I set out to find a recipe, and I ran across this one here. I modified it to make it simpler. Instead of fussing with a bunch of fresh herbs, I realized that the "herb infused water" that the recipe calls for is just a complicated way of saying herbal tea. So here's my recipe:
1 cup extra-strong herbal tea
1 1/2 cups honey
Mix together over medium-high heat in a 2 quart saucepan. Stirring frequently, heat until the mixture reaches 150 degrees Celsius (302 degrees Fahrenheit), measured by a candy thermometer. Pour into greased lozenge sized candy molds. Allow to harden.
I used locally produced honey from H&H Honey. For the mold, I used a Jello Bean Mold because a friend gave it to me a few years ago after she found it at a thrift store. (I wouldn't have paid full price for it, but it's just the right size for cough drops.)
For the herbal tea, I used three tea bags and allowed it to steep for about 15 minutes. I used two bags of Peet's Lemon Rose and one bag of Peet's Hibiscus C. I figure that honey lemon is a good flavor for cough drops and that some extra vitamin C is a good thing during a cold.
The two quart saucepan is important. I started out in a one quart pan, but the mixture gets really bubbly as it boils, so I had to transfer pans halfway through. Even the two quart pan started to look a bit iffy on size at the end. It took about 35 minutes for the mixture to reach the desired temperature.
One word to the wise that should go without saying, but I'm going to say it anyway: Don't poke it while it's in the mold to see how hard it is. It takes a long time to cool, and I'm now the proud owner of a beautiful blister on my left index finger.
The lozenges are still cooling, so I haven't tasted them yet. Now that I'm working from home, I catch colds much less often, so it may be a while before I can comment on their medicinal effectiveness. It was a fun project for science, though.
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