What happens when you combine a load of health benefits with incredible flavor? Spiced Elderberry kombucha happens! This recipe is simple, delicious, and also offers a unique set of immunity-boosting health benefits. Our Spiced Elderberry kombucha recipe comes straight from our Second Fermentation Flavor of the Month Club; we decided to share it with everyone this month to put some healthy inspiration out there and give a sneak peek at our subscription recipes!
Spiced Elderberry Kombucha: Flavor of the Month
First, if you haven’t heard already, you need to know a thing or two about our flavor of the month club! This is our second fermentation kombucha recipe subscription box. Members receive 1-2 UNIQUE and DELICIOUS recipes each month, along with the premium organic ingredients necessary to make them! This subscription saves you from scouring the internet for the perfect new recipe, and also saves you trips to the grocery store to find the unique ingredients in creative kombucha recipes!
That’s right—we handle all of it for you! Each Flavor of the Month recipe also comes with ingredients for six 16-ounce 2F bottles, making it perfect for your gallon brews. Want to give it a try? Take advantage of our promo before March ends and lock in your subscription at a discounted rate!
Elderberry Health Benefits
Odds are you’ve already heard some pretty big claims about the health benefits of elderberries. Let’s take a high-level look. Elderberry has actually been shown to reduce the duration and severity of flu and cold symptoms in scientific studies. Pretty neat! Elderberry is also packed with antioxidants and vitamins known to boost your immune system, reduce inflammation, and even fight cancer and harmful bacteria. While it’s unlikely that any single food or substance will turn you into a superhuman overnight, elderberry sure isn’t going to hurt! Combine this with benefits already present in kombucha and cinnamon, and you’ve got a serious health tonic with Spiced Elderberry Kombucha!
Spiced Elderberry Kombucha Recipe
Finally, onto the Spiced Elderberry Kombucha recipe. Despite its simplicity, this recipe ends up with an excellent flavor, color, and consistency. The cinnamon is pretty subtle as we like the focus on the elderberry here. Feel free to use up to a full teaspoon of cinnamon if you’d like a stronger spice flavor.
You can certainly opt to use ground cinnamon or cinnamon sticks if you’d like. You can also use an elderberry syrup instead of dried elderberries and sugar if preferred. Whatever you do, make sure you use a form of cooked elderberries. Raw elderberries actually contain serious toxins, which are destroyed through cooking.
If you are familiar with our recipes, go ahead and skip down to the recipe card now! If you’re a newbie here, we recommend checking out the notes below first. Enjoy!
Primary Fermentation + Airtight Glass Bottles
FYI, this is a second fermentation kombucha recipe. That means you need to have kombucha that has already completed the initial fermentation process on hand. Both are truly very simple—waiting for your primary fermentation kombucha to work its own magic is the toughest part! If you don’t know where to begin with brewing kombucha, no worries! We offer a Kombucha Starter Kit with everything you need to brew your first batch! It also comes with very straightforward instructions.
This recipe also requires airtight glass bottles. These are a staple for kombucha home brewers. I recommend getting 16 oz swing-top bottles; our recipes are written for them, they are a convenient size for drinking directly from the bottle, and they work well with kombucha overall!
Scale to Your Batch
This recipe is written out for a single 16 oz bottle. If you are brewing kombucha by the gallon, you should end up with enough to make 6-7 16 oz bottles of this recipe. We generally multiply the recipe by the number of bottles we plan on using, slice and/or puree all of the ingredients at once, and split the ingredients evenly between the bottles afterwards. Do whatever is easiest for you!
Spiced Elderberry Kombucha
What happens when you combine a load of health benefits with incredible flavor? Spiced Elderberry kombucha happens! This recipe is simple, delicious, and also offers a unique set of immunity-boosting health benefits.
Ingredients
- 2 tsp Dried Elderberries
- 1/2 tsp Cinnamon Chips can use ground cinnamon or sticks instead
- 1 tsp cane sugar
- 12-14 ounces fermented kombucha Enough to top off the bottle, leaving approx. 1 inch of headspace
Instructions
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Place a funnel in bottle and add elderberries.
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Add cinnamon and sugar to the bottle.
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Fill remainder of bottle with fermented kombucha, leaving approx. 1 inch of headspace at the top of the bottle.
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Seal bottle and move gently to combine ingredients
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Allow kombucha to ferment in a dark, warm space for 2-3 days*. Then, begin tasting daily.
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Once kombucha meets your flavor preferences, refrigerate it and enjoy! We recommend straining out ingredients prior to drinking this one.
Recipe Notes
*You may want to “burp” bottles (AKA lift lid slightly to release excess carbonation) on a daily basis. If there isn’t much pressure to be released after 24 hours, try every other day.
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That’s all there is to Spiced Elderberry Kombucha! We hope you enjoy it. If you love our recipes but aren’t a fan of hunting down ingredients, be sure to check out our Second Fermentation Subscription!
Have any questions or comments? Do you prefer fruity kombucha flavors, or herbal flavors? We would love to hear from you– feel free to comment below. Enjoy! 🙂
Thanks for the inspiration!
Since I had to cook the elderberries, I mixed 1 cup water + ½ cup of tart cherry juice with the elderberry, cinnamon, clove mixture and reduced to 1/4 cup liquid. Mixed with F1 and a bit of Reishi mushroom broth.
I’ll probably reduce the amount of cinnamon next time. This was my first batch of kombucha and I tried to make 3 different flavors. This is the only flavor that I’ll be repeating!
Thanks for the review & for sharing, Hailey! Sounds delicious! 🙂
Excited to try this. Any suggestions if one only had access to elderberry syrup? Would this be a similar substitute?
Hi Autumn,
Thanks for commenting! Elderberry syrup could certainly work. We would recommend using an amount of it that would contain approx. 5g sugar to avoid excess sugar or an explosion when fermenting. Would love to hear how it turns out if you use syrup! Cheers.
Adding dried elderberry is safe? I am asking because I don’t know if that is considered “cooking “ the elderberry.
Hi Donna,
As long as elderberries have been properly dried, there should be no concern with dried elderberries. Fermentation has been shown to further reduce glycosides, too.
As mentioned in the recipe section of the article, we also recommend removing the dried fermented elderberries and cinnamon from your finished kombucha prior to drinking.