Honey Cough Drop Recipes

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.