I recently traveled, which means I also recently got sick.
It never fails; when I travel I get sick. I try every remedy before and during
to try and curb sickness, but the germs attack and I get sick.
This go round a cold hit me mid-air on the plane ride home. A
cold. I had been on vacation and really need to get back to work to catch up,
so I tried to go in on Monday. I didn’t last long and left mid-morning. My plan
was to pick up a bit of honey at the local store and make cough drops of
goodness. Being a Monday, and living in Bisbee, the local honey store was not
open, so I picked up a bottle at the market to at least make a small batch. One needs a good cough drop when a cold is a
coming.
I tried my hand at honey cough drop making a few months back
and learned a few lessons from that venture. The two batches made this week
turned out really well. Now this little treat is a go to for sore throats. I
bought candy molds, and although they are really designed to mold chocolate,
they work awesome for the cough drops too. And in cute little shapes, might I
add. Since I didn’t have a mold the first time making drops, I had a mess on my
hands. I don’t have wise words for you if you don’t have molds. It was really
that big of a mess and ultimately had to throw most away. Find molds on Amazon
or your local store. I promise, you’ll
thank me.
The other lesson learned was failing to apply a light coat
of powdered sugar. They stick together if they touch, but add a light coat of
powdered sugar, viola! No sticking. Good thing for lessons learned.
Recipes:
Mildly medic honey
drops
~ ¾ cup honey (I prefer local, but use what you wish)
1 tsp of cinnamon
¾ tsp of slippery elm bark
Kick ass honey drops
aka second batch
1 cup honey
1 tsp rounded cinnamon
1 tsp slippery elm bark
1tsp horehound (I like it freshly ground)
1 tsp echinacea
¼ tsp lemon extract (I just made a batch, if you don’t have
on hand skip it)
I would have added 1 tsp of golden seal, but I couldn’t find
it at the co-op. Better luck to you. I
think it would be a great addition. Pattie at the co-op mentioned there has
been a cough syrup maker in buying herbs and they use cherry bark, mmm. Next
time. Really, you can use anything that suits your fancy.
Directions:
Start by heating the honey on the stovetop and measure in
the rest of the ingredients. Using a candy thermometer stir the mixture until
it reaches 300 degrees. Keep an eye on it and stir often so it doesn’t spill
over. When it reaches 300 degrees drop a
sample in coldish water. I use a spoon. If it hardens it is ready to pour into
lightly greased molds. Once the drops are hard toss them in a bag with a small
amount of powdered sugar. You don’t need much, just a light coating. Store at
room temperature and use when the cold-ickness bug’s got ya down. Or when you
have a sore throat.
The small batch lasted most of the week and was not all that
bad; even though I couldn’t find the horehound I had from the previous time. It
is my favorite ingredient for cough drops. But I used what I had on hand, and
it worked pretty well.
I was close to running out of the first batch, and
Killer Bee Guy honey store was open, so I decided to stock up on a few more medicinal
items and really make a cough drop to aid in my healing.
WOWZA! The kick ass honey drops turned out super strong and
really knows how to take care of a sore throat and coughing. Score. I really like it, but I can see how
some might not like it as much. My suggestion would be to either limit the
herb list or possibly start at ½ tsp for each listed above. Really you can do what your taste buds like or
what is available to you.
I can’t stress how easy it is to make the honey cough drops.
I really do my best to know what is in the food I eat, so making the drops at
home is a no brainer to me. It doesn’t even really take that long to heat up,
so minimal time is spent on something that is rewarding.
