When you have a toddler with a cold and want to give them something homemade with love to help ease their symptoms, what do you do? Well, you make homemade cough drops and you make them heart-shaped of course! This was definitely way easier than I thought to make these and I’m so excited to share these with you today.
If you would have asked me a few years back if I would have attempted something like this, the answer would have been a resounding “NO”, but not these days. These days I am attempting to try new things that would have once seemed overwhelming or impossible, and definitely not worth my time. But, this is MOST DEFINITELY worth my time and worth sharing with you today. I love my little munchkins and I love making things from the heart to help them feel better when they are sick. What better way to do that than with these cute, heart-shaped homemade honey lozenges?
You only need a few inexpensive items to make these and a little patience, You need about a half hour of uninterrupted time – which a busy mom of three like me has plenty of – to watch the honey boil and reach the right temperature. That’s it! These came out perfect and the kids love them!
Thank you to WIKIHOW for helping me with this recipe, they had a few options and some great instructions to help me on my way!
- 1½ cups honey
- 1 cup strong herbal tea (I used chamomile lavender)
- 4-6 drops lemon essential oil
- Candy Thermometer
- Silicone Candy Molds
- To make a tea, a two tea bags into one cup of water in a saucepan. Heat the water and tea bags to a simmer on high heat, then cover and reduce the heat. Let the tea steep for 15 to 20 minutes over the lowest heat. Reserve ½ cup of the tea for the cough drops.
- Combine all of the ingredients for the cough drops and heat them. Start by putting the ½ cup of herbal tea into a saucepan, then add 1.5 cups of honey. Use a medium to medium-high heat to heat up the ingredients. Stir constantly to make sure all the ingredients are mixed. Clip a candy thermometer on the side of the pan to monitor the temperature. Check the temperature of the liquid frequently. You will want it to get to about 300 degrees Fahrenheit. This will allow the liquid to harden into lozenges as it cools. The mixture may get slightly foamy as it heats up. If this occurs, give the cough drop liquid a stir.You will be able to tell once the mixture gets near to the correct temperature as it will thicken. This process generally takes about 30 minutes. Once the liquid is at a temperature of 300 degrees, remove it from the heat.
- Next add your essential oils and stir. I used lemon essential oil. (4-6 drops)
- Transfer the hot mixture into a Pyrex measuring cup to pour it into your silicone molds. Pour slowly and carefully. Pour the hot liquid into the silicone candy mold. Allow the cough drops to harden and cool in the candy molds before storing. Try not to disturb the cough drops as they cool. Once they have cooled, crack the cough drops out of the molds. Coat the cough drops in powdered stevia, erythritol, or powdered sugar.
- You can store these in single layers between wax paper in the refrigerator for about 3 weeks.
- You can also freeze them between layers of wax paper. If you choose to do so, they will last for several months. I stored these in a glass mason jar in the refrigerator.
I’m so happy I was able to share this with you and show you how easy it is to make homemade honey lozenges. I hope you enjoyed this post and I would love to hear your thoughts.
What natural remedies do you make at home? Have you ever made your own lozenges?
XOXO,
Jennifer
*I buy therapeutic grade essential oils HERE.
*This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission which helps me run my blog. Thanks for supporting Pure Thyme!
I have never made homemade cough drops before. I guess I never figured you could. This is so awesome. I’m printing this out and going to make this. I want to teach my children everything so that when the will be grown up, they will know how to do so much, especially when it is related to taking care of their health and body. Thank you. Can’t wait to try this. 🙂
Please let me know how they turn out for you, I feel the same way you do about giving our children the tools they need to take charge of their health, naturally! xoxo
These sound divine! I have made a lot of diy products with essential oils never cough drops! I can’t wait to try these
Please let me know how you like them, thanks for stopping by! xoxo
These are ADORABLE and I can’t wait to try this recipe
Thanks so much let me know how they turn out for you =) xoxo
This is very helpful as this will ease up our problems whenever our child doesn’t feel well. It is always good to give them homemade stuff as we can show affection while preparing it.
It definitely made a BIG difference over at our house, loving making natural remedies over here =)
Wow, what a brilliant idea. I will definitely try this with my kids and hopefully there would also be some other stuff for other simple illness with kids.
I will definitely be coming up and sharing more natural remedies I come up with for the family, be on the look out 😉
Although I do not have kids to make these for, I think these would be a really cute Valentines day gift also, especially since my girlfriend currently has a sore throat! Thanks!
I think these would make such a cute gift, shows you really care when you take the time to do something special for the ones you love, especially when it’s heart-shaped =)
Good day, to all!, I really loved this site, its all about being “Organic”. The best things in LIFE is all about being NATURAL. I was raised practicing the Asian Way of Natural Remedies, like whenever I had coughs, I would make a pure Orange Ginger Tea, or any available type of ginger we have, bring it into a hot boiling water, the ginger must be really cleaned let the skin remain, cut and crushed it, then bring it to a boil for at least 5- 10 minutes, one tip, the water should turn into gold color. This works best for me also during cold season and helps ease pain and relax tired muscles.
Thanks for sharing your story Agnes, your orange ginger tea sounds wonderful! I must try it!
We just got over the worst cold our family has ever endured. My 3 year old really struggled because she isn’t old enough for traditional cold medicines. These would be a great alternative for her. I will be keeping this recipe handy! Thank you for this!
Awesome, let me know how your little one likes these, they are a big hit at my house and really helped alleviate my kids symptoms
This looks great and I am battling a cold right now. I am surly going to try this and see if it will help me. I would love to make these for my family when they get a cold and or a sore throat. Thank you for sharing and I am going to make sure I try this out.
Let me know if you try out this recipe Lakeyia, would love to know how you like it =)
This is so helpful. My little cousin is sick all the time, the tuition classes he goes to have air conditioning and bearing it every day for 4 hours has an effect. I can’t wait to trying make these and see if they can help him. You think adding mint will help?
Peppermint would be great in these, thought it would be to spicy for the kids so I left it out =)
How timely that I stumbled upon this post recently. My family and I have been enduring fever and cough for a few days now. While rest, hydration, and fruit had always been our usual remedy, we still had to suffer through the pain from coughing. Tried out the recipe and it has been rather soothing. Thank you!
I have never made homemade lozenges before. They were delicious. Thanks so much for sharing.
What a fantastic idea. I am so excited to try this.
I think it is very helpful to know how to prepare natural things. I have never made cough drops, but definitely I am going to give it a try. I like the touch of making them with a heart form because in that way you show your children how much is that you love them.
I did not know we can make something like this honey lozenges for treating cough. I used to apply camphor + slightly heated cocunut oil on the chest for my baby to relieve cold. Is there any alternative for using the thermometer? (Like any specific coloring of the mix at which we can stop the heat).
Great recipe!! so creative!
Hi, you could also try this very simple Organic Tea with Pandan leaves to easily relieve coughs and sore throats, during this cold season. You can pick any flavor of Organic Tea in tea bags dip, prepare a hot boiling water, it is best to have fresh boiled water, wait for a few seconds to change its color then add the cut Pandan leaves, you can add honey to make it a little bit sweeter or for some who like it a bit strong, add some powdered ginger. Perfect for clear mugs or cups since the Pandan leaves and the color of tea makes the presentation pleasing to the eyes.
This is an absolutely wonderful and easy to do recipe. Whenever I have a cough or cold, I try to stay away from meds that aren’t natural. This looks great and I can’t wait to try this at home. (Ingredients are easy to find plus you can add whatever you like depending on your taste!) Thanks for this.
I like the idea of having different-shaped lozenges especially for the kids. I find the little hearts super cute. I am definitely making this for my next DIY project with my youngsters. I love that it’s so easy to do. 30 minutes will just fly by because this is going to be fun!
As the cold season is upon us we need something that children will love to take. These lozenges are so attractive that children will love to take them.
I’ve never actually cooked with essential oils before. Would it hurt non-stick pots, or vice versa?
Boy, those sure look delicious. I’m totally for bio, homemade stuff. They are really efficient!
These look delicious! That sounds weird, who woulda ever thought that cough drops could look so good?
Ha Ha! So true Shramek! =)
I don’t have a toddler, but I can act like one sometimes, so I absolutely NEED to make these for myself! I have had a sour throat the past few days, so I kind of feel like you made these just for me! 😉 I’ve never attempted to make my own cough drops before, so thanks for the recipe! Can’t wait to give these a try! Plus the hear shape and honey, chamomile, lemon combo sounds a billion times better than anything at the store! Cheers!
Beautiful honey lozenges, beautiful shape. Yum yum yum…these look delicious!
Angie recently posted…5 unique types of popsicle you can make with a blender
thanks Angie! and thanks for stopping by =)
Do you have to coat them with anything after they are cooled or is this something extra you do? Also do you have store them in the refrigerator? I like to store them at room temperature.
Thanks foe the recipe.
I coat them so they don’t stick together, you don’t have to store in refrigerator if you prefer at room temperature, that’s up to you! =)