Herbal Stress Relief Syrup (with Printable Labels)

stress relief syrup recipe 600 px

This simple herbal syrup recipe combines calming herbs with raw honey, creating a tasty and effective dose of natural stress relief.

It features:

  • Lemon Balm – which acts as a mild sedative, helps calm nerves & improves mood (two interesting studies HERE and HERE)
  • St. John’s Wort*  – a proven antidepressant and mood lifter, also helps with chronic pain & nerve damage (multiple studies to explore HERE
  • Ashwagandha – an adaptogen, when taken over time can help calm nervousness and anxiety, while building back overall energy (great article on it HERE)

* St. John’s Wort is contraindicated for some people. Please read this Mayo Clinic article before taking. As a milder substitute, you may want to investigate using chamomile instead.

Recipe Variations

There are two different ways you can make this recipe.

I prefer using the herbs as tinctures and then combining with honey because these types of combinations have an incredibly long shelf life. You can make up a big batch at once and have enough for at least a year’s supply.

If you’re aiming for an alcohol-free version instead, you can use the tea/honey version detailed below.

Making a St. Johns Wort Tincture

You can buy tinctures that are ready made (I like Herb Pharm brand) or you can make your own.

To Make a Tincture

My all-time favorite herbal reference book, Making Plant Medicine by Richo Cech, has several formulas for making tinctures if you’d like to make a standardized tincture that is similar from batch to batch.

I like to use the folk method in most cases though.

For that, I just stuff a jar about half-way full with the fresh flower or leaf I want to use (or about 1/4 full for dried herbs & flowers) and then cover with a high proof alcohol like vodka.

Label, cap and store in a dark area for about 3 or 4 weeks. Strain and it’s ready to use. Shelf life of tinctures made in this manner are at least one year, though they more often stay active for several years.

Stress Relief Herbal Syrup Recipe plus Printable Labels

To Make the Syrup

Tincture method – The basic formula is 1 part lemon balm tincture + 1 part St John’s wort tincture + 1 part ashwagandha tincture + 3 to 4 parts honey.

Example: 2 tablespoons (30 ml) lemon balm tincture + 2 tbsp (30 ml) St John’s wort tincture + 2 tbsp (30 ml) ashwagandha tincture + 6 to 8 tbsp (90 to 120 ml) honey.

Combine the tinctures and honey in a small glass canning jar. (Herbal remedies store best in glass, not plastics.) Stir together well, label, cap and store in your pantry or medicine cabinet. Shelf life is at least 1 year, if not longer.

When someone is having a stressful few days or can’t sleep well, I pull this out and dose 1 or 2 teaspoons at a time.

We don’t have tons of stress in our life, so one or two doses in the evening/before bed usually does the trick. Adjust amounts as needed for your situation, consulting a professional health care provider if you have personalized questions.

Tea method – If you’d like to make a version of this syrup without including tinctures, Mountain Rose Herbs has a good writeup.

To Make the Printable Labels

You can find the file for the printable labels HERE, sized to fit a standard sized canning lid.

(Also included on the sheet are labels for Stress Relief Lotion – that recipe can be found HERE!)

For best results, make sure that your print settings are set to “actual size”.

Print out on repositional sticker paper (I use THIS KIND), cut into round label shapes and affix to the lid of your syrup. (Don’t forget to add the date!)

If you don’t have sticker paper handy, you could also print on regular printer paper and use a glue stick to carefully attach each label to canning lids.

FREE RESOURCE

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HERBAL SALVES & BALMS

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8 Comments

  1. Pingback: Natural Honey Home Remedies for Internal & External Use - Homespun Seasonal Living
  2. Pingback: Stress Relief Lotion Recipe (+ printable labels) – The Nerdy Farm Wife
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  4. could something like this be made into a lozenge? I am looking for something to calm nerves when I’m out an about. I have had prescription anti-anxiety meds before and they may work but leave me feeling icky. I want something that is more natural (I am looking into herbal remedies like saffron and valerian root). I figure making some sort of lozenge would be convenient to carry with me. I saw your home made cough drop recipe too but noticed it said they were stored in the fridge which wouldn’t work as well as me being able to carry some around with me. Thanks in advance for any information you can provide!

  5. Pingback: Homegrown Herbal Gifts to Make & Give | Homespun Seasonal Living

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