Post by lavandulagirl on Apr 1, 2007 15:20:54 GMT -5
With allergy season on us, as well as those spring colds, I thought I'd post a cough remedy we use at our house. You dose yourself with this in the same way you'd dose with an OTC med like Robitussin.
You need:
Potato vodka
A clean, wide mouth jar (pint sized or larger)
sugar or honey, and water
bottles for finished product
herbs from the following list (use as many or as few as you want - nothing wrong with just one):
Hyssop
Lavender
Horehound
Oregano
Fennel
Beebalm
Anise
Agrimony
(there are others used for cough - this is just what I use when I have them on hand)
Put the washed and chopped herbs (rough chop) into the jar, to about 1/3 full. Fill jar with vodka. Close tightly, and keep in a dark place for 2-3 weeks. (I put mine in a brown lunch bag and store it in the liquor cabinet or pantry) Once every couple of days, shake the jar a bit, to mix the herbs about in the vodka.
After the time is up, strain the alcohol through a sieve. You can press the herbs if you'd like, but understand that this will add sediment to your finished product.
In a large pot, make a simple syrup. I make mine with either honey or sugar, depending on what I have at home. You can find directions for making simple syrup here: cocktails.about.com/od/mixology/r/simple_syrup.htm
You want to end up with equal parts syrup and tincture.
DO NOT mix the two liquids until the syrup is cooled! You want the alcohol to stay in the mixture, and if you use hot syrup, it will cook off.
Once the two liquids are mixed, bottle them up and you're done. As I said before, dose like you would an OTC med. alternately, you can make a toddy out of this, by putting your dose in a tea cup, and adding 1 cup hot water. If you want to add a squirt of lemon to the toddy, so much the better.
Feel better!
You need:
Potato vodka
A clean, wide mouth jar (pint sized or larger)
sugar or honey, and water
bottles for finished product
herbs from the following list (use as many or as few as you want - nothing wrong with just one):
Hyssop
Lavender
Horehound
Oregano
Fennel
Beebalm
Anise
Agrimony
(there are others used for cough - this is just what I use when I have them on hand)
Put the washed and chopped herbs (rough chop) into the jar, to about 1/3 full. Fill jar with vodka. Close tightly, and keep in a dark place for 2-3 weeks. (I put mine in a brown lunch bag and store it in the liquor cabinet or pantry) Once every couple of days, shake the jar a bit, to mix the herbs about in the vodka.
After the time is up, strain the alcohol through a sieve. You can press the herbs if you'd like, but understand that this will add sediment to your finished product.
In a large pot, make a simple syrup. I make mine with either honey or sugar, depending on what I have at home. You can find directions for making simple syrup here: cocktails.about.com/od/mixology/r/simple_syrup.htm
You want to end up with equal parts syrup and tincture.
DO NOT mix the two liquids until the syrup is cooled! You want the alcohol to stay in the mixture, and if you use hot syrup, it will cook off.
Once the two liquids are mixed, bottle them up and you're done. As I said before, dose like you would an OTC med. alternately, you can make a toddy out of this, by putting your dose in a tea cup, and adding 1 cup hot water. If you want to add a squirt of lemon to the toddy, so much the better.
Feel better!