These homemade cough and sore throat lozenges relieve a cough and sore throat naturally. Using the power of violets and honey, the three natural ingredients in these cough drops are an efficient natural remedy to soothe and calm a sore throat and prevent an excessively dry cough.
Throat lozenges, sore throat drops or cough drops are tablets made of herbs that soothe a sore throat by lubricating it and preventing excessive cough. They are supposed to be dissolved within 20 minutes on the tongue, not swallowed or chewed. One should feel relief while sucking on them, your sore throat should be less dry.
These homemade sore throat and cough drops contain ingredients calming and soothing the sore throat which can be herbs like marshmallow, peppermint, mint, violet or sage. They also usually contain honey that possesses soothing properties.
Ingredients to make herbal cough drops
To make cough drops that can at the same time help with a sore throat we need to use ingredients that are soothing and can smooth and healing tissues and ease inflammation.
Wild violets
Violets are nutritious herbs, packed with antioxidants and vitamins that contain mucilage responsible for coating tissues and helping lose and expel mucous. Violets also contain various essential oils, flavonoids, saponins and coumarin causing both anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects. Thanks to the presence of rutin and salicylic acid violets are capable of easing a sore throat and flu symptoms.
We will be using the double action of violets in this remedy. We will make violet leaves, herbal infusion and a violet tincture
Honey
Honey contains a soothing ingredient that helps coat and soothe an irritated throat. A popular wound healer (1), honey may help with a sore throat to heal faster. I like to use raw honey for its high content of antioxidants, propolis, pollen and enzymes however in this recipe I used ordinary honey. The reason is that we are going to heat the honey to a high temperature that is going to destroy all these valuable ingredients.
Cinnamon
Most of the recipes use sugar for coating, we will use cinnamon instead. Made of honey, the herbal drops are sweet enough and cinnamon provides us with additional medicinal benefits.
Cinnamon possesses antibacterial properties and may help to speed up the process of recovery from an infection or cold.
Recommended tools
Thermometer
Making homemade drops is not an easy task and might take several tries. The critical point of the process is to know when the honey is at its correct stage. The thermometer is the way to go. You might use this inexpensive candy thermometer or digital candy thermometer that help you to precisely measure the temperature of honey and mark the various stages of candy (drops) making. There are seven stages in the process and you want to choose which one you want to get. thread, soft-ball, firm-ball, hard-ball, soft-crack, hard-crack, and caramel.
I was aiming to get the soft crack stage however I got to the hard ball stage where the violet drops hold their shape but they are a bit sticky. I think it could also be caused by certain elevation of the temperature.
There are however other ways to test without a thermometer and that is with cold water. If you drop the honey mixture in a glass of cold water it will help you determine what stage the drops mixture is in.
Mold
Another kitchen tool that you might need is a silicone mold if you like specific or fancy shapes . I made my own when I added a few spoons of cinnamon powder into a bowl (you can also use parchment paper) and using my finger I made small holes where I spooned the mixture later.
How to make homemade sore throat cough drops
Step 1
Prepare a strong violet leaves infusion. Use ¼ cup of dried violet leaves, pour over ½ cup of boiling water. Cover the infusion with a saucer and let it sit for at least 30 minutes to get really strong tea.
Step 2
After 30 minutes strain the mixture and you should have ½ cup of strong violet leaves infusion.
Please note that you can replace the violet with other herbs that have similar medicinal benefits for cough and sore throat such as Marshmallow root, Sage, echinacea or peppermint.
Step 3
Pour the violet infusion into a bowl, add honey and lemon juice. Mix it well.
Step 4
Pour the mixture into a heavy-bottomed saucepan, turn the heat to medium-high and stir occasionally. Now you need to wait till the mixture reaches the desired temperature, in our case 150 F (70 C) which takes some time but make sure you don’t leave the mixture unattended. After 20- 25 minutes you will notice a thickening of the mixture while stirring
Step 5
Once the desired temperature is reached remove the mixture from the heat and stir the violet tincture.
Step 6
The mixture hardens as it cools so you need to work quickly. Pour the mixture into a silicon mold or use a spoon to pour it into a bowl with cinnamon powder or parchment paper.
Step 7
Let it sit until completely cooled. Gently coat the drops from both sides in the cinnamon powder and store them in a glass or plastic dose. You can use parchment paper to create layers. Keep them refrigerated, they can last several months. I also like to drop them into my cup of hot tea to sweeten it.
Q: Can I replace honey with sugar?
Sure, you can completely replace it with any sugar, just slightly increase the amount of infusion to 3/3 cup to compensate for the liquid honey.
Herbal Sore throat drops with violets
These homemade cough and sore throat lozenges relieve a cough and sore throat naturally. Using the power of violets and honey, the three natural ingredients in these cough drops are an efficient natural remedy to soothe and calm a sore throat and prevent an excessively dry cough.
Materials
- 2 tbsp violet leaves dried
- 8 tbsp boiling water for infusion
- 8 tbsp honey
- 1 cup cinnamon for coating
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 10 drops violet tincture
Tools
Instructions
- Prepare a strong violet leaves infusion. Use 2 tbsp of dried violet leaves, pour over ½ cup of boiling water.
- Cover the infusion with a saucer and let it sit for at least 30 minutes to get really strong tea.
- Pour the violet infusion into a heavy-bottomed saucepan, add honey and lemon juice
- Turn the heat to medium-high and stir occasionally. Now you need to wait till the mixture reaches the desired temperature, in our case 70 C (150 F )
- Once the desired temperature is reached remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the violet tincture.
- After 20- 25 minutes you will notice a thickening of the mixture while stirring
- The mixture hardens as it cools so you need to work quickly. Pour the mixture into a silicon mold or use a spoon to pour it into a bowl with cinnamon powder or parchment paper.
- Let it sit until completely cooled. Gently coat the drops from both sides in the cinnamon powder and store them in a glass or plastic dose.
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