Awhile back a friend of mine told me that thyme was a great natural remedy for coughs and colds. I made this Honey Thyme Homemade Cough Syrup to reap the benefits of both honey and thyme in fighting off germs and helping to relieve those uncomfortable symptoms of colds.
Health Benefits of Honey and Thyme
Over the last 10 years or so I’ve really turned to natural remedies first before I hit the pharmacy. The organic raw honey in the syrup is soothing and they thyme offers a host of great healing properties due to Thymol. Thymol is derived from thyme and is a powerful antimicrobial that helps with bronchial and respiratory infections.
How To Make Homemade Cough Syrup with Honey and Thyme
To get started, you’ll need boiling water, honey (raw honey is preferable if you have it), and a good-sized bunch of thyme, preferably organic and/or homegrown.
Place the thyme in the boiling water and let it steep until the water is completely cool. This takes about 20 minutes.
Remove the thyme from the water.
Whisk the organic raw honey into the water.
How To Store Homemade Cough Syrup
Strain the syrup into a clean jar and refrigerate for up to 2 months, which should keep you ready to go for cold season. Always keep the syrup in the refrigerator. The honey will naturally help to preserve the syrup, but keeping it at a proper temperature will prevent spoilage or mold growth.
DIY: Honey Thyme Cough Syrup
Take one teaspoon of this homemade cough syrup as needed to relieve a cough or sore throat. Keeps well for about 2 months.
- Total Time: 15 mins
- Yield: 3 cups 1x
Ingredients
- 2 cups water
- 3 tablespoons organic fresh or dried thyme*
- 1 cup organic raw honey
Instructions
- Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan, then remove from heat.
- Add the thyme, cover and let sit for 10 minutes or until cooled.
- Strain the mixture and whisk in the honey until dissolved. Store in a glass jar.
- The cough syrup with keep refrigerated for 2 months.
- To use, take 1-2 teaspoons, as needed.
Notes
*Note: I didn’t remove the leaves from the thyme sprigs for sake of easiness, but you certainly can do that.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Category: miscellaneous
11 Comments
Seriously?? This is awesome! Definitely going to filing this away for later.
This sounds really good! I HATE normal cough syrup, so I’ll have to try this.
This is rad! Thanks! And Thymol totally reminds me of Teamocil and now I’m going to have Arrested Development Jingles in my head. This post was a double win!
Making this soon for the winter!
Do you think it would be to any benefit to add any other ingredients like raw apple cider vinegar or is that serve a completely different purpose.
Made this and it works great had a stubborn cough i could not get rid of and this seems to have done the trick
★★★★★
How much do you take? I didn’t see anywhere that said how many teaspoons or tablespoons to take for symptoms?
How much do you take?
I usually do 1-2 teaspoons. You can also make it into a tea by adding hot water to the syrup and a squeeze of lemon.
Taste bad but it stopped the cough. I had tried various cough syrups, nothing was working until my husband made this. I will keep the receipt close.
This sounds awesome except for the 1 cup full of Honey. That seems like an awful LOT of Honey for even a cough “Syrup”.
★★★
Hi, Thyme is amazing but if you want to steer away from the sickly cough syrup type taste then just put a dessert spoon dried thyme in a mug with a teaspoon or so of honey. Pour on hot water, leave for a few mins (all the thyme will sink in the mug). Breathe in the steam and sip, part of the remedy is the hot soothing drink, as u drink it you can feel your airways becoming more comfy…watch the bottom if the mug though, it’s not pleasant to cop a mouthful of thyme at the end, ha! I like the recipe above also as you could take it with you to work or whatever for a quick fix!