This week I’ve done some preventative winter health preparations. With all of us spending less time outside in the sun and fresh air, germs more readily stick around and a strong immune system is your best protection.

First of all, I’ve placed an order for our standard winter supplements, classic boosters for the immune system. (At the request in comments, I’m linking to what we order)

• Vitamin C: 1) powder, to encapsulate or mix with juice. There are two choices, buffered and unbuffered. Buffered (sodium ascorbate) is the better form to take but the flavor is harder to cover with juice, and some of my kids have expressed a preference for the unbuffered (ascorbic acid). So I buy a three pound container of each one and everyone gets to use what they prefer. I can easily control the dose and give a higher dose than using capsules or tablets, and it’s much more affordable. So that’s my choice, but there are lots of good options if you want to do something different. a) sodium ascorbate, 8 oz (3 lb container). b) ascorbic acid, 8 oz (3 lb container)
• My grandchildren also use the vitamin C powder, but chewables are an option for children. Just know that a chewable with 500 mg isn’t much value for sickness on its own, it’s hardly enough for maintenance. But it is easy to give. 🙂
• Vitamin D3 (I get chewables for the kids): 1) 5000 iu, veg capsules (Kof K hechsher); 2) 10,000 iu gel caps (these are not kosher so we squeeze the oil out, there are options to get this in 5,000 or 50,000 iu as well); 3) 10,000 iu kosher gel caps (currently these are unavailable to be sent to Israel). For kids: 1) 2,000 iu, chewables (Kof K hechsher, my kids love this one); 2) chewables, 5000 iu with k2 (vegetarian, labeled kosher parve)
• vitamin k2-mk7 (to use with D3)
• zinc – 50 mg, tablets

As you can see, I mostly stick with the NOW house brand because it’s the least expensive and the quality is good. When I can’t find kosher alternatives for the kids chewables, I look elsewhere. I’ve found it much less expensive to buy online, and I can get the higher dosage vitamins that they don’t sell locally.

I’ll try to share some details in the next week or so on how we dose vitamin C and D, since it’s been a while since I’ve written about it. Generally when people don’t find them helpful, it’s because they aren’t using enough.

I order from iherb.com; if you are a new customer then you can use promocode OBO992 to get a discount on your first order. (If you use this code, a small credit will be added to my account.)

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I bought dried elderberries at the beginning of October and finally made the syrup this week. I experimented with a batch last year that was very much not a success – I not only used xylitol as the sweetener but I cooked it together with the berries and it was really yuck. So this year I’m back to using honey.

I love using this as a remedy because the kids love it and since elderberries are packed with antioxidants, is so good for them.

Here’s the recipe that I used this time (I made eight times the recipe since the bag I bought has four cups in it):

Elderberry Syrup

• 1/2 c. dried elderberries
• 2 c. water
• 1/4 c. honey

Put the berries and water in a pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Once it’s reached a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for an hour. Strain out the mixture, then mix in honey to the juice. Store in a glass jar in the fridge. (I filled 3 – 750 liter glass juice jars, and canned them in a water bath canner to keep them shelf stable.) A teaspoon or two a day is a good amount, though the kids will probably want much more!

You can add cloves, cinnamon or ginger, and I’ve used cinnamon successfully in the past. But after last year’s fiasco, I wanted to keep it simple this year.

I gave it to the kids for the first time this week, and a sign that it was tasty is that Rafael (who just turned 5 this week!! I know, where has the time gone??), our pickiest eater, asked for more several times. We put a small amount in a cup and give it to them to drink.

As for my cost: I paid $18 for the berries and $5 for honey, so my expenses were $23 to make 2250 ml. A bottle of Sambucol syrup online is about $18 for a 120 – 240 ml bottle. That makes my syrup at least a tenth of the cost of store bought, and it has better quality ingredients to boot.

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A new remedy to me is sarracenia purpurea, good for digestive disorders, skin lesions and other ailments. Fascinatingly, this was even used as a cure for smallpox! That’s just an interesting historical tidbit since smallpox was eradicated in 1978. But after learning about this plant’s properties, it sounded like it could be a useful addition to our family home remedies cupboard. (This was inexpensively purchased on ebay.)

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My first batch of apple cider vinegar was ready a week ago, and though I made a lot, it was so delicious that I drank it by the cupful (!) and finished it in a few days. I have one jar still in the fermenting process that will be ready soon, and started two more large jars this week. I love being able to make things that I thought I could only get at the store. Let me know in the comments if you want a recipe and directions.

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My daughter-in-law called last week to request more of the antibiotic salve I made a couple of years ago. At that time I made a big batch and gave containers to all our married children. Hers is finished and she said it was so effective in treating rashes and cuts that she wants some more. My oldest daughter had told me the same thing just a couple of days before, so clearly it’s time to make some more!

I hopped online to buy the ingredients I had run out of: beeswax, shea butter and frankincense essential oil. I was surprised to find I didn’t have any more frankincense, until I remembered that quite some time ago Yirmi was cooking independently and poured the frankincense oil into the pan to fry with. Whew, that was very aromatic!! And surely cleared the air for everyone in the vicinity of any germ that might have existed. 🙂

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Back in the spring I bought pepper starts at the nursery, that were labeled only as ‘peppers’. They grew beautifully but produced chili peppers, something I don’t care for, though the little red peppers do add some nice color to the garden! I’ve given away some and then it occurred to me to dry some and find some use for them.

One thing I’ve been thinking about making is fire cider, a spicy and warming immune booster made of vinegar, onion, garlic, ginger, horseradish and cayenne (I would substitute chili peppers). As effective as I know this to be from experience, this is more of an adult remedy since my kids tend to not enjoy this as much. If you have additional ideas of how to use chili peppers, please share!

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I bought fresh garlic to make some earache oil. I usually make it on the spot when a child says an ear is hurting. We don’t need it often but it’s nice to have it ready when there’s a need for it, so I’m going to whip up a batch to keep on hand.

Avivah