Homemade herbal cough drops

In the fall we made our annual cough syrups to be ready for cold and flu season.  We made a batch of elderberry-ginger syrup, and the stronger version: sage-horehound-astragalus syrup.  These effective and delicious syrups are made by simmering the medicinal herbs (berries, roots and leaves) for a lengthy time, adding honey and simmering long enough to get a syrup consistency.  We have made these healing syrups for several years with good success, but had never tried cough drops.  That's just what we did today.

Cough drops are made with the same ingredients as cough syrup, but the process is slightly different.  The ingredients are simmered long enough to reach a very hot temperature (over 300F) so everything solidifies into a hard candy.  Inspired by myhealthygreenfamily, here is how we did it - the method is very simple, but you need to be careful of the hot temperatures and work quickly when the candy starts to firm up.

Elderberry-Ginger Cough Drops

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup black cherry juice (no sugar added)
your choice herbal cold and flu tea (we used elderberry and lemon)
3 inches peeled organic ginger root
1/2 cup raw honey
powdered sugar for dipping afterward (or slippery elm powder, as suggested by a friend)

Method:
1) In a large pot bring water, juice, herbs and ginger root to a boil.  Set to simmering, and reduce from 2 cups down to 1/4 cup.  Strain the tea back into your large pot.
2) Now heat the reduced tea with the raw honey over low heat.  Do not let this boil over.  Stir constantly.  It will start to foam and bubble, and get extremely hot.
3) Stir constantly until tea-honey mixture reaches just over 300F.  Do not let this burn!  Remove from heat.
4) Pour quickly into candy molds, or onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper that is dusted with powdered sugar.
5) Once cooled, dust each candy with powdered sugar (this helps to keep them from sticking, but is really optional).  Store wrapped in parchment paper or in a glass mason jar.  Keeps one month, or longer if kept in freezer.

Caring for Winter Colds & Flu Naturally...

So far this season we've been fortunate to have avoided major cold or flu outbreaks in this house. Since the fall we've been taking daily doses of herbal tinctures like echinacea and rosehip to build our immune system, as well as multivitamins and acidophilus (to maintain healthy intestinal bacteria). We eat a diet that is strongly influenced by macrobiotic principles, using whole grains like brown rice, millet and quinoa, tempeh, steamed seasonal vegetables, lots of kale and brassicas, sprouted and fermented foods, pro-biotic yogurt, winter squash, hearty stews, apples or other fruit which we've dried or frozen from the summer months. We try to limit processed foods and refined sugars in our diet as these weaken the body's system, and limit other dairy products which often lead to congestion - difficult to avoid during the holiday season laden with rich festive foods, it's no wonder so many of us come down with colds and other illnesses post-Christmas! Whenever we have a first onset of cold or flu symptoms we brew up strong infusions of ginger-lemon-cayenne tea or miso-garlic soup, and this generally seems to do the trick.

This week our kitchen became a natural health laboratory as I worked at concocting a variety of items to have on hand over the winter months. A new batch of raw cabbage sauerkraut, a super food we should all be consuming every day as it's an excellent source of vitamin C, lactobacilli, and other nutrients that help aid digestion and maintain overall health, and is well known as an immune booster that helps fight colds and other infections. (For anyone looking to learn more about the vast health benefits and how-to of creating fermented foods at home, consider attending our Fermented Foods workshop in April.)

Other herbal remedies completed this week include Astragalus root tincture which is renowed for building the immune system and building bronchial strength (finally ready to strain and bottle this week, after steeping for 12 weeks since October); bath therapy salts that use pure epsom salts, sea salts and essential oils to help with congestion, aches and chills; sage cough syrup made with local honey and garden sage; and a strong herbal "winter flu fighter" blend that incorporate a selection of flu fighting herbs harvested and dried from our garden this summer (including purple and green sage, thyme, rosemary, horehound, fennel, hops and more).

Some of these new winter herbal products will also be listed on our etsy store later this week.
www.homesteadherbal.etsy.com