Homemaking Homesteader

Make Your Own Horehound Cough Drops

The cold and flu season is here and we have had a cold running its course through our home lately.  A few of us were coughing and congested so this morning I decided to make up a batch of horehound cough drops.  I took pictures along the way.... 

To make these cough drops you will need the bulk herb, horehound, honey and a little cream of tartar. I bought my horehound from Mountain Rose Herbs http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/ .  You can find my recipe on this page: http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/herbsrecipescommoncold.htm

Begin by making a strong tea out of the herbs and water. Use ¾ to 1 cup of dried horehound for each cup of water. In the batch you see here I used 4 cups of dried herbs and 4 cups of water.

Put the herbs and water in a stock pot ..

  

Bring to a boil and let boil for a couple of minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let sit for about ½ hour.
 

Now it is time to strain the herbs. I use a juice pitcher, cheese cloth and clothes pins.

 

I pin the cheese cloth onto the juice pitcher leaving space to catch the herbs and the tea drains into the pitcher.

When I was done I had a little over 2 cups of tea.

I put this into my pan

Along with 3 cups of honey. You will need to 1 ½ cups of honey for each cup of tea.


Add ¼ teaspoon cream of tarter for each cup of tea…


Bring this to a boil. You will need a candy thermometer and let the mixture boil until it reaches 300 degrees.

While this is boiling spray a large pan with sides on it like a jelly roll pan, with non stick spray or you can use butter too.

When your tea/honey mixture has reached 300 degrees (this may take a few minutes to get there), pour into prepared pan…



Spread out and let cool slightly



As soon as it has cooled but is not hard yet you can score it with a knife. This will make it easier to break into pieces.

When it has completely cooled, break into pieces.

Use when you have a tickly throat, sore throat, congestion, cough and related symptoms of the cold and flu season.

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11:26, 2008-Dec-5 .. Posted by morningsunshine

oh, so cool! thank you!

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12:06, 2008-Dec-5 .. Posted by Anonymous

Oh, thanks so much for the recipe and links! I will definitely be preparing these by the end of cold season :)

Thank You

03:36, 2008-Dec-6 .. Posted by pcsmom

for this recipe. I grow horehound in my herb garden, but hadn't yet found a recipe for lozenges. I look forward to making these.
Linda

registering

12:18, 2008-Dec-7 .. Posted by Anonymous

Too bad you can't enter an outside url when you try to register. I guess I'll pass!

Horehound Cough Drops

12:50, 2008-Dec-7 .. Posted by gingerbreadstars.blogspot.com

You amaze me with all you great ideas!!! I am sooo going to make these. My mom loves horehound drops and so this will make a great gift for her in the winter. Thanks for sharing.

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04:02, 2008-Dec-7 .. Posted by Anonymous

Thank you so much for posting this! I just love your blog and website with all your tips and recipes! God bless and Merry Christmas!

Kristina

wow

05:05, 2008-Dec-7 .. Posted by smallisbeautiful

Crystal, these are awesome! I am definitely going to make these. Mountain Rose Herbs is one of my favorites too!

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09:48, 2008-Dec-10 .. Posted by countryschool

Ooo I've made these and they are sooo good. I swear by them. A great tip is to use a bit of powdered sugar to shake on them and it keeps them from sticking together if you package it up.

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09:43, 2009-Jan-1 .. Posted by Anonymous

What a great idea, I bet these are amazing.

I just made your homemade laundry soap for the first time last week, and we love it. Thanks for sharing all your amazing ideas.

made these tonight

10:45, 2009-Dec-11 .. Posted by Anonymous

Wasn't very successful mixing slippery elm with the horehound -- I think you might have to add that to the tea after it's strained and just have cloudy candies. It wouldn't squeeze through the sack very easily...

But they came out great!

When they were cool enough to handle, but not yet stiff, I pulled bits off and rolled them in my palms to make actual drops. Probably managed to get about 2/3 of the syrup into drops before it got too stiff to work -- the rest will be crack.

I put a little oil on my hands to keep them from sticking, and set the drops on wax paper when they were made into drops.