Lifestyle: A Homemade Cough Syrup Recipe.

Earlier this year I had a flu that floored me. As an asthmatic it’s always scary when it feels like breath isn’t coming easily and in my desperation to feel better again I out in a fair bit of research into how I could help myself. If I was going by my own experience, honey and lemon made me feel better and cough syrup did nothing to ease my symptoms. The research I did backed this up - there is currently no scientific proof to say cough syrups help a cough and there were even some articles that suggested they may make a chesty cough worse whereas hot honey and lemon was widely recommended.

Fast forward to the last few weeks and I had my Mum here - for those that don’t follow my content my Mum is living with Alzheimer’s and comes to me once a month for respite care. For some months now she has been experiencing issues with her chest. It started some time around when I had my flu. She’s had a number of x-rays and exploratory tests and no-one has been able to get to the bottom of it. What has concerned me is her use of cough medicine - as she can’t recall how many doses she has had she’s been getting it through it fast.

I wanted to try something else to see if she fared better on a natural remedy and after some searching around I pulled ideas from recipes I found on the internet and came up with my own version and set to work making up a bottle to send Mum home with.

Her first try was really positive - she said she could feel it working on her chest and an hour later said things had loosened and she was able to cough up some catarrh. She’s now been using it for a week and my stepdad has said she’s really improved which is great news.

So I thought it worth me sharing the recipe here - I’ll definitely be calling upon it next time I have a chest issue.

A note - honey is not recommended for children under 1 years old.

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Ingredients.

Zest of 2 lemons (unwaxed)

Juice of 1 lemon

1 piece of ginger 1 inch thick, grated

Handful of thyme, leaves removed from stem

1 cup water

1 cup local honey

Method.

Add the water, lemon zest and juice, thyme leaves and ginger to a small saucepan and bring to the boil then simmer for ten minutes. Using a strainer, pour into a bowl.

Now add the honey to the saucepan. Heat gently and do not allow to boil. When heated, add in the zest mixture and heat on a low heat stirring constantly until starting to thicken. Turn off the heat and allow to cool and pour into a sterilised glass bottle.

The mixture will keep in the fridge for 6-8 weeks.

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