Monday, December 28, 2009

Licorice Syrup: A natural way to ease cold and flu symptoms

Winter weather brings its share of colds and flu. Instead of reaching for medicine, try some licorice syrup to ease your symptoms. For centuries, licorice has been used to tame coughs and ease sore throats and lung congestion. Here's a simple recipe for licorice syrup (from Growing & Using Healing Herbs by Gaea and Shandor Weiss):

Fill a glass or enamel container with pieces of fresh or dried licorice root (you can buy licorice root here). Cover the roots with water and simmer for three to four hours. Strain and discard the roots. Add 2 tablespoons honey for each cup of syrup. (The honey acts as a preservative.) Pour the syrup into a sterilized bottle with a tight lid. Use a teaspoon of licorice syrup every few hours as needed for sore throat, cough and lung congestion.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

WOW! I'll have to try that. :)

Anonymous said...

Interesting. Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

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Tarri said...

I just recently bought some roots from Licorice International just out of a whim. After it arrived I thought, "Now what"?" I am definitely going to try this simmering/extraction process. I have my own bees so the honey will be local. Thanks for the idea!