How To Make A Homemade Cough Syrup
You can make your own natural syrup to combat the symptoms of respiratory infections and promote recovery. We offer you a recipe with ingredients that you can collect yourself in the field.
There are several options based on wild fruits, but it will depend on what you have more at hand in your environment or on your excursions through the mountains. In autumn and early winter you can find ripe blueberry and raspberry fruits –in mountain forests–, sloes, guillomes, mostajos ( Sorbus aria) and hawthorn in Mediterranean or mid-mountain landscapes. You can try a combination of these last four.
All these fruits are rich in vitamin C, anthocyanins, pectin and organic acids. They are usually more or less astringent, sometimes somewhat pungent in taste, but due to their pigments they behave as antioxidants that can help strengthen the immune response. To reinforce its effect we can combine them in our homemade recipe with medicinal plants that are used before coughing and that you can buy in the herbalist:
Homemade cough syrup recipe
Ingredients:
- 100 g of mixture of fruits of the field (sloe, guillomos, mostajos and hawthorn) or mountain (black blueberries, raspberries and currants)
- 20 g of echinacea
- 20 marshmallow root
Elaboration:
- Prepare the cooking of the echinacea and the marshmallow separately in 250 ml of water and reserve it.
- On the other hand, deposit the fruits in a saucepan and mash with a mortar to extract the juice by straining it and helping you with a spoon. You can also use a blender, if it’s easier for you. Some people prefer to extract the bones first, but in such small fruits it can be complicated.
- Mix the fruit juice with the decoction of echinacea and marshmallow and a few drops of lemon.
- Add an equivalent amount of whole grain sugar or pre-made sugar syrup. Mix well.
- Pour the syrup into a glass bottle or jar, which should be well sealed and you are ready. It can be kept in the fridge.
Plants indicated for coughs and respiratory infections
- Properties of echinacea: It increases the production of leukocytes and other mechanisms of the body to fight infections, but also exerts a bactericidal, fungicidal, antiviral and anti-inflammatory effect. It is contraindicated during pregnancy and lactation, as well as in people suffering from liver disease or autoimmune diseases. You can take 10 to 20 drops of liquid extract a day, dissolved in water or lemon.
- Properties of the marshmallow: The greatest virtue of the marshmallow is its ability to protect and repair the respiratory and digestive mucosa. It has a pronounced expectorant and anti-inflammatory effect, and is indicated to relieve coughs and clear the respiratory passages in cases of colds, flu, pharyngitis, laryngitis, bronchitis and as a valid support against asthma. The formula that combines marshmallow with other respiratory plants such as lungwort, fir shoots, greater plantain or echinacea is recommended.
