Hello Darlings!
Herbal cough drops are my savor in the winter and early spring. It is cold, flu, and cough season which, overall is not so fun. So, to help sooth a bit of that discomfort why not pop a tasty- herbal drop? This recipe is easy to make, you can customize your drop depending on which herbs you prefer and what symptoms you’d like to tackle, and you can make them in fun shapes!
Some of the ingredients I’ve used in my recipe might be a bit harder to find, but customize your drops on what’s available to you! I’ve had great luck with Natural Grocer and my local herbal apothecary (shout out to Apothecary Tinctura if you’re in Denver!)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 Cups Local Honey
1/4 Cup Dried Elderberries
1/4 Cup Chamomile Flowers
1/4 Cup Echinacea Root
1 Tablespoon of Marshmallow Root
1 Tablespoon Slippery Elm
Water
Special Tools (optional)
Strainer or Muslin Bag
Silicone Candy Molds Hearts or Gummy Bears (or greased cookie sheet – I used coconut oil)
Instructions:
1. Infuse three cups of water with all of your herbs. To do this you place herbs in water (or muslin bag if you don’t want to have to deal with a strainer) bring to a boil, then let steep for 20-30 minutes or until liquid is deep purple with elderberry coloring. (Just like you’d make tea!)
You can do this ahead of time as well, just keep the syrup in the fridge!
2. Strain your infused water (or pull out the muslin bag and squeeze).
3. Add one cup infused water with the honey into a sauce pan. I use all honey because I like the feel and taste (the mixture gets too hot to maintain any allergy benefits), but if you’d prefer you can go half honey, half sugar, just make sure your sugar is organic!
4. Place a large saucepan on medium heat and pop your candy thermometer in. You’ll stir every once and a while until mixture gets to 300 degrees (‘hard crack’ temperature). When it is TAKE IT OFF THE HEAT IMMEDIATELY so it doesn’t burn. (I’ve definitely killed at batch that way!) This should take 25-35 minutes depending on your stove (mine is older, took 35!)
No thermometer? No worries! Wait until the mixture starts to foam like crazy and then pop a glob in iced water to let cool. Drop the cooled drop on a hard surface- it should crack! Then you know it is hot enough.
5. Pour into silicone candy molds and let cool.
OR
Pour onto your greased cookie sheet. Let cool until it is a temperature you can work with with your hands and then WORK QUICKLY rolling into cough drop size balls! You don’t want the drops to harden before you’re ready for them to! This is a great step for a helper 🙂
SIX After drops are completely cool, dust them with a coating of slippery elm so they don’t get stuck together if they get hot!
I love homemade herbal remedies, and this one is super fun because I feel like I am playing with candy! These drops do get super hard, so they are a choking hazard (read: not for children). I keep these in a bag for about a month, but you can also pop them in the freezer to make them last pretty much indefinitely!
Want to see a more in depth look at making these? Watch my YouTube video!
Do you have a favorite homemade herbal remedy? Let me know what it is in the comments below!
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