almost immediately, the rash that was still spreading down my arm and still oozing and active, stopped spreading and dried up. The pain lasted a few more weeks but it was clearly on the mend from the time I started on the elderberry. Now I cannot prove that the anti-viral drug did not have a delayed effect, but I now keep a permanent stock of elderberry tincture in my freezer and dried elderberries in my medicine stockpile.
I have no access to outside space except a very small and very hostile balcony. I have tried growing elderberries in pots and they have not died but they are clearly very unhappy and struggling to survive. If I had a garden, with what I know now, I would grow, at the very least, elderberry bushes, dandelions, wormwood, grapefruit and lemons trees and pomegranate bushes. And if I had a sensible amount of space, I would plant apricot trees for the kernels and fuji apples for the stem cells. These are all easy to turn into very powerful medicines. They are going to be the critical temperate climate medicines for recovery from the existing assaults on our health and for the next pandemic.
I have been trying to work out how apricot kernels compare to elderberries in level of anthocyanins. Elderberries are very high, along with other black berries, and seem to have more anthocyanins than apricot kernels when measured in grams per kilogram.
Oh my dear! Such a time for you! After you "sent" me on that search (was it only yesterday?), probably on GreenMedInfo--I saw a remark concerning the high purple-ness of elderberries, as indicator of high anthocyanin content, but their slightly bitter taste, as indicator of a hint of poison. I had understood from years back that females tend to dislike 'bitter'; while males appreciate it (think of hops in ale), and that this would make sense, in an evolutionary strategy, to keep females away from potential teratogens. So, I began to wonder about pokeweed--phytolacca americana, and an invasive plant where I live, which has extremely purple berries, but is "known to be poisonous", except that tradition says that folks do eat the boiled greens, and make pie from the berries. I have never dared to try a berry (but will this summer, should any show up), so cannot attest to any bitter content.
I was hospitalised with what was called covid, and was entirely unprepared as I did not believe it was real. Hypoxia of unknown cause, and double pneumonia nearly killed me. When I got home from hospital, I decided to make up some elderberry tincture (just soaking dried berries in vodka) in case I collapsed again. I left the tincture in my freezer. My health has never recovered from whatever it was that flattened me, and 6 months later I had a bout of shingles. I went to a doctor and reluctantly took an antiviral which seemed to do nothing. (I was suffering brain fog and so not thinking well enough to really look after myself.) Again, too late, I searched the internet for natural shingles treatment and the ONLY one that returned was elderberry. I remembered the bottle hidden in my freezer and started taking that. Almost immediately, the rash that was still spreading down my arm and still oozing and active, stopped spreading and dried up. The pain lasted a few more weeks but it was clearly on the mend from the time I started on the elderberry. Now I cannot prove that the anti-viral drug did not have a delayed effect, but I now keep a permanent stock of elderberry tincture in my freezer and dried elderberries in my medicine stockpile.
I have no access to outside space except a very small and very hostile balcony. I have tried growing elderberries in pots and they have not died but they are clearly very unhappy and struggling to survive. If I had a garden, with what I know now, I would grow, at the very least, elderberry bushes, dandelions, wormwood, grapefruit and lemons trees and pomegranate bushes. And if I had a sensible amount of space, I would plant apricot trees for the kernels and fuji apples for the stem cells. These are all easy to turn into very powerful medicines. They are going to be the critical temperate climate medicines for recovery from the existing assaults on our health and for the next pandemic.
I have been trying to work out how apricot kernels compare to elderberries in level of anthocyanins. Elderberries are very high, along with other black berries, and seem to have more anthocyanins than apricot kernels when measured in grams per kilogram.
Oh, how I wish I had a garden, but not to be.
Oh my dear! Such a time for you! After you "sent" me on that search (was it only yesterday?), probably on GreenMedInfo--I saw a remark concerning the high purple-ness of elderberries, as indicator of high anthocyanin content, but their slightly bitter taste, as indicator of a hint of poison. I had understood from years back that females tend to dislike 'bitter'; while males appreciate it (think of hops in ale), and that this would make sense, in an evolutionary strategy, to keep females away from potential teratogens. So, I began to wonder about pokeweed--phytolacca americana, and an invasive plant where I live, which has extremely purple berries, but is "known to be poisonous", except that tradition says that folks do eat the boiled greens, and make pie from the berries. I have never dared to try a berry (but will this summer, should any show up), so cannot attest to any bitter content.