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How To Make Soothing Essential Oil Cough Drops!
Tis the season for sore throats and coughs!
Every mom knows how hard it is when your kids are sick and uncomfortable. Being the health nut that I am I can’t use Store bought cough drops, and cough syrup scares me! Thankfully there are natural, healthy alternatives!
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I think most of us natural moms have used herbal teas and honey for sore throats and coughs. If you’re like me you have mixed Essential Oils in a spoonful of honey as well! But sometimes that just isn’t convenient. Sometimes you’re in a hurry, or not home, not to mention that it’s usually not long before you need another spoonful!
So, I have decided that we need to have a natural cough drop! I like the idea of having something that you can slowly suck on instead of downing in one gulp. Or that you can carry with you on the go to quickly pop in your mouth. I don’t know about you but when I’m sitting quietly in church I always notice my sore throat the most! It’s always in quite places that you can’t resist the urge to cough!
We just went through a round of colds in my house and I had this recipe created just in time! It has helped my family so much!
Anyways, this recipe is super simple and I have even included two different ingredient options for you! And the best part is that it makes a LOT of cough drops! So after making one batch you should be set for a while. Unless you live at my house and your kids want to eat them like candy!
The recipe consists of three ingredients: Honey, grass-fed butter or coconut oil and Spice of life and lemon essential oils. Like I said, super simple!
I’m going to walk you through the recipe step by step and I’ve included pictures to make it even easier! You can choose to use either the grass-fed butter or coconut oil based on your preference. Both are great for sore throats and are soothing. Coconut oil does contain anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties as well as being helpful in strengthening the immune system. But the butter adds a nice creamy flavor to the drop. I’ve made it both ways and love them both!
The essential oils in this blend are great for sore throats and coughs! As an aromatherapist, spice of life is the best anti-viral essential oil blend that I know of. It is antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory. Both spice of life and lemon are excellent for colds and flus, as well as strengthening the immune system!
Read my post ‘7 Essential Oils That You NEED to Have in Your First Aid Kit‘ to learn more about the Spice of Life essential oil blend!
First let’s gather our supplies. You will need: a parchment paper lined 13×9 baking pan, large pot, candy thermometer, wooden spoon, additional parchment paper and candy wrappers.
Ok, now that we have what we need let’s get started!
1. Lets begin by adding our honey and grass-fed butter or coconut oil to the large pot. I used local, raw orange blossom honey. But, considering that we are going to cook it, any good quality honey will work. I do love the flavor that orange blossoms give the honey though!
2. Cook the honey mixture over medium-high heat until the temperature reaches the hard candy stage of 300 degrees. Stir constantly. This should take approximately 20 minutes. Also, make sure that you are using a large pot, otherwise the mixture can very easily boil over!
3. Once the mixture has reached 300 degrees (make sure that it gets to 300 degrees, it’s better to be a few degrees over than under!), very carefully pour the mixture into your parchment paper lined pan. Be very careful! This mixture is not only VERY hot, but the honey will stick to you and burn you before you can get it off! (Don’t ask me how I know this! ?)
4. Now that the mixture is in the pan we need to start the cool down process.
Stir the mixture around in the pan to help it cool. Keep stirring until the liquid mixture begins to get tacky, staying away from the edges of the pan when pushed away. Once it has reached this stage we are going to add our essential oils. If the honey is still too hot you will see the oils vaporize, rising off of the mixture. If that happens a lot give it another couple of minutes to cool before adding the rest of your oils. We want the mixture to be warm and pliable enough to mix the essential oils in but not so hot that it destroys all of the beneficial properties of the essential oils.
Once your oils are all mixed in and it has cooled enough to be handled, the fun part begins! Pull off small pieces and roll them in your hands to form little balls. You can decide how big or small you would like your cough drops to be. As you can see from the picture ours are not very uniform in size! This is for a couple of reasons. One being that I had my kids helping me! And two, I wanted to have some smaller drops so that my younger children could suck on them without me having to worry about them choking!
Place your rolled drops on a piece of parchment paper, making sure that they are not touching. You need to move as quickly as possible at this point because once it really starts to cool the honey mixture gets hard, making it very difficult to tear pieces off and roll.
By the time you are done forming all of your cough drops they should be cool and hard enough to wrap. Now, do not make the same mistake that I made the first time! I cut wax paper squares and wrapped my cough drops in them. Big mistake! If you wrap them in wax paper, you will be eating paper with your cough drops! The second time around I ordered actual candy wrappers. I found these awesome natural cellophane wrappers. They are NOT plastic, but a biodegradable cellophane made from trees grown in sustainably managed forests. These wrappers stay tightly twisted and make a great seal. I love them! You can find them here.
And that’s it! Wasn’t that easy!? Now you have lots and lots of cough drops to last you through the cold and flu season!
I keep these in a jar on my counter, so that anyone can grab one when they need it. I also carry some in my purse, and I love to take one and melt it into my hot tea as well! They are very soothing, very yummy, and very convenient!
So go ahead and make you a batch! I know you and your family will love them! Which one will you make, the grass-fed butter or coconut oil drops? Or both?! Leave me a comment if you have any questions and be sure to let me know which one you like the best!
Would you like to learn how and where you can buy the best quality essential oils at a discounted price? If so click here!
The information provided on this site is for educational purposes only. I do not prescribe, diagnose or treat any medical conditions. Please consult your health care provider before implementing any of the information provided on this site.The information provided on this site is completely my own opinion and does not reflect the opinions or beliefs of any other entity. Any statements or claims regarding health benefits of foods, supplements or essential oils listed on this site have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Soothing Essential Oil Cough Drops!
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 Cups Honey
- 1/4 Cup Grass-fed Butter Or Coconut Oil
- 40 Drops Spice of Life Essential Oil Link in Notes
- 20 Drops Lemon Essential Oil Link in Notes
Instructions
- Add honey and grass-fed butter or coconut oil to pot. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until it reaches the hard candy stage of 300 degrees on your candy thermometer.
- Pour mixture into parchment lined 13x9 inch pan.
- Stir until mixture has cooled some and has become slightly tacky.
- At this point you want to add the essential oils. If as you start to add the oils they begin to vaporize, this means the honey mixture is still too hot! Stir a little more and then add the rest of the oils.
- Once your oils are added and the mixture is cool enough to touch (be very careful!), you want to start pulling pieces off and rolling them in small balls using the palms of your hands. You can determine the size that want your cough drops to be.
- Place each drop on a sheet of parchment paper. Make sure they are not touching!
- Working quickly roll out the rest of your drops. They will harden quickly so you have to roll fast!
- Once you have finished forming your cough drops they should be cooled and hard enough to wrap.
- Wrap each cough drop in its own wrapper and store in an air tight container.
- And there you have it! You have made your very own essential oil cough drops!
