Recipe: cough syrup, 18th century style

[torquill]

I don't remember ever having posted my cough syrup recipe here; since I just made a fresh batch, I thought I'd share.

As I can't have more than a touch of alcohol without serious repercussions (CNS depression is Not My Friend), and I detest almost every artificial sweetener out there, the cough syrup on the typical drugstore shelf is totally out of the question. I still need something for when I'm coughing too much to sleep, though, so I did a little research and developed this.


1/4 cup fresh horehound leaves
2 T(ablespoons) licorice root
2 T slippery elm bark [optional], omit if using a cloth bag to stew the herbs
1 1/2 to 2 T dried ginger pieces, halve that quantity if using fresh root
2 T dried peppermint
1 T dried nettle
2 cups water

Combine herbs in a small saucepan and simmer 15-20 minutes. Strain, return to the pot, and simmer to reduce the liquid by half.

For 1 cup syrup, combine 3/4 C warm honey with a couple of tablespoons of water to thin it. Add 1.5-2 tablespoons tea (I used 2 tablespoons last time); test to check bitterness as you go, as it should be just as bitter as you can stand to have sit on your tongue without rinsing it off, but no more. Top up the syrup to a total of 1 cup with water if necessary.

Take about 1 tablespoon as needed. This is dilute enough that there shouldn't be any trouble with taking it too often for adults. Consult a physician for use with children.

Freeze the extra tisane for use later. Keep the finished syrup in the fridge for up to a year.

If you can't find fresh horehound (it grows in the open spaces around here like a weed), you can often buy a little plant at a good nursery; there may also be dried bulk horehound available, but I don't know the conversion for that. The internets might.

There are obvious drawbacks to this stuff (the honey sitting on your teeth all night, for starters) but when you have to have a cough suppressant and expectorant in something that coats your throat, this syrup really does the job. I've gone from being barely able to sleep to waking up just once in the night to take another dose, and the tickle that had me hacking went away for hours.

It is sort of bitter, but it shouldn't be horribly so. Obviously, the stronger you mix it, the more effective it is, but don't make it so bitter you can't stand to have the taste sit on your tongue for a while. Washing it down with water kind of dulls the effectiveness of cough syrup, after all. :)

Comments

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

That sounds lovely. But then again, I adore licorice and horehound. Thanks!