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medicinal herbs

"ricola" cough drops

Andrew Schreiber

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Location: Zone 6a, Wahkiacus, WA

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posted 11 years ago

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I recently came down with a bug, (hacking cough, stuffed sinuses) as is customary after I travel to the city...

A partner offered me Ricola cough drops, and said they were natural. Indeed they are. I read the package to see what was in them, and was pleasantly surprised. We grow quite a few of these herbs already, but I am looking into sourcing the rest of them

the cough drops worked well, and I would recommend the brand. But moreover, I am interested to make my own cough syrup from a decoction of these herbs. In the least, I thought It worthwhile list the herbs in these drops for others to use for a similar ailment:

Elder berry
horehound
anise-hyssop
lemonbalm
linden flowers
mallow
peppermint
sage thyme
wildthyme

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Steven Feil

Posts: 242

Location: South Central Idaho

posted 11 years ago

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Two things I see on our packages that bug me:

Natural Flavors - which could be ANYTHING including MSG or other GMO based items
Sugar - which, if not specifically mentioned as cane sugar is probably GMO sugar beet sourced.

Also, the cough is an important part of getting well. Suppressing the cough keeps the nasties in your lungs instead of being expelled. Better to take something that loosens and facilitates EFFECTIVE coughing, like gumweed.

Chris Kott

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Personally, I don't like the aspartame and sorbitol. Making a completely natural version would rock. I think natural raw honey would make a better sweetener and flavour.

-CK

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Andrew Schreiber

Posts: 221

Location: Zone 6a, Wahkiacus, WA

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posted 11 years ago

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Chris Kott wrote:Personally, I don't like the aspartame and sorbitol. Making a completely natural version would rock. I think natural raw honey would make a better sweetener and flavour.

-CK

Totally agree with the making a natural throat soothing blend of herbs. The honey would help with the soothing too. We also make beet sugar/molassis, which I was thinking might be well used in the cough drops.

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Adam Klaus

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Location: Appalachian Rainforest of NC, 2200' elevation, 85" precip, Zn 7

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Chris Kott wrote:Personally, I don't like the aspartame and sorbitol. Making a completely natural version would rock. I think natural raw honey would make a better sweetener and flavour.
-CK

How would you think to naturally thicken/harden the mix? I make an awesome herbal cough syrup, made with infused honeys and a blend of tinctures. The key herbs I use are elecampane, osha, lobelia, horehound, pleuresy root, marshmallow, thyme, and yerba mansa. Finding a way to 'pelletize' it into cough drops would be awesome. Any ideas?

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Steven Feil

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Location: South Central Idaho

posted 11 years ago

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If you have James Green's book The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook look on page 302 for a discussion on lozenges.

Basically (SEVERE Cliff Notes version) he describes making a mucilage concoction into which is then mixed the herbs/essential oils, formed and cut to appropriate size. A sweetener (sugar or lactose) can be added if needed. Stevia may be a REALLY viable option here.

He suggests slippery elm, comfrey root or mallow root as options to make the mucilage. The wetness of the mucilage determines the amount of dry ingredients to get the final product dry enough to roll, cut and then dry.

Adam Klaus

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Location: Appalachian Rainforest of NC, 2200' elevation, 85" precip, Zn 7

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Thanks Steven, I pulled out James Green's book and checked out that recipe. Unfortunately, I dont think that is what I would want to do. I think it would end up too gooey and have poor shelf life.

So I searched around a bit and found an idea I like, basically making a hard candy from honey. The herbs get incorporated into the water that you cook the honey with. Basically the water or alcohol would evaporate off, leaving the herbal components in the hardened honey. The poor aspect of this technique is that you would pasteurize the raw honey in the process, but the product would have a good texture and shelf life. Here is the recipe- http://wellnessmama.com/7719/homemade-herbal-cough-drops/

Great topic guys, glad to be inspired to work on this one a bit this winter.

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Steven Feil

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Location: South Central Idaho

posted 11 years ago

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I think the heat might destroy some of the properties of the herbs too. I REALLY do not like applying heat to things if I don't have to. I would rather have the herbs in a tincture and administer that way.

Adam Klaus

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Location: Appalachian Rainforest of NC, 2200' elevation, 85" precip, Zn 7

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totally agree Stephen. Finding the balance between medicinal quality and consumer receptivity is the challenge.

A thickener like pine pitch would be great, just a little bit, warmed up to modest temperature, could allow me to form up little balls, that would then harden nicely at room temp. Pine pitch obviously would taste way to strong (although in tiny amount I do use it in my cough syrup).

I guess the mission would be finding something that phase changes between liquid and solid at a low enough temp (like 135 F) that it wouldnt impact the medicinal qualities of the herbal preparations. Any ideas for such a natural, neutral tasting substance?

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Chris Kott

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posted 11 years ago

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Kinda off - topic, but I use coconut oil for my oil extractions for just that reason.

-CK

Adam Klaus

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Location: Appalachian Rainforest of NC, 2200' elevation, 85" precip, Zn 7

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Chris Kott wrote:Kinda off - topic, but I use coconut oil for my oil extractions for just that reason.
-CK

which reason? I'm not following you here.

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Chris Kott

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Sorry. It is liquid at 25 C, so I don't have to heat overly much, but is solid below that, which makes for good skin cream/herbal rub/ointment.

Steven Feil

Posts: 242

Location: South Central Idaho

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I do my oil infusions at room temp or slightly higher. I have considered using coconut oil for a low temp salve though. Have not tried it though.

Andrew Schreiber

Posts: 221

Location: Zone 6a, Wahkiacus, WA

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I like the idea of honey-based losenges. Maybe you could just "steep" the herbs in the raw honey for a while and then filter them out? Or make a decoction of the herbs and add it to the raw honey, and let it evaporate. Then you haven't cooked the honey.

the pine pitch thickner is interesting too. Very easy to come by

It's intense flavour maybe offset by the honey's sweetness. Great Ideas folks!

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Jami McBride

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Location: PNW Oregon

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I don't like the idea of 'heating' the mixture either.

The recipe I like to use involves chopping up lots of organic garlic, ginger, onions, lemons and herbs as mentioned above and cover/pack with sugar - stuffing into a jar (one can use any natural sugar, honey or green herbal stevia) - let sit for a month or two until the juices from the root-veggies seep out. Strain the liquid from the fiber matter and store it in the fridge. Take a heaping tablespoon as needed. It turns out thinkish due to the cold storage, but if you wanted it thicker dissolve your sugar into a natural gelatin and add that as the sweetener, or make your own apple pectin, in which case you can cut back the other sweeter(s). This will easily last all fall/winter/spring and maybe longer.

All of these methods can be found on youtube by searching natural cough syrup.

Also, remember to increase your naturally fermented foods during the time of coughs and colds as the probiotics in these foods greatly help the body to fight illnesses.

R Scott

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We just keep it in a small (pocket sized) essential oil bottle.

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Steven Feil

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Location: South Central Idaho

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Wondering if after you make the gelatin tabs if you could dehydrate them to make them last longer and have them act as a lozenge?

Adam Klaus

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Location: Appalachian Rainforest of NC, 2200' elevation, 85" precip, Zn 7

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Steven Feil wrote:Wondering if after you make the gelatin tabs if you could dehydrate them to make them last longer and have them act as a lozenge?

I was thinking the same thing.

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