Cold Remedies Made With Honey

Honey has been used for hundreds of years in a variety of cultures to treat colds and upper respiratory ailments. A study in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine in 2007 reported that honey helps children with colds sleep better and cough less. Honey has antioxidant and antibacterial properties that help cold sufferers recover faster. Raw honey is often preferred as a remedy over pasteurized honey because it retains its antibacterial properties. Try cold remedies made with honey, but do not give honey to children under 1 year of age.

Honeyed Drinks

• Make ginger tea to open congested lung and nasal passages. Add two teaspoons of grated ginger, half of an unpeeled lemon and one mashed garlic clove to two cups of water in a saucepan. Bring the ingredients to a boil and let the liquid simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Strain the tea through a cheese cloth or a coffee filter and add 1/4 cup of honey to the strained tea. The tea will have a bite to it that gets stronger the longer it sits.

  For a simple drink, add honey to plain, warm lemon water or drink hot tea with lemon. These will soothe a sore throat, rehydrate the body and loosen congestion.

Hyssop Cough Syrup

• Hyssop is an herb that grows in the southern United States and is used to treat lung problems, coughs, nose and throat infections, and sore throats. Many herb stores that carry raw and dried herbs will have hyssop flowers in stock. To make hyssop cough syrup, mix 1 teaspoon of crushed aniseed and 1/4 cup of water with 1 cup of honey. Stir the mixture until you have a syrupy consistency. Boil the mix over low heat, skimming off any film that forms on the surface. Measure 2 tablespoons of powdered, dried hyssop flowers or 1/3 cup of fresh, chopped hyssop flowers. If you are using using dried hyssop, moisten the flowers with 2 tablespoons of water. Add the hyssop to the syrup and cover. Simmer the mix over low heat for 30 minutes. Strain the syrup into a coffee filter or cheese cloth while it is still warm. Allow it to thoroughly cool before pouring the syrup into a glass container with an airtight lid. Store your syrup in the refrigerator and take 1 teaspoon of syrup every four to six hours for cough. The shelf-life of the syrup is one week.

Garlic and Honey Cough Syrup

• Garlic can impart its antimicrobial and antiviral properties to those of honey to effectively treat coughs and sore throats. To make garlic and honey cough syrup, add 4 to 6 cloves of chopped garlic to 2 cups of honey. Seal the honey and garlic mix in an airtight, glass jar and allow the mixture to sit at room temperature for two weeks. Remove the garlic from the honey and store the resulting syrup in a dark cabinet. A standard dose is 1 teaspoon as needed for a cough.

Onion Cough Syrup

• Onion and honey make a surprisingly good-tasting cough syrup for dry, unproductive coughs. Slice an onion very thinly and place the slices in a tall, oven-safe dish with a tight-fitting lid. Pour three cups of honey over the onion. Cover the dish and bake the onion and honey at 300 degrees for two hours. Remove and mash the onion while it is still hot. Strain the mixture and pour the liquid into a glass jar. Cool the syrup to room temperature before placing it in the refrigerator. Give 1 tablespoon three times a day to a child or 2 tablespoons three times a day to an adult.

Honey and Lemon Syrup

• Honey and lemon can be combined with vegetable glycerin to make a cough syrup to ease sore throats. Vegetable glycerin is a sweet-tasting, odorless, colorless, syrupy liquid made from palm or coconut oil and sold at health food stores. Boil a lemon, complete with peel intact, for eight minutes. Extract the juice while the lemon is still warm. Add 2 tablespoons of vegetable glycerin to the lemon juice. Stir the liquid as you add 1 tablespoon of honey. Take 1 teaspoon of syrup as often as needed.