Homemade Oregano-Calamansi-Honey Cough Syrup

25 Sep 2013

Homemade cough syrup, why not? I made this for our daughter who is easily attacked with cold and cough.

Summary

Yield	Servings
Prep time	20 minutes
Cooking time
Total time	20 minutes

Description

As the modern world is being reintroduced to the efficiency of herbal medicine, there are many herbal types of syrup for respiratory improvement that are commercially produced and sold. I tried one, the Lagundi syrup. My daughter hates it, but I guess it works.

Then my parents planted Philippine oregano (Clavo or Kalabu) and sage (aka sambong, gabon) in their mini garden. In the Philippines, oregano had been used for cough treatment, and sage for other well-being purposes. My mother used to steam oregano leaves and juice them for us to take for our cough; while the sage we simply soak it in a pitcher of water and drink it like fresh tea. So refreshing! And as far as I can remember, they never bought us cough syrup. Other than it is quite expensive, turned out we never needed it.

Now speaking of homemade cough syrup, why not? I made this for our daughter who is easily attacked with cold and cough. Luckily my mother brought us fresh oregano and sage leaves. In the Philippines, oregano leaves are big and more succulent/juicy. Sage leaves are also huge!

One thing I would like to warn: this homemade cough syrup could be addicting, but do not worry, this has no harmful side effects. However, don’t forget to rinse your mouth after taking this syrup, as with any other sweets, your teeth may suffer.

Here it goes:

Ingredients

small whole sage leaf (optional, size around 3 time of the adult thumb)

3 T

kalamansi (or lemon) juice

1 T

finely chopped fresh oregano leaves

1⁄4 c

raw honey

Instructions

Mix all the ingredients. Heat over very low heat, occasionally stirring until syrup mixture is beginning to get thicker (a small mixture stays on the tip of a spoon when left hanging on the air).

Remove from heat and strain while hot into a clean glass jar (make sure you use a bottling jar as ordinary ones may break). Syrup should be strained while hot while it is not yet that sticky.

Let cool and refrigerate until ready to use. Can be stored for up to 3 weeks if not heat-processed for bottling.

For cough and cold, give 2 T each time for three times a day for a week. Since my daughter hates cough syrup, mix the homemade syrup with 3-4 ice cubes and a cup of water. This is now her new lemonade, and she loves it better! She thinks this healed her sore throat too.

As for my daughter, 2 tablespoonful 3 times a day phased out her hard cough the next day, and her cold was getting better (almost gone). The third day was totally gone, and she was able to enjoy her playtime. And well, she still asked me for it. She thinks it's her regular lemonade. Why not? It's like lemonade-tea drink!

Note: This statement has no legally approved therapeutic claim. As with any other publication requirement for formality, use at your own risk.