Homemade Herbal Cough Suppressants: Hyssop and Horehound

Hi friends, hope you are having a good night (or day depending on where you are)

I recently ordered some seeds, and among which I got two different perennial herbs which are known to treat cough/congestion: Anise Hyssop and White Horehound.
These herbs are fairly easy to grow and maintain. The hyssop might need a bit more care in harsh weather, but it's not a finicky/difficult plant to cultivate. Light and well drained soil should do the trick.
Both of these plants have numerous medicinal benefits--both aid digestion and respiratory health.
The hyssop is known to attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, and can be used to make delicious tea (with licorice and mint hints), and the horehound can be made into candy with a medicinal benefit.
In my research, I found this exellent blog post with a few recipes I thought I'd pass on to anyone here interested.

Cough Syrup: take 1/4 cup of dried herb to 2 1/2 cups boiling water. Pour water over herb, cover, and let steep for 10 minutes. Strain into a measuring cup. To the remaining liquid add 2 parts honey to the one equal part liquid that is left. For example: after straining you have one cup liquid left. You would add two cups honey, bottle it, and keep it in fridge, using as needed 1 tsp at a time. Read the herb information to see if you can use it as much as you want, or if there is a restriction, such as only up to 4 times a day.
Cough Drops: Make the same infusion as above, but then add to a saucepan with one pound of sugar. Bring to a boil, and with a candy thermometer, continue stirring and boiling until soft crack stage. Pour onto a oiled jelly roll pan, and then using buttered hands, roll into tiny balls. It is hot, and will cool quickly, so do a little at a time! Below I included a link with pics from one of my favorite sites: Frugally Sustainable.
Ointment: Take 1/4 cup fresh herb, bruise (roll between your hands or with a rolling pin), and place in a pan with one cup of coconut oil or lard. Warm until oil is liquid, and warm to the touch. Let sit on low, stirring as often as needed, for about ten minutes. Take off heat, strain out the herb, and place remaining ointment in tins or a glass jar, tightly lidded, in a cool place. Many herbs have external uses as well, and this is one way you would use it to treat something on the skin.

thewelcominghouse.blogspot.com...
I'll also include some more information regarding these two companion herbs, in case anyone is interested in adding them to his/her yard.
plants.tagawagardens.com...#:~:text=The%20flowers%20are%20excellent%20for,upright%20spreading%20habit%20of%20gro wth.
katulaherbs.com...
www.sandmountainherbs.com... 9o
www.motherearthnews.com... hN-LuWL1C2WdNz5xXyQXnR10

I can't wait to add these to my herb garden!

I think I have horehound growing outside here, it sure looks like it. I usually pull it out as weeds, don't know where it came from. Over the years the wife planted lots of things around the yard, possibly that was one of them. We got a lot of Marjoram growing next to the deck, She doesn't remember all the stuff she planted, she went wild for about ten years planting things all over the place.

originally posted by: rickymouse
she went wild for about ten years planting things all over the place.

Ha, sounds like me :-)
I've been carving out as much planting space as possible over the past 6 years, and with no intention of slowing down.
My goal over the next few years is to build a beautiful herb garden.

You should try to make the horehound candy! (once you're sure it is indeed white horehound)

originally posted by: zosimov

originally posted by: rickymouse
she went wild for about ten years planting things all over the place.

Ha, sounds like me :-)
I've been carving out as much planting space as possible over the past 6 years, and with no intention of slowing down.
My goal over the next few years is to build a beautiful herb garden.

You should try to make the horehound candy! (once you're sure it is indeed white horehound)

I built a rock border around the yard, thinking she would plant next to the rocks....no....she would plant them out in the yard all over with no marking, I had a riding mower and kept mowing her plants because they just looked like weeds but of course I was the bad one for mowing her plants down. I kept telling her to put them around the outside so I did not have such a hard time mowing, she said if she puts them next to the edge, I don't mow the grass there and she cannot see them. I worked twelve hours a day and I wasn't going to spend hours trying to mow around all her plants she planted in the yard, heck, I could not even tell if they were her flowers or wildflowers. She planted daisies in middle of the yard, We had wild daisies already, they were everywhere.

Our yard looks great, full of natural wildflowers if I do not mow it, but the grass is disappearing, lots of white clover which is nice to walk on. We also have many thistles growing in the yard, those are medicinal plants too. I was watering the plants a lot one year and digging up artifacts which I was washing down in the back area, and some of the rocks contained seeds, they were clay rocks. The thistle came from one of those rocks and spread, the other clay rock had tons of stinging nettle seeds in it, there was no nettle in the yard till the rock started falling apart and there were plants all over there plus the seeds in the rock were sprouting while in the rock. I was peeing in that area and it disolved the clay. I read up on it, I guess the native Americans and many other cultures around the world stored seeds in specially prepared clay stones they made, it preserved the seeds for thousands of years and they sometimes painted the rock to tell what plants it contained...color coded. That was done all over Europe and asia too I guess. I guess they preserved foods wrapped in clay too, fish could be packed in clay and would not get back for many months if kept cool buried by a stream Then they just flopped the clay onto the fire and when it cracked, the fish was cooked. That was also a common preservation technique used all over.

originally posted by: rickymouse


Our yard looks great, full of natural wildflowers if I do not mow it, but the grass is disappearing, lots of white clover which is nice to walk on. We also have many thistles growing in the yard, those are medicinal plants too. I was watering the plants a lot one year and digging up artifacts which I was washing down in the back area, and some of the rocks contained seeds, they were clay rocks. The thistle came from one of those rocks and spread, the other clay rock had tons of stinging nettle seeds in it, there was no nettle in the yard till the rock started falling apart and there were plants all over there plus the seeds in the rock were sprouting while in the rock. I was peeing in that area and it disolved the clay. I read up on it, I guess the native Americans and many other cultures around the world stored seeds in specially prepared clay stones they made, it preserved the seeds for thousands of years and they sometimes painted the rock to tell what plants it contained...color coded. That was done all over Europe and asia too I guess. I guess they preserved foods wrapped in clay too, fish could be packed in clay and would not get back for many months if kept cool buried by a stream Then they just flopped the clay onto the fire and when it cracked, the fish was cooked. That was also a common preservation technique used all over.

Very cool info about the clay seed storage! I'll look into that method for sure-don't think I'll be buying a seed vault any time soon.
I'm sure your yard is beautiful!

originally posted by: zosimov

originally posted by: rickymouse


Our yard looks great, full of natural wildflowers if I do not mow it, but the grass is disappearing, lots of white clover which is nice to walk on. We also have many thistles growing in the yard, those are medicinal plants too. I was watering the plants a lot one year and digging up artifacts which I was washing down in the back area, and some of the rocks contained seeds, they were clay rocks. The thistle came from one of those rocks and spread, the other clay rock had tons of stinging nettle seeds in it, there was no nettle in the yard till the rock started falling apart and there were plants all over there plus the seeds in the rock were sprouting while in the rock. I was peeing in that area and it disolved the clay. I read up on it, I guess the native Americans and many other cultures around the world stored seeds in specially prepared clay stones they made, it preserved the seeds for thousands of years and they sometimes painted the rock to tell what plants it contained...color coded. That was done all over Europe and asia too I guess. I guess they preserved foods wrapped in clay too, fish could be packed in clay and would not get back for many months if kept cool buried by a stream Then they just flopped the clay onto the fire and when it cracked, the fish was cooked. That was also a common preservation technique used all over.

Very cool info about the clay seed storage! I'll look into that method for sure-don't think I'll be buying a seed vault any time soon.
I'm sure your yard is beautiful!

I have a great compost system, I throw out vegetables and vegie scaps to the deer every day when they come to the edge of the deck and they turn the food into manure for the grass. Today the two does and a fawn ate about five pounds of spuds, two carrots, a quarter loaf of homemade organic bread, and five cinnamon toast with real butter on it....They like Trenary cinnamon toast with butter. trenaryhomebakery.com... Oh yeah, the wife also cut up an apple for them.

a reply to: zosimov

Thanks for this one Zos. I'm trying to learn all I can about homemade remedies. I strongly believe it'll be vital very, very soon.

Horehounds sure take me back! My great grandpa would always have some. That, and the fantastic smell of his pipe.

a reply to: Trueman

I'm not sure if anyone else has a recommendation, but I love Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs for good herb information.

a reply to: zosimov

Appreciate your thread and post on this herbal elixer.

My Grandmother was a big fan of both Hysop and Horehound (among many others too). And it occured to me that most folks wouldn't even know that it "might" be growing near them so I dug around for some identifying pics (CAVEAT: Different geographic areas will grow heartier but generally the flower is the same).

HYSOP






HOREHOUND

originally posted by: zosimov
a reply to: Trueman

I'm not sure if anyone else has a recommendation, but I love Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs for good herb information.

I certainly will check that one. Like I said, I'm trying to learn about natural medicine. Not sure if you read my last thread.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

a reply to: JohnnyAnonymous

Thanks for those photos Johnny. Easier ID now, now here it's snow all over, just can't wait to go to the forest and harvest. I'm sure I saw those plants last year.

a reply to: JohnnyAnonymous

I'll second what Trueman said... thanks for the pics.

I'm happy to hear the thread brought to mind recollections of grandmas and great grandmas!

a reply to: zosimov

I mean, I've known a few horehounds in my days...

originally posted by: Liquesence
a reply to: zosimov

I mean, I've known a few horehounds in my days...

Ahh c'mon man... were not going to start with some seedy remarks now are we? Lets try and keep on track with the OP... LOL

a reply to: zosimov

You say perennial, but what grow zones?

I'd like to build a greenhouse, if I can find a place to put it.

a reply to: Liquesence

Hi
The hyssop grows in zones 3-11, the horehound 3-10.

But you can find horehounds the world over, I'd reckon.

originally posted by: JohnnyAnonymous

originally posted by: Liquesence
a reply to: zosimov

I mean, I've known a few horehounds in my days...

Ahh c'mon man... were not going to start with some seedy remarks now are we? Lets try and keep on track with the OP... LOL

I mean, the OP *is* about seeds of a horehound to be sown...lol

originally posted by: zosimov
a reply to: Liquesence
The hyssop grows in zones 3-11, the horehound 3-10.
But you can find horehounds the world over, I'd reckon.

Again for some who might be thinking "Grow Zone"... Is that near the "Demilitarized Zone"? And the Long answer is NO, it's a joke. But the Grow Zones are real and here's a map of the zones put out by the Seattle Seed Company (I'm not an endorsed spokesperson for them, but I'm available for all types of gigs)

err.. hmm.. cough cough.. so without any further a dieu .. err. a due.., a dew... I mean to say.. Oh well here's the map for the US, and you can see that the plants discussed will grow almost all over. (mouse click the picture to see larger image)

Fun fact Bayer produced one of its three boom drugs (one of which was asprin) for children who had a cough but weren't meant to drink alcohol. It was a new children's cough medicine with zero addictive potential called Bayer's Children's Heroin!