These all-natural, herbal honey homemade cough drops are easy to make with a few simple ingredients and so much better than store bought!
Apparently, Thanksgiving blessed us with a head cold. An awful one, to be sure. It started with my middle daughter and made its way over to me, and then the youngest. While we cut our trip to visit family short, we needed some relief.
While we could go to the store and buy some, I didn’t really want to go out. Besides, they’re incredibly expensive. So, I set to making our own with things I already had sitting in our pantry.
How to Make Homemade Cough Drops
Thankfully making your own cough drops is pretty easy. In fact, it’s just like making candy. So, if you’ve made candy before… you can make cough drops.
Tips for Making Herbal Cough Drops
- Use a heavy-bottomed pan that is at least twice the size of the amount of liquid as it will bubble quite a bit and you don’t want it to burn or run over the sides.
- When the mixture begins to foam heavily, remove it from the heat briefly to reduce foaming then return it to heat.
- Once foaming begins, stir constantly to reduce the risk of burning or scorching to the bottom of the pan.
- It will take approximately 30 minutes to reach the hard ball stage, 300°F/149°C.
- Make cough drops on a dry day, any moisture or humidity in the air will affect, even prevent, the ability for the candy to harden.
- Use a candy thermometer. Yes, you can do a cold water test, but it’s unreliable at best. A quality candy thermometer will be your best friend when making these homemade cough drops.
- While you can use a candy mold, a silicon baking mat will work perfectly, or a piece of wax paper. Just drop teaspoonfuls on the mat or wax paper and allow them to sit for about a half hour.
- Dust with a mixture of cinnamon, cayenne, and, cocoa powder; powdered sugar, or something similar to prevent sticking.
- Wrap your cough drops! There’s a reason why store-bought cough drops are wrapped, if you don’t wrap them, they’ll wind up turning into one big cough drop.
Step 1: Combine dried horehound, mallow, echinacea, rosemary, thyme, and elderberry in a muslin tea bag or piece of cheesecloth and place in 8 ounces of boiling water for 15 to 20 minutes. Alternatively, you can use a premade respiratory or throat tea bag to brew your tea.
Step 2: In a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan combine honey, herbal tea, and fresh lemon juice using a wooden spoon to prevent it from melting and heat to boiling over medium-low heat.
Step 3: Stirring constantly, continue to heat mixture to 300°F/149°C, removing from heat to reduce foaming intermittently before returning to heat.
Step 4: Once the mixture reaches 300°F, remove from heat immediately and stir in peppermint extract or essential oil. Allow it to cool for a few moments to thicken.
Step 5: Carefully pour the mixture into premade candy molds or drop by teaspoonfuls onto a silicon baking mat or waxed paper and allow the drops to cool completely.
Step 6: Once cooled, dust in a mixture of cocoa powder, cinnamon, and cayenne or powdered sugar then wrap each drop individually in a piece of waxed paper before storing in a cool, dry place.
Suck on one lozenge, don’t chew, to help reduce symptoms and control cough.
Herbal Homemade Cough Drops with Honey, Lemon and Ginger
Better than store-bought, these cough drops can be made with ingredients you have in your pantry in an hour.
Ingredients
For Herbal Tea
- 1 Tbsp Horehound Leaves (dried)
- 1 Tbsp Mallow Leaves (dried)
- 1 Tbsp Echinacea (dried)
- 1 Tbsp Rosemary (dried)
- 1 Tbsp Thyme (dried)
- 2 Tbsp Elderberry (dried)
- 8 Oz Boiling Water
For Cough Drops
- 8 Oz Brewed Herbal Tea
- 1 Cup Honey
- 4 Tablespoons Fresh Lemon Juice
- 2 Tablespoons Freshly Grated Ginger
- 1 tsp Peppermint Extract
Instructions
To Make the Herbal Tea
- Combine dried herbs in a muslin tea bag. Alternatively, you can use a store bought herbal tea blend for respiratory or throat health.
- Place tea bag in eight ounces of boiling water and allow it to steep, covered for about 20 minutes. Remove the tea bag and compost the herbs.
To Make the Homemade Cough Drops
- In a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine honey, freshly grated ginger, lemon juice, and herbal tea and bring to a boil over medium-low heat.
- Once boiling, stir constantly using a wooden spoon, removing from heat briefly when foaming to reduce foam before returning to heat. Using a candy thermometer, heat the mixture to 300°F.
- Once the mixture reaches 300°F, remove from heat immediately and stir in peppermint extract. Allow the mixture to cool for a few minutes until it thickens slightly.
- Using a pre formed candy mold carefully pour the mixture in the mold. Alternatively, you can drop the mixture by the teaspoonful onto a silicon baking mat or wax paper.
- Allow the candy to cool and harden completely before dusting in a mixture of cinnamon, cocoa, and cayenne pepper or powdered sugar.
- Wrap each individual drop in a piece of wax paper and store in a cool, dry place until ready to use.