Herbal Iron Syrup

As a woman, it's important to make sure I eat healthy, and intake the proper amount of vitamins and minerals. This formula below, taken from Rosemary Gladstars' Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health, is loaded with vitamins and minerals, especially iron, in which women are most often deficient. And it's tasty too!

Ingredients

• 3 parts dandelion leaf
• 3 parts dandelion root
• 3 parts nettle
• 3 parts raspberry leaf
• 2 parts alfalfa leaf
• 2 parts yellow dock root
• 1 part hawthorn berry
• honey

Combine all the herbs. Now with the honey, we will make a syrup

1. Use 2 ounces of herb mixture to 1 quart of water. Over low heat, simmer the liquid down to 1 pint. This will give you a very concentrated tea.
2. Strain the herbs from the liquid. Pour the liquid back into the pot.
3. To each pint of liquid, add 1 cup of honey (or other sweetener, such as maple syrup, vegetable glycerin, or brown sugar). 
4. Warm the honey and the liquid together only enough to mix well. Most recipes instruct you to cook the honey and the tea together for 20 to 30 minutes over high heat to thicken further. This will make it thicker, but will also cook out the living enzymes in the honey.
5. When the syrup is thoroughly mixed, you may wish to add a fruit concentrate to flavor, or a couple of drops of essential oil, such as peppermint or spearmint, or a small amount of brandy to help preserve the syrup and to aid as a relaxant in cough formulas.
6. Remove the syrup from the heat. For every 2 cups of syrup add the following:

• 1/4 cups brandy
• 1/4 cup fruit concentrate
• 2 tablespoons blackstrap molasses
• 2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
• 2 teaspoons spirulina powder

     7.  Stir well, then bottle, seal, and label. Store in the refrigerator, where the syrup will keep for
          several months. Take 4 to 6 tablespoons daily.