Homemade Elderberry Cough Drops are immune boosting, all-natural little gems made with just 3 ingredients and in less than 20 minutes!
It’s been a little rough over here. I’ve been sick for the last 2 weeks and that’s not ideal when your job is food related. The last thing I wanted to do was cook or eat anything. Just when it looked like all hope was lost, I got a big ol’ package in the mail of some all-natural, immune boosting, elderberry products.
All credit for this reversal of fortune goes to fellow food blogger and friend, Katie at A Fork’s Tale. She has heard my endless support of local farms, the farm-to-table movement and a holistic approach to wellness and was nice enough to refer me to a farm local to her in North Carolina named Norm’s Farms.
Norm’s Farms is a family-owned sustainable farm in Pittsboro, North Carolina, growing elderberry plants through a bio-dynamic or holistic method of farming. Elderberry are tiny berries with major antioxidant power and have been used for centuries as a natural remedy to a wide variety of aliments. They can even be used to treat skin wounds!
After busting open this big box that Norm’s Farms sent me, I immediately started taking the Elderberry Wellness Syrup. You can take this stuff straight, as-is, and it tastes fantastic! It’s sweet with a slight cinnamon/clove flavor and it totally soothed my sore throat. From there I decided to try the Elderberry Extract in some cough drops. I used the same base as my recipe for Honey Lemon Ginger Cough Drops and found the elderberry melds perfectly with the fresh ginger. Feel free to use candy molds to make the cough drops or use a silicone baking mat
Norm’s Farms takes great care (and love) in packaging up each shipment. I was extremely happy to find out they use all recycled/recyclable materials and biodegradable packing peanuts too! YAY! Plus, they put these wonderful recipe cards in each shipment. I’m probably going to make those shortbread bars this weekend.
I always use raw local honey in my recipes. It’s really the only type of honey I have in the pantry. When it comes to honey you have to be careful and do your research as lots of store bought varieties have been ultra filtered which removes all of the pollen (which means it’s not honey anymore) and they may even contain other types of less expensive sugars (glucose, dextrose, corn syrup, etc). Basically it’s best to know and trust your source when buying honey and try to buy local.
In addition to this nice two week cold, I also suffer from seasonal allergies (thanks ragweed) since I moving to New Hampshire so I use honey as a natural remedy. Local honey contains pollen which over time can make you less sensitive to local pollen allergies (or at least that’s the idea). Thankfully I’ve found a new weapon in my wellness arsenal and I’m going to keep Norm’s Farms Elderberry products in my rotation to help me stay healthy throughout the year.
Honesty, I’m quite impressed with Norm’s Farms products, not only for their health benefits but also for the taste. An elderberry kind of tastes like a cross between a blueberry and a cranberry and I’m so excited to use some of their other products in recipes soon, like the Elderberry Ginger Pecan Jam (YUM!!). Check out Katie’s recipe for this amazing appetizer where she uses the jelly.
So if you find yourself down and out with a cold and need some relief from a sore throat and cough, try making these Homemade Elderberry Cough Drops!
- ½ cup local raw honey
- 2 tablespoons Norm's Farm Elderberry Extract
- 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
- powdered sugar, cornstarch, or arrowroot powder for coating drops
- Mix honey, elderberry extract, and fresh ginger together in a medium sized, deep saucepan. Heat to boiling over medium-low heat, stirring often to prevent burning. Mixture will foam up the sides of pan, so take pan off heat briefly to allow foam to subside, then place pan back on heat to continue cooking. May have to turn heat down to low to prevent honey from burning.
- Use candy thermometer and once mixture heats to 300F degrees, remove from heat and allow to cool for a couple for minutes until thickens slightly. Pour mixture into small candy molds or drop by teaspoons onto parchment paper or a silicon mat. Allow to cool until drops are hard and firm.
- Once drops are fully cooled, dust with powdered sugar, cornstarch, or arrowroot powder to prevent drops from sticking together. Store in a covered container at room temperature or in the refrigerator.
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