Cough Remedy
Natural Home Remedies

I hope you can find a cough remedy on this page to help you and your family.

These cough remedies have worked well in our home and I truly hope they will work for you also.

When a cold or a flu is accompanied by a cough it can be very annoying and uncomfortable.

Store bought cough medicines often contain sweeteners, color dyes, and many other synthetic compounds that do not benefit health.

Read on for some all natural cough remedies that will not only alleviate symptoms but will also boost your immune system and build health. As an added bonus you will save money as over the counter medicines can be very expensive.

When you have a cough due to a cold or a flu there are some basic guidelines to follow.

Once you have the basics covered use some of the following cough remedy recipes to help alleviate your cough.

Start all of your recipes with LOVE - it is the hidden ingredient that will add extra healing power to any cough remedy you make. Scroll down for more information about the ingredients listed below and how you can obtain them.

On this page:

• Elderberry Cough Syrup
• Honey Onion Cough Syrup (heated)
• Composition Powder
• Honey Jar Syrups (can also be made into hot drinks)
  
• Soothing Hot Drink (made while travelling)

Elderberry Cough Syrup
Cough Remedy

This is a beautifully rich dark red syrup that is full of antioxidants to boost your body's ability to heal. Take 1 tbsp an hour while sick and you can also take 1 tbsp a day for prevention.  This is a wonderful cough remedy but also a great health builder and overall support for your immune system.

Think about, not only using this when sick, but adding this beautiful food into your rotation of things you eat regularly.

You can use this syrup to make elderberry soda, as a drizzle on chia pudding or ice creams, etc.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup dried elderberries (or 1 cup fresh or frozen)
• 2 tsp clove powder (or 5-6 whole cloves)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tbsp ginger root powder (or 1 tbsp fresh grated ginger)
• 2 tsp thyme
• 2 tsp marshmallow root
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup or less of raw local honey
  

(Need supplies?  Check out our Resources Page here)

Each time I make this I mix and match the spices and herbs depending on what I have on hand.

If you only have elderberries, just use that. If you only have some of the herbs above then make the syrup with what you have.

Add all ingredients except honey into a saucepan and bring to a boil.

Turn down to low heat, cover pot and let simmer for 20-30 minutes. This should reduce the liquid by half.

Strain the liquid into a glass bowl (the solid waste is perfect for your compost), add the honey and stir.

Such a great tasting cough remedy!!

Store this syrup in a glass bottle in the fridge and use promptly as it doesn't have a very long shelf life. In our home we make small batches, like the recipe above, when we need it.

Honey Onion Cough Syrup

This cough remedy is easy to make and you most likely have the ingredients already in your kitchen.

Ingredients:

• onion
• raw honey

Chop the onion and place in a sauce pan. Cover with honey and simmer on low heat for 40 minutes. Keep saucepan covered with a slight opening (tilt the lid so some steam can escape).

Transfer to a glass bottle and store in the fridge.

Take a spoonful every 10 minutes to relieve cough.

Composition Powder

This is a variation of an old recipe that used to be a common remedy in many homes.

It is great for treating colds, flu, fever, sore throats, congestion and is, of course a great cough remedy.

We keep a batch of this made and have it in our cupboard all the time. We even take some with us when we travel.

I have found this to be one of the best and quickest cough remedies to relieve a dry hacking cough.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp ginger root powder
• 2 tbsp cinnamon powder
• 2 tbsp clove powder
• 1 tbsp cayenne powder
• 1 tbsp licorice root powder

Combine powders together and store in a glass bottle.

To use mix 1/4 tsp of the composition powder into a mug of hot water, stir and enjoy the effects. Breathe in the steam and sip the hot liquid. If desired you can sweeten with a bit of raw honey.

(Need supplies?  Check out our Resources Page here)

Honey Jar Syrups
(also a Hot Drink)

These 'jar syrups' are so simple to make - they really bring ancient wisdom to the forefront.

3 ways to use these cough remedies:

• You can use a spoon to just skim some of the syrup out of the jar to use as your medicine.
• You can spoon some of the entire mixture into a mug, fill with hot water and sip.
• Once infused you can blend it all together to create a stronger syrup that you can use in one of the above two ways.
  

#1.  HONEY ONION LEMON JAR SYRUP

Ingredients:

• Organic Lemon
• Raw Onion, chopped
  
• Local Raw Honey
  

Slice lemon, peel and all and place in a glass jar with the chopped onion.

Cover with honey and allow mixture to infuse for several hours, stirring every so often.

After several hours store in the fridge and use within a week. 

To use this cough remedy, take a spoonful of the syrup as needed to relieve symptoms of the cough and cold.

Can also be taken daily for prevention.

#2.  SPICY JAR SYRUP HOT DRINK

In a 16oz glass jar place;

• 2-3 lemons, sliced with peel (use organic lemons)
• sliced garlic (1-2 cloves)
• sliced fresh ginger (4-5 inches or more)
• 1-2 tsp cayenne pepper

Then cover completely with raw honey, stir well, cover and place in the fridge.

To make the drink place a large spoonful of the mixture into a mug and fill with hot water.

You can make this ahead of time and keep the jar in your fridge to be ready to use when you need it.

Soothing Hot Drink

I came up with this one recently when we were travelling in Japan.  Since I wasn't in my own kitchen I had to use what I could find in my friend's home.

This is what I came up with and it occurred to me that, since I easily found these ingredients in her kitchen, probably most people readily have these things on hand.

Ingredients:

• Hot Water

• 1-2 tbsp of honey (local and raw is the best … but here I used what was available to me)
• 1-2 tbsp of lemon juice (fresh is best … but here I used what I could find)

• 1/2 inch or more grated ginger (notice this cool grating tool!!)

• 1 clove grated garlic

• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Put all ingredients except hot water in a tall glass (or big mug). Add a little hot water and stir well to mix everything and dissolve the honey. Then top up the glass with more hot water, sip and enjoy. Continue to stir as you sip or else the ingredients will settle on the bottom of the glass.

This tasted GREAT and it really eased the symptoms. A wonderfully warming cough remedy full of ancient healing foods!

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT SOME OF THE THINGS MENTIONED IN THE ABOVE COUGH REMEDY RECIPES:

(Need supplies?  Check out our Resources Page here)

Elderberries have a long history of being used for medicinal needs across many indigenous cultures. It has been known to treat fevers, joint pain and to be very helpful in cases of the cold and flu just to name a few. It does this through its many properties which include anti-viral, diaphoretic, expectorant, emollient, relaxing and antioxidant. 

Clove is another great plant that has been used for centuries in both culinary and medicinal preparations. Clove has anesthetic and antiseptic properties and is very useful in relieving congestion. 

Cinnamon is a wonderfully aromatic spice that is widely available nowadays. It is both anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and will counteract congestion and the flu among many other things including increasing circulation, treating diarrhea, nausea, vomitting and nerve calming. 

Ginger is wonderful for treating colds and fevers, it is great for easing congestion. It is also a useful remedy for motion sickness and nausea. Ginger is warming, stimulates digestion, normalizes blood pressure, supports the liver, boosts circulation, respiration and nervous system function. It is also anti-inflammatory and is helpful against parasites. And this is just a few of the things ginger can do! Fresh ginger is widely available in most markets.

Thyme is an expectorant which makes it especially useful when treating a cold or a flu. Thyme has many other properties including antibacterial, antiseptic, antifungal, antioxidant and antimicrobial. This amazing herb is widely available in most markets today. 

Raw Honey is an amazing food created by the bees. Raw unprocessed honey is antibacterial and antifungal. Obtain your honey from a local source if possible. Please act responsibly when obtaining honey or any bee products and be sure to only obtain from a reliable, kind and sustainable source. Bees are very important to the health of our planet; they and the amazing products they produce need to be respected and treated with care. It is advised to not feed honey to children under one year of age.

Marshmallow Root is emollient and demulcent which allows it to be very soothing to a sore throat and cough. 

Cayenne Pepper is a hot chili pepper that has been used as a food and medicine for thousands of years. It is beneficial in increasing circulation and in synergistically increasing the functionality of other herbs. Cayenne pepper is available at most grocery stores.

Licorice is anti-inflammatory, has a mild sedative action and is great at controlling coughing. The Chinese culture has used herbs for medicine for ages and licorice is one of the most common ingredients many herbal formulas. It has a synergistic effect on other ingredients it is used with making them more effective.

Lemons are very high in vitamin C which is an incredible vitamin to boost our immune system and help us to regain balance when challenges face us.  They are also very cleansing (antiseptic) and alkaline making them a perfect addition to your cough remedy as well as to your daily diet.

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