Honey, I’m Home: A Simple Kitchen Cough Remedy
Picture this: it’s the middle of winter, it’s cold outside, you’re still recovering from holiday treats & sweets and BAM! you get sick.
It starts with the common symptoms; the itchy-scratchy throat, the chills, the sneezes and finally progresses to that hacking, annoying cough.
This, my friend, is torture to me. But thankfully the Good Lord put many relieving herbs for each phase of a cold or flu — for this post, I will be focusing on the post-fever phase: the cough.
Keep reading on for the recipe!
How to Address The Cough
There’s something about getting sick while being a new herbalist. It’s both exciting and dreadful. Exciting in that I can put the theory of sick remedies to applied action — I can actually test out what works. The dreadful part is that it may or may not be the most effective treatment.
For example, when I first learned about Echinacea in a book, I read that it can bypass a cold or flu. After clinically learning about Echinacea, I found that high amounts at the onset could bypass the illness, but could also be a form of suppression and cause it to drive systemically deeper.
Now, as a rule of thumb I use Echinacea post-fever to help with host resistance and ease the cough response. This is based on learning about Echinacea’s herbal actions.
So when addressing a certain symptom - in this case a cough - there are a few factors we’re looking for:
What Type of Cough is it?
There are a few types of coughs: the wet cough, the dry cough, and the unproductive cough.
A wet cough is the type that is quite noticeable. This cough has plenty of phlegm and sounds very deep in the lungs. A wet cough is actually very healthy and should never be suppressed. In this case, rest, relax, and let the body do the healing.
A dry cough can be a wheezy, irritating and exhausting cough. There’s no phlegm present and it’s extremely spasmodic in nature. Think: the cough that won’t stop.
An unproductive cough is similar to a dry cough and equally exhausting. This is when phlegm is actually present, but gets “stuck”. It feels like something wants to happen, but doesn’t.
Today’s recipe will soothe both the dry and unproductive cough.
2. Choosing Which Herbs To Work With
As mentioned above, herbal actions are going to be key when choosing which herbs to work with.
To learn more about herbal actions, check out this quick reference on The Vitality Project Podcast!
In the case of the dry & unproductive cough, we'll be looking for actions like: relaxing expectorant, demulcent, relaxant, warming circulatory stimulant, immune stimulant.
This may sound complicated, but most herbs that are known to help with coughs already contain these properties; it’s just about pairing them correctly.
If you have an herb book handy, look up some of your favorite cold & flu herbs and get super familiar with their actions. One of my favorite go-to herbals is Herbal Medicine: From The Heart Of The Earth by Dr. Sharol M. Tilgner.
3. Putting It All Together
Once you’ve decided which cough you’re working with, and what actions you’re looking for, the next step is to make your cough remedy! My favorite, and the most traditional way, is through a honey syrup. It’s moistening by nature, a great media to work with herbs, and delicious for children over 12 months old.
I’ve used this recipe for a couple years now and it hasn’t failed me yet! Fun fact: It was once offered as a product on this site, but I had a feeling this recipe needed to be shared rather than sold.
On a side note: If you’d like a custom recipe or would like to work with me in a clinical setting, book a call with me!
Honey, I'm Home!
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
If the herbs are sticking above the honey, add more so that all ingredients are completely covered by at least 2" of honey.
Some bubbling may occur if left out for too long. Beware of unwanted fermentation.
If Garlic is not well tolerated, you can substitute with 1/2 Chopped White Onion and 1 Tsp of Turmeric Powder.
A word of wisdom: Place the jar somewhere you can see it! I forgot I had a batch in the refrigerator when I got sick late January, major mistake!