Ginger,Honey and Black peppercorns make a all natural, chemical free, home made cough syrup/tea which is safe to use on a daily basis without worrying about any side effects.

Every family has a way of dealing with common cough and cold, for our family its been this concoction for the last 15 years. When my daughter was small and had a cough, I would always worry about sending her to school with medicine that would make her drowsy and of course,I never really cared for chemical laden over the counter medicines.

I remembered mom squeezing fresh Ginger juice and mixing it with honey and tulsi leaves when we had a cough. With hectic schedules, it was just not practical for me to squeeze fresh ginger juice everyday, so I figured why not boil the ginger,peppercorns (and tulsi and mulethi,if available). That would give it a shelf life of 8-10 days and it would always be readily available in the fridge as a syrup or as tea when mixed with hot water and lemon juice.Please boil all ingredients except honey.

My daughter has not had cough medicine for years now, and at the first sniffle or sign of scratchy throat, she tells me to make the “Honey Ginger thing” and within a couple of days, she is perfectly fine without having any of the commercial cough syrups. I enjoy it as a soothing tea mixed with hot water and fresh lemon/lime juice.

According to “Yoga of Herbs”BY David Frawley, Ayurveda considers Ginger to be Sattvic-or balancing, meaning that it brings balance and health back to the body . “The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Healing Remedies” by Norman Shealy considers Ginger to be a pain killer-analgesic-that helps to dull the pain associated with sore throat. To read more about benefits of Ginger, read here.

Read what Mayo clinic has to say about the benefits of honey as a cough remedy by clicking here.

According to Organic Facts, “pepper is added to tonics for colds and coughs. Pepper also provides relief from sinusitis and nasal congestion. It has an expectorant property that helps to break up the mucus and phlegm depositions in the respiratory tract, and its natural irritant quality helps you to expel these loosened material through the act of sneezing or coughing, which eliminates the material from the body and helps you to heal from whatever infection or illness caused the deposition in the first place’. To read the full article click here.

UPDATE-.I now have a Tulsi/Holy Basil plant at home and put 20-30 Tulsi/Holy Basil leaves with the other ingredients while boiling

Home made Cough Syrup/Tea for Cough and Cold

Aanchal Gupta

A natural,home made cough syrup that’s free from all chemicals and preservatives.

Print Recipe

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 20

Total Time 25

Course Medicinal

Cuisine Indian

Servings cup

Ingredients

2 inch piece Ginger
1 tsp Black Peppercorns
1/4-1/3 cup Raw Organic Honey or whatever is available omit for a vegan option
3 cups water

Instructions

Peel and chop ginger.
Mix all ingredients and bring to a rolling boil.
Turn down temperature to simmer and continue to cook the concoction till it reduces to 3/4 to 1 cup
Cool completely.
Strain and add honey to the Ginger syrup(omit the honey for a vegan option)

Notes

Have a few teaspoons as is or squeeze some lemon juice, mix a few spoons of the syrup and add hot water and have it like a soothing cup of hot tea.Never heat honey. You may also add Licorice/Mulethi and Holy Basil/Tulsi leaves to the concoction, when you add ginger. I highly recommend adding both, when available. It is safe for all ages except please do not give honey to a child less than a year. Can be taken throughout the day as needed.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Here is the step by step pictorial recipe-

Ingredients

Put to boil in a clean steel container

If you have Tulsi leaves and Mulethi(licorice) boil those as well