It is inevitable: the dreaded cold and flu season. Throats become irritated, chests become bothered, and vocal cords become uncooperative.
Herbal lozenges are a wonderful soothing agent for achy throats, a reliable expectorant, and a natural approach to controlling coughs.
Herbal lozenges are extremely easy and affordable to make at home, thus ensuring a soothing throat remedy is always on hand.
Advantages to Making Your Own Herbal Lozenges
Herbal lozenges are a useful oral preparation designed to soothe and comfort irritated throats, lungs, and chests. This natural remedy is extremely easy to make, and can also be customized to reflect personal tastes and preferences, as well as to target specific discomforts.
By preparing herbal lozenges at home, there is a direct knowledge of the natural ingredients used. Organic, natural throat remedies can be created simply and affordably without concerns of harmful or unnecessary additives.
The Three Main Components to Herbal Lozenges
By combining powdered herbs with a form of sugar—such as honey—and mucilage, the appropriate consistency required for forming your homemade herbal lozenges or cough drops is achieved.
Herbs for natural cough drops are chosen to soothe throat irritation, heal inflammation, or act as an expectorant. Herbs can also be selected for their ability to act as a cough suppressant.
Adding sugar to the herbal lozenge adds a dash of sweetness. A popular option is honey. Different brands or grades can be used according to personal choice.
Effective Herbs for Your Herbal Lozenges
Depending on what sort of healing is desired with an herbal lozenge, there are several herbs to consider using. Thyme is an appropriate herb to use as an expectorant, while licorice is useful for comforting a sore throat, and red sage is a gentle soothing herb for cases of tonsillitis.
Slippery elm bark is a good herb that acts as the mucilage in the lozenge recipe. It is also great for easing breathing problems or for reducing the discomfort caused by sore throats.
Other popular herbs with the ability to comfort an irritated throat include: Echinacea, yarrow, elderberries, marshmallow, peppermint, eucalyptus, and rosemary.
Making herbal lozenges from scratch gives one the authority to experiment with which herbs work best for specific situations. Essential oils can also be added to further enhance the healing properties of the throat remedy or for additional flavor.
Learning the Basics of Making Herbal Lozenges
An effective visual tool to use when learning about preparing herbal lozenges is the Mountain Rose Herbs video tutorial, Herbal Basics: How to Make Herbal Lozenges.
In this informative video, the tutor explains how to make Slippery Elm Herbal Lozenges, identifies the necessary tools and ingredients required, and gives a thorough demonstration of the preparation.
Learning how to customize natural herbal throat lozenges allows for the comfort of knowing that when the unfortunate need for them arises the perfect combination is on hand.
