Do you want to make your own natural cough syrup? Our guide outlines 7 recipes for how to make cough syrup at home with natural ingredients.
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Hardly anyone gets through the cold season without having at least one runny nose and cough, especially children are often affected. Various tablets, powders and juices from the pharmacy promise quick help, but buying them is quite expensive in the long run. In addition, many of the cough suppressants available on the market contain synthetic active ingredients.
How to make cough syrup at home with natural ingredients
The pharmacy of nature has numerous effective substances ready for coughs and colds, which can help you in the form of the following homemade cough syrups, inexpensive and free of questionable additives.
1. Onions make coughing easier
Onions are one of the oldest home remedies for coughs. The essential oils and sulphides contained in the spicy tuber have anti-inflammatory effects and make expectoration easier. To make a cough syrup from onions that children can take, all you need is onions, sugar and a few minutes of work.
2. Sage honey has a calming and anti-inflammatory effect
Sage not only gives food a distinctive aroma, it also has anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties. For a natural cough syrup with sage you need the following ingredients:
- 1 jar of honey (500 g)
- 15-20 leaves of fresh sage
- 1 sprig of rosemary
- 1 untreated organic lemon
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 4-5 cloves
- 1 large or several small sterile screw-top jars with a total capacity of approx. 600 ml
To make a smaller amount of cough syrup, simply reduce all of the ingredients in the same proportion.
- Wash the sage leaves and lemon.
- Peel the outer, yellow part of the lemon peel thinly with a potato peeler.
- Squeeze the lemon and mix the juice with honey.
- Add the sage leaves, lemon peel and remaining spices to the honey and mix everything well.
- Let the mixture soak for four to six weeks.
If you have a cough or sore throat, let a teaspoon of the finished sage honey dissolve in your mouth several times a day.
3. Winter radish dissolves phlegm
In the vegetable department, the elongated white radish still dominates, but fortunately the black radish, also known as winter radish, has been making a well-deserved comeback for some time. In addition to delicious and healthy raw vegetable salads, you can use winter radish to make an expectorant and antibacterial cough syrup .
4. Medicinal herbs as a natural medicine powerhouse
The number of anti-inflammatory and antibacterial herbs is huge! Maybe some of them are already growing in your herb patch or on the balcony. With the help of sugar and water you can extract the beneficial ingredients of the various herbs and bundle them into a medicinal cough syrup.
5. Pine tops clear the airways
Every spring, conifers experience a real growth spurt, which is easily recognizable by the light green shoot tips. With these so-called fir tops you can prepare an expectorant, bacteria-inhibiting fir top honey, because they contain numerous beneficial ingredients such as essential oils, resins, tannins and lots of vitamin C.
6. Ginger strengthens the immune system
Ginger is generally known as a typical seasoning in Asian cuisine. However, knowledge of its great, diverse potential as a medicinal plant is less widespread. Homemade cough syrup with ginger alleviates typical cold symptoms and accelerates healing. For a small supply you will need:
- 1 jar of honey (500 g)
- 1 untreated organic lemon
- 50 g fresh ginger
- optionally 2-3 teaspoons of fresh thyme
- 1 large or several small sterile screw-top jars with a total capacity of approx. 600 ml
- Wash the lemon well and cut into thin slices together with the peel.
- Peel the ginger and cut into thin slices.
- Pluck the thyme leaves.
- Mix everything with the honey and let it steep for several hours in a warm place. The ingredients can simply remain in the ginger honey, so it matures over time and gets better and better. If necessary, take a teaspoon straight or in a cup of tea several times daily.
7. Ribwort plantain lines the irritated mucous membrane
Ribwort plantain is one of the widespread wild herbs, and it probably even grows on your doorstep. If it doesn’t sprout in your garden anyway, you will find it in many meadows and along roadsides. Due to the contained mucilage and its soothing, anti-inflammatory effect, ribwort is ideal for making a natural cough syrup.
We hope you find these recipes for how to make cough syrup at home useful and easy to create. And that they help you stay healthy and confortable, and get well soon!
