Thyme Cough Syrup & a Victorian Version!!

[SerenitySpells]

Hi,

I grow my own herbs and make my own tinctures. I have spent nearly 30 years cold and hot seeping my own dyes for soaps and making EO. I adore blending oils for spell work and using traditional treatments where possible.

It is very much that time of year again with coughs and colds doing the rounds! Cough syrups and tinctures date back to ancient times.

The Edwin Smith Papyrus contains details of pharmacopoeia (medicine making), suggesting that the ancient Egyptians were making cough mixtures from peppermint and eucalyptus oils at least ten thousand years ago.

Vodka was originally produced in Russia as a cough syrup to be diluted with water (yes I’m sure this part was often left out by certain people), then gargled as early as the 8th C. It’s worth noting that to this day vodka mixed with ground black pepper is a ‘cure all’ – my dad can attest to this in the 1960s!!!!!!

Here are 2 recipes I make at home for the family:

Thyme Cough Syrup

Ingredients:

Boiled water
Fresh thyme leaves
Honey
Method:

Pour a couple of mugs or cups of recently boiled water over a few tablespoons of fresh thyme leaves and infuse until the water is at room temperature. Filter out thyme leaves and stir in a cup of honey. Put in a glass jar and keep in fridge. Use as required (2 tablespoons morning and last thing at night)

Honey and Clove Syrup:

Ingredients:

5 whole cloves
Honey
Method:

Mix cloves and honey and put in fridge for 48 hours. You can now either leave the cloves in or fish them out depending on personal taste. Take 1 or 2 teaspoons several times a day. The cloves infused honey soothes and acts as anaesthetic.

Now for something you are not to try at home!!! We live in a Victorian house in Cornwall UK and while renovating it to its former glory (a long and expensive process) we have found scraps of papers with home made advice on them and are lucky to live near to a Victorian Reconstruction Quay that has its own Apothecary.

Victorian cough remedy:

1 drachm powder of tragacanth
2 drachms of syrup of white poppies
40 drops of Laudanum
4 oz of water.
Shake powder in the water until dissolved then add the other ingredients. Take a teaspoonful 3 x a day!!! (A drachm is 1/8 of an ounce.)

[guesswho]

Hi Sengdroma! Thank you for sharing these recipes and the interesting facts around historic cough remedies.

That Victorian version looks like it is guaranteed to knock not just a cough out, but the patient!

[Kiku]

Thank you for sharing these natural remedies!
*actually developing a cough*

[SerenitySpells]

Stay safe everyone! Yes the Victorian one could have an interesting side effect I adore history so will share more snippets from time to time

[Kiku]

Is it okay if I note them down in my journal?
Please share more, i am a history junkie haha

[Celtic Star]

Interesting that you posted this since I found some Thyme seeds. Too bad I don't have/use honey lol.

[SerenitySpells]

Everything I share I do so for the community. I love to see knowledge spread, its a great way to help others for free x So please do write down or take from my posts what you need x