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Make Your Own Natural Cough Syrup: 5 Terrific Recipes! (#4 Is Our Fav!)
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If you are like many of our readers, you don’t get sick often. You eat right, get plenty of rest, drink lots of water, and get at least moderate exercise. Instead of getting a flu shot, you use natural immune boosting herbs and spices.
However, no matter how careful you are, we sometimes get hit with the flu, a cold, or sometimes just a nasty cough. Children are especially susceptible, as they are exposed to many people on a daily basis, they don’t always practice the best hygiene, and their immune systems are still developing.
Most cough syrups are not designed for children and are at best ineffective, and at worst, downright dangerous for children under six. Although over-the-counter cough syrups can help an adult stop coughing, they contain a great many chemicals that you certainly don’t want or need. Not to mention the $6 to $12 price!
You can avoid the damaging chemicals and save some serious bucks by making your own cough syrup using natural ingredients at home. These are safe enough to give to children, and they cost less than $1 to make. In addition to that, they work! What more could you ask for?
We have collected five of the best cough syrup recipes that you can whip up in minutes to stop that nagging, hacking, painful, and annoying cough. You might want to print this out and tape it to the inside of a kitchen cabinet or the medicine chest so you can refer to it in a minute if you or your children develop one of those midnight coughing fits.
1. Herbal Stop Coughing Syrup
Of course, honey is the main star here. Honey can soothe a cough all by itself, but the other ingredients included can help with other symptoms. Ginger acts as an expectorant, while chamomile will relax the muscles in the throat, relieving that tickle or itch in the back of the throat. Chamomile is also terrific for letting you to get the sleep you desperately need when you are sick! Cinnamon is known to improve the immune system, while the marshmallow root coats and soothes sore throats.
Please note: You should NEVER give honey to children under one year of age. If your baby has a cough, substitute pure maple syrup for the honey.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of raw, organic honey (or maple syrup for children under 12 months)
- 1 quart of pure water
- ¼ cup of lemon juice
- ¼ cup of freshly grated ginger root (or powdered ginger if that’s what you have on hand)
- 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
- ¼ cup dried chamomile flowers
- ¼ cup marshmallow root
Instructions:
Pour the water in a medium sized saucepan and add the marshmallow root, chamomile, ginger root, and cinnamon. Bring to a boil, and then reduce the heat. Simmer over low heat until the volume is reduced by about half. Strain out the herbs. While the mixture is still warm (but no longer boiling) mix in the remaining ingredients and stir well. This should be slightly more than one cup of cough syrup. Pour into an airtight container and store in the refrigerator. This should keep for about eight weeks.
Dosage: Give one teaspoon to children 10 and under. Give one tablespoon to adults and children over 10, as needed.
