Homemade Cough Syrup

I awoke yesterday morning to the sound of Amy coughing in her room... the rattle, congested kind of Cough that signals the beginning of a respiratory infection in-the-making. I quickly turned to one of my favorite books, The How to Herb Book, and looked up "cough syrup". Four different recipes were given; I chose the one with ingredients that seemed to best suit Amy's symptoms: onion, which is a natural antibiotic, to kill any infection; lemon, to cut congestion; and honey, to soothe the throat and add a pleasant taste.

I recruited Amy to help me prepare the cough syrup... I reasoned she would more be apt to take the medicine without too much complaining if she was involved in making it. She was an enthusiastic little helper and recipe was very simple and quick to prepare!

I added more lemon and honey than the recipe calls for, and the syrup was actually pretty palatable (for a cough syrup, anyway!). Amy has been taking 1 tsp 3 times daily the past 2 days and her cough has not gotten any worse. I've been treating her with other infection and cold-fighting herbs, such as echinacea, grapefruit seed extract, etc., using a vaporizer in her room at night, rubbing her chest, back, and soles of her feet with essential oils (tea tree and eucalyptus with garlic oil) and, of course, giving her Tylenol.

Here is the recipe for homemade cough syrup, taken from The How to Herb Book.

Ingredients

2 large onions

juice from half a lemon

1 TBSP raw honey

Instructions

Slice onions and place in a pan (I used an iron skillet). Drizzle lemon juice and honey over onions. Turn oven to lowest heat and place pan inside; cook 45 minutes to 1 hour. Pour off juice and discard onions. Store "syrup" (juice) in a glass bottle and label. Makes about 1 cup cough syrup.

This morning Emily woke with a fever... no cough, thankfully, but her temperature stayed pretty high all morning. : sigh: I managed to get it down with a eucalyptus oil bath, herbs, Tylenol and a long nap. I love this time of year but dread the onset of sickness-fighting!!