Description
If you have a little time and patience, making your own herbal honey cough drops or honey candy drops is reasonably easy. Read more here.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 cup pure honey
- 1 cup strong herbal tea
- 1/3 cup tapioca flour, arrowroot flour, powdered slippery elm bark, vitamin C powder, or even unsweetened cocoa powder spiked with ground hot pepper and cinnamon
- candy thermometer
- heavy-bottomed saucepan
- silicone cake pan, silicone cookie sheet or cookie sheet greased with coconut oil (or candy molds, which will save time later but are completely optional)
- wax paper or cellophane (for wrapping drops)
Instructions
- Pour 1 ½ cups of boiling water over the herbs of your choice.
- Allow the herbs to steep for at least 20 minutes or until the water is cool. Squeeze the liquid out of the herbs and discard them. Strain the resulting tea.
- Combine your herbal tea with the honey in a small, deep saucepan with a heavy bottom.
- Clip a candy thermometer to the side, with the tip in the liquid but not touching the bottom. Bring to a boil and simmer, stirring frequently, until the temperature reaches 300°F.
- As the mixture thickens and condenses, you may need to tip the pan sideways to take an accurate reading.
- While the syrup is cooking down, prepare your pan. It’s also a good time to cut pieces of waxed paper or cellophane to package your drops. I use wax paper, cut into 3-inch-by-4-inch rectangles.
- When your syrup reaches 300°F, or the “hard drop stage,” immediately pour it into your prepared pan to cool, using a silicone scraper to get it all out of the saucepan.
- Immediately fill the saucepan with hot water.
- Allow the mixture to cool until you can just handle it without burning your hands. This will take 15 to 30 minutes.
- Lay out a clean silicone sheet or length of wax paper to work on and dust it with the anti-stick powder of your choice.
- When you can handle the mixture use a knife or scissors (dip into cold water between cuts to minimize sticking) to cut the hardening mixture into long strips and then drop-sized bits and place them on your powdered work surface.
- You can shape them a little to round the corners as you go, but don’t dawdle, as the workable stage is fleeting.
- Once they are all shaped, toss them, a few at a time, into a jar with ¼ cup of your anti-stick powder, and give it a shake to cover all sides.
- Tap off the excess and wrap each one securely. Then place the wrapped drops in a jar with a tight-fitting lid.
- Store your jar in a cool location and use your drops as needed to soothe your throat and calm coughs.
Notes
- Experiment with the ingredients for different flavor profiles and nutrients.
- Heating honey does negate some of its benefits, but it’s necessary to make homemade cough drops. The additional herbs and oils used help make up for any honey benefits lost in the heating process.
