Homemade cough/throat drops

If you've ever made rock handy, or homemade peppermints, you can easily do this project!

It's the same principle of bringing a liquid and a sweetener to 300 degrees, adding in some other good stuff, letting it cool and wahlah!

The players for this project will be:

3 bags of Throat Coat tea (can purchase just about anywhere, but can also get it at Vitacost or Frontier )
1 1/4 cups of water
1 1/3 cup of sweetener of choice (sugar, honey, mix of both, whatever....honey will be a bit gooey-er than just sugar and will likely stick to your teeth a bit)
1/4 teaspoon of menthol crystals (purchased from here)

100% pure essential oils  NOT precious essentials or diluted essential oils.  They must be pure essential oils. There are tons of different brands, it doesn't matter the name on them, just make sure they are pure and not diluted in a carrier oil already.  Personally, I'm a huge fan of Mountain Rose Herbs oils because they are Certified Organic as well as affordable.  But use what you love.  It's all good!

15 drops lemon essential oil *
15 drops of peppermint essential oil *
10 drops eucalyptus essential oil *
5 drops of tea tree essential oil *
5 drops of lavender essential oil *

Either a candy mold, or a greased pan to pour your hot concoction on when it's ready.

I bought a candy mold at Hobby Lobby with a 40% off coupon.  It was less than $2.  However, it would have been fine to have just poured into a greased cookie sheet and used a knife to etch a line (cut it) as it started cooling to make for easy breakage when fully set.  (I've used that trick on rock candy before and it works well!)

Okey Dokey let's move along and get started.

Put your 3 Throat Coat tea bags in the water and bring it to a boil.  Boil for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and cover.  Let steep for 15 minutes.  You want a really strong tea.  After steeping, remove your tea bags squeezing every last drop of strong medicinal goodness out of them and discard.

Add your sweetener of choice and bring back to a boil.  Reduce heat so it doesn't scorch.  If you can, clip your thermometer to the side of the pan so that the tip is in the liquid, but not touching the bottom of the pan. You'll also want to make sure your pan is large enough that your tea and sugar mix doesn't boil over.  It does raise quite a bit as it cooks.

In the meantime, lightly grease your molds or pans with a bit of coconut oil.  It will make it easier to remove your cough drops later on.

Once your concoction has reached 300 degrees, remove from heat.  Give it a minute to settle down a bit and add your menthol.  It WILL release vapors as it hits the contents of the pan!  Do NOT breath in the vapors! So stand back a bit when you do this.  Stir it in.  Add in your essential oils.

You'll want to work quickly, but carefully, to get it all stirred up and poured before it starts hardening.

If using a cookie sheet, remember to take a knife and 'cut' as it's hardening to essentially draw the lines to help it break in the right places.

That's it!  You're done!  Just let it cool and use as necessary!  If you'd like to store them in a container rather than wrap each one individually, you can dust with powdered sugar to prevent them from sticking to each other.

Now, here's the educational section.  Why those particular essential oils?  Here's the breakdown of their beneficial properties.


*lemon oil benefits - Antibacterial, antidepressant, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antirheumatic, antiseptic, antispasmodic, astringent, carminative, digestive, diuretic, hepatic, hypotensive, laxative, sedative, vermifuge

*peppermint oil benefits - Analgesic, anesthetic (topical), antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antifungal, antimicrobial, antiseptic, antispasmodic, astringent, carminative, cholagogue, cordial, digestive, emmenagogue, expectorant, febrifuge, insecticide, nervine, sedative, stimulant, stomachic, vasoconstrictor, vermifuge

*eucalyptus oil benefits - Analgesic, antibacterial, antifungal, antineuralgic, antirheumatic, antiseptic, antispasmodic, antiviral, decongestant, deodorant, depurative, diuretic, expectorant, febrifuge, stimulant, vermifuge, vulnerary

* tea tree oil benefits - Analgesic, antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antiparasitic, antiseptic, antiviral, decongestant, deodorant, diaphoretic, expectorant, fungicidal, immune stimulant, insecticide, vulnerary

* lavender oil benefits - Analgesic, antibacterial, antidepressant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antirheumatic, antiseptic, antispasmodic, aromatic, carminative, cholagogue, deodorant, diuretic, emmenagogue, hypotensive, insecticide, nervine, sedative, stimulant, stomachic, vulnerary


As you see.  4 out of the 5 oils contain analgesic properties!  Pain relievers!  As is menthol.  All of the oils are antifungal, antibacterial, and antiseptic!  Helping you get better faster!  So enjoy your awesome healthy homemade creation!  :)