Horehound Candy

Horehound is great for colds and flu, but it’s bitter taste makes it rather unpleasant to use.  Not to mention difficult to convince children to taste.  I’m told it grows wild on farmland, but to date the only plant I have that I know about is the one that I bought and planted myself.

Many a book has a reference to horehound candy, as adding sugar is about the only way to make it pleasant enough to eat.

The following fudge recipe is one I learned at the Canterbury College of Natural Medicine.  I’ve made it with both white and raw sugar and both have turned out just fine.

Horehound Fudge

25g fresh horehound (or 1 tbsp of dried)

100ml water

1 cup sugar

12g butter

Bring herb and water to the boil, brew for 2 mins then strain.

Measure 60ml of herbal brew into a saucepan, add sugar and butter.

Boil for 5 mins, remove from heat and beat - pour into a greased dish to set.

You can substitute grated ginger root to make lozenges for travel sickness or nausea.

I also looked for recipes for lozenges.  I found this one online.

Horehound Lozenges

1c dried horehound leaves

1c water

1 1/2c raw local honey

In a small stainless steel pot, boil horehound & water, covered for 25 mins.

Cool and strain through cheesecloth.

Save liquid and compost leaves.

Add honey to liquid, return to the pot and bring to the boil.  Once boiling, reduce to a simmer.  Cook, stirring constantly until a drop hardens in ice water.

Grease a cookie sheet and pour in syrup.

When syrup has cooled and is pliable, pull off a small piece and roll (between greased hands) into a small ball.  Work quickly as it hardens fast.

Allow to cool on pan.

Mine boiled dry when I was boiling the horehound leaves,I caught it just as the leaves were about to burn.  So I covered the leaves with water and simmered it for about 15 mins.  I then left the leaves in the water overnight.  I also didn’t boil my first batch for quite long enough, so while they formed lovely lozenges that seemed to hold their shape - after a few hours in a container in the cupboard, I had a giant lozenge the shape of the container.  For some reason, getting them to the right point means that they taste like slightly burnt toffee.

I’ve used this basic recipe to make thyme and rosehip lozenges too.

 

Most recently, I’ve made lozenges based on a recipe from Grow Your Own Drugs (A link to the book is in My Recommended list to the right).  The original recipe was for Elderflower Throat Lozenges and  contained a few ingredients that I didn’t have at the time.  I adapted it to the recipe that follows:

Elderflower and Horehound Lozenges

10-15 fresh elderflower heads

1 C fresh horehound leaves

2 tbsp linseed

3 tbsp dried rosehips

1 C Gum Arabic

2 C icing sugar

4 C hot water.

Place elderflower heads, horehound and rosehips into 3 C of freshly boiled water to create a basic infusion.  Add 2 tbsp of linseed and leave for about an hour.

Add Gum arabic to a cup of hot water.  Stir until a thick, jam like consistency - this takes a while.

Strain the infusion and 1 1/2 C to the Gum arabic mixture.  Add 2 cups of icing sugar and mix.

Place on a low heat and stir continuously for about half an hour until it gets to a really thick syrup-like consistency and starts to come away from the sides of the pan.

Roll small spoonfuls into balls and toss in icing sugar.

I’ve kept mine in the fridge as they don’t seem to set as hard as traditional lozenges and I’m a bit afraid they’ll end up being like my first lozenges and meld together.  They’re not as sweet as you’d expect and work wonders for a sore throat or cough.