Cough Syrup

[Katz25]

Okay I work at a Senior Center and these guys always have great information from their younger days. So we were talking about coughs and what helped. A lady told me about this time of the year her mother use to get "hard rock candy" (not quite sure what kind of candy this is) and few peppermint candies and put them in a bottle/jar, then get whiskey and pour over these candies. The candy would melt in the whiskey. When someone got sick or had bad cough, this is what they used for cough syrup. So I was just wondering would this work if we didn't have any other source. When I've been really sick with the flu and the cough that won't stop I've taken a mixture of whiskey, honey, and lemon. This isn't muct different. What do you think???

[Cat]

It's the same principle as the honey mixture... sugar to sooth and coat and taste better, and whiskey for "burning" it out.

 

 

[Grace&Violets]

Isn't rock candy just pure sugar? We used to get it at an old fort in MN that did reenactments. I always figured it was simple syrup hardened into crystals on a stick. In that case, you might be able to just use simple syrup instead of the rock candy.

[themartianchick]

We made rock candy in science class as a kid. It is an example of a super-saturated solution that can only exist as a liquid when heated to a high temperature. We just added more and more sugar to boiling water and gently stirred it, adding sugar until the solution couldn't dissolve any more sugar. I think we dangled a string into it and the crystals would form on the string as the sugar and water solution cooled.

[OINK]

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Hard-Rock-Candy/Detail.aspx

[urbanforager]

Do you think you could use horehound candy instead of just the plain sugar? It's a thought....

[Katz25]

Do you think you could use horehound candy instead of just the plain sugar? It's a thought....

 

 

What the heck is "horehound candy"?

[indy gal preps]

Our Goodwill store here in town has a lot of these old fashioned candies in baskets up by the check-outs,I haven't tried any of them but I remember my Mother buying horehound candy. She liked it but I always thought it smelled terrible!

[Cat]

Horehound is an old-fashioned folk remedy/flavor that has kind of gone the way of the dinosaur in many areas. My Dad liked it, as do many of the older Amish around here.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horehound_drops

[Annarchy]

My Grandmother used to get us horehound drops at the old general store. We visited a sports store months ago and I found a bag. I still have a half a bag left. I'm going to have to try it out during the flu season. Thanks for the reminder.

[Lynnee]

When I was a kid, there were no immunizations for whooping cough, and it was one nasty disease. I have a friend whose little sister died from it. When we lived in Wisconsin, just a few years ago, there was an outbreak of a mutant whooping cough strain. Our pastor contracted it and coughed so hard that he passed out behind the wheel of his car. My daughter, who had had the immunizations, aslo developed it, but my son, who had not had the shots because of an allergy, never did get it. Germs and bugs are funny that way.

 

ANY way, when we would get a cough, my mom would make her own cough syrup. She would cut a small slice from the bottom of a turnip so it would sit level on a saucer, then would cut off the top and hollow out the inside. Then she would fill the turnip with sugar and put the "lid" back on it. It would sit on the kitchen couter overnight. That stuff would cut a cough faster than anything else I've ever seen, including modern stuff with codeine in it. Because it's not a drug, it can be given frequently, and it can be given to babies or the elderly. It tasted horrible, but it worked.

 

Just sharing. . . . .

[snapshotmiki]

How do you take it? Just spoon it from the turnip?

[Lynnee]

Yep. Just a spoonful now & again.