Homemade Chamomile Rooibos Cough Drops

Like it or not, cold season is coming. Yes, I know it’s a bit self-defeating to make cough drops before you are even sick. But if you’re sick, do you really want to make homemade cough drops? No, no you do not.

A couple benefits of homemade drops are flavors you love plus a lot less refined sugar. These drops are made from honey and use all natural ingredients. What better way to battle a cold?

I flavored these ones with  Chamomile Lemon and Rooibos Chai teas, both calming, soothing caffeine-free blends with lots of flavor.

This is how it’s done:

Rooibos Chai Cough Drops

 

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Author: Jerry James Stone

Serves: ~24 cough drops (depending on mold)

Ingredients

• 1½ cups water
• 3 bags Numi Rooibos Chai tea
• 2 bag Numi Chamomile Lemon tea
• 4 inch fresh ginger root, peeled and minced
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1½ cups honey
• Powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Add water to a small saucepan over a medium-low heat. Add the Rooibos Chai and Chamomile Lemon tea bags and ginger. When tea begins to infuse the water (it changes color), cover pot and let the ingredients steep for 10 minutes.
2. Remove cover and strain tea, reserving the liquid and discarding solids. Return liquid back to the saucepan. Add honey and vanilla.
3. Fix a candy thermometer to the pot. Now, you can do this without one but I do not recommend it. If you are a candy making pro, proceed. If not, really, purchase one if you can.
4. Turn the heat up to high. You want to cook the mixture until it hits 300 degrees F. This is the Hard Crack stage for cooked sugar. It will take some time for your mixture to get there, but once it starts to get close, keep an eye on it. It won’t take much for it to pass 300 and if if it does, you just ruined your cough drops.
5. After the cooked mixture hits 300, remove the pot from the stovetop. I recommend transferring the mixture to a pyrex measuring cup. Let it cool a bit and then do one of two things. Pour the mixture into droplets on a piece of parchment paper, or use a mini candy mold.
6. Whether you use a mold or create drops, remember you need to be able to suck on these. Don’t make them too big!
7. Let the drops fully cool in the fridge for an hour. Place some powdered sugar in a bowl and dredge each drop through the sugar, fully coating it, knocking off any excess.
8. Store in an airtight container.

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