Up until this last week, my kids had collectively been sick for less than 6 days in their combined 5.5 years of life. Neither of them actually even remembered being sick. The whole concept of illness was nothing more than a whimsical game to them.
And then this week happened.
We spent several hours in a small house with a sick relative, and we all caught it - badly. The fever. The runny noses. The deep, nasty cough. My poor babies realized that being sick is not a fun game!
I found myself wishing we had some nice cough drops, but not wanting all the sugar and artificial ingredients of so many that are available commercially. And then I remembered - I have a huge supply of horehound that I'd dried from my herb garden this summer. Horehound is a natural expectorant, and makes wonderfully soothing (albeit bitter!) tea and cough drops.
After reading every horehound cough drop recipe I could find, I couldn't help but feel that most of them were extremely sugary candy with just a touch of horehound. I felt a little dubious that spiking my body sugar that much was much of a recipe for recovery, and had to wonder if was really necessary to add so much sweetener to make a horehound cough drop palatable. So you know me - I experimented.
I found that it was possible to include much more horehound, and much less sugar, and still end up with an extremely enjoyable lozenge. These horehound cough drops are sweetened only with honey, and the grapefruit adds a refreshing (and comforting!) zing that honestly makes me want to keep popping these, even when I don't need them!
Next year, I'll be making up a huge batch before winter even sets in. When making just one batch at a time like this, I wrap them individually in parchment paper, and store in a mason jar. For a year's worth, my plan is to wrap individually and then use my vacuum sealer to seal them in air-tight bags of 20 or 30. I hope you enjoy these healing little treats as much as we do!
📖 Recipe
Horehound Cough Drops with Honey & Grapefruit
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried organic horehound
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup honey
- 8 drops grapefruit essential oil
Instructions
- Add horehound and water to a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Liquid should look almost like coffee.
- Let liquid cool. Strain off the liquid, squeezing all possible liquid out of the horehound. Return strained liquid to small saucepan, and discard the horehound.
- Add honey to horehound liquid. Stirring very frequently, simmer gently until it reaches the "hard crack" stage - about 300 degrees on a candy thermometer. My preferred method is to drip a little drop from a spoon into a jar of ice water. When the drip turns into a very hard little ball (like a cough drop!), the mixture is ready.
- Pour liquid onto a cookie sheet, or into a 13x9 pan - something with a big surface area. You want to the mixture to start cooling quickly so you can work with it!
- Working from the edges, scoop up teaspoonfuls of the mixture, and roll into balls. Place on parchment-lined cookie sheet, being careful not to let cough drops touch each other.
- You do have to work fairly quickly to get it all rolled before the end of it firms up too much. But there's plenty of time to enjoy the project, and enlist the help of little hands! It's FUN playing with super sticky "candy!"
- When the cough drops are COMPLETELY cooled (I like to wait at least an hour), roll them up individually in squares of parchment paper. I just tear parchment paper into very rough squares, but a size about 2"x2" works nicely.
- Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry location.
Anna Chesley
Anna Chesley is a freelance writer living a homestead lifestyle, with a special love for family travel, old books, vintage skills, and seaside living. In addition to founding Salt In My Coffee, she runs the website, New England Family Life, as well as The 1800's Housewife, a website devoted to re-creating authentic 1800's recipes.
avleen says
Hi! I love how informative and great your articles are.
Samantha Strock says
Hey! I'm about to make these because my horehound has taken over a part of my garden -- can i use fresh? Or should I stick to the dried stuff I have?
Thanks! 🙂
Paul says
At what stage do you add grapefruit?
Sara says
Maybe I’m missing something, but when do you add the grapefruit oil? Thanks! 🙂 These look amazing!
Melinda Knolle says
Hello ! Horehound grows wild and crazy all around here. Most people hate it here,, not me,, nope.. when I married and moved here I was so excited to see it growing wild. I want to use it and when I saw this recipe I knew I need to make these. I will be trying it this weekend, wish me luck ! How long will they last in a jar? Can I make a large batch or several small batches and just keep them on hand for the year? Thank you for sharing you wonderful info.
melinda says
This is wonderful !! Horehound grows wild here and it is EVERYWHERE! I wanted to make cough drops with it and when i found yours I was very happy that you noticed all the sugar in the other ones. I will be trying these very soon to take advantage of these plants that love our home lol.
Lindsey Dietz says
What a great tutorial! I love that you use herbs. And those cough drops are almost too cute to use!
Katie Walsh Beck says
What a cool idea - sounds like a great idea to make an all natural remedy.
Leslie-Anne says
I'm seriously impressed with this! I have never ever thought to make my own cough drops but now I really want to! I am not sure where I'd find horehound, but I'm sure I could find it somewhere in my big city! Love this kind of inspiration. Thanks!
Sandra Kim Thomason says
Yes, what part of the horehound do you use? Leaves, flowers, roots? All of it? Thanks for any harvesting tips!
Tatiana says
I have two kids preschool age and I will use your recipe 100% this upcoming winter season .
Carol Little R.H. @studiobotanica says
I made some with honey last year and there were much appreciated last winter.
My horehound plant was unhappy though, sadly, this summer.. and my fresh/dried supply is tiny now..
May need to find a friend with horehound.. thanks for the reminder!
Here's to our health!!
ChihYu says
Oh wow ! This recipe is so interesting and I love its healing effect, too ! Can't wait to try it !
Emily @ Recipes to Nourish says
Oh these are amazing!!! I've never made cough drops like this before, only raw honey versions. I think this version is awesome! Love that you used grapefruit EO in them too.
Liz @ The Lemon Bowl says
This is so perfect! I love that you've used grapefruit. I don't like the added sugar in store bought drops so this is a great alternative!
Yvonne says
Genius! I never thought of making my own cough drops before.
Kathryn says
Saving this for the upcoming winter. Interesting read, thanks!
Renee Kohley says
These are fantastic! I am going to get these into the pantry for the fall! Thank you!
Anna says
YES! Now's the time to make them! My horehound was a little late getting going this year, but I've got a good batch to work with now, so I'd best get on it! 😉 Hope you enjoy!!
Kari - Get Inspired Everyday! says
I can't wait to try these, I'm not a big fan of sugary cough drops either. But these will be just the trick, plus I love grapefruit so that's a bonus!
Anna says
The grapefruit is SO refreshing, that hint of it is really my favorite thing about this recipe! Hope you enjoy!
Joni Gomes says
Oh wow what a great DIY recipe! Definitely going to try this.
Anna says
Joni, thanks so much for the kind words! Hope you love it as much as my kids do!
Megan Stevens says
I'm sorry; it's so hard to have sick kids! I love your recipe and would never have known how to make these. Thank you!
Anna says
I know - I always wish I could just be sick for them! It's so hard to see them not feeling well. Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Raia Todd says
Those look amazing! Great job! I tried making cough drops last year, but I didn't have any horehound so I just used coconut oil and honey. Haha. My kids basically thought they were candy...
Anna says
Haha! Honey makes everything better! These will definitely have a little bit of a bitter edge after something sweeter, but boy that horehound is a wonder-worker!!
May says
So glad to learn about horehound, I need to find some now! Love this recipe. Thanks!
Jean says
Never knew you could make cough drops at home! What a great idea and I bet so much healthier than the store bought stuff.
Anna says
I love it that they're so much lower in sugar, and don't have added coloring - which we're fairly sensitive to. Thanks for the kind words!!
linda spiker says
I could have used this two weeks ago! I got a horrible summer cough/cold in Europe!
Anna says
Oh no! Summer colds are the worst, and combine that with traveling...that's just awful! Hope you're well on the mend!!
Tessa Simpson says
No idea where to get horehound, but I am totally intrigued!! Looks easy!