Horehound belongs to the big plenty plant family and has been known and used medicinally in Europe , where it is a aboriginal species , since the Middle Ages . Long before the advent of modern medical specialty , horehound ( Marrubium vulgare ) was a favourite cure for ancient peoples for solace the symptoms of flu , frigidness , laryngitis , bronchitis and other ailment that affect the lung . Horehound is often dried in mod metre and used in potpourris and dried blossom organization . It makes a tasty afternoon tea , either brisk or dry , that some people still consider can facilitate cold and flu symptoms .
Preparing and Using Horehound
Step 1
mature horehound in your herb garden if you are so inclined . Starter plant life are sometimes available at glasshouse that carry a good selection of herb plant . come are easy to begin and produce and are available through seed catalog and on-line sources . ( See Resources . )
Step 2
Make fresh tea from horehound leaves and flowering upper side . For each loving cup of tea , cut back three to four tablespoons of sweet plant cloth , wash it in fair water to remove any dust or worm , and then chop it up into ½ inch lengths . Put it in your teacup , either free or in a tea ball , and then pour simmering weewee over it . Wait about 10 minutes , strain it and enjoy your tea with dearest , lemon , scratch , milk or any other additions you favor .
Step 3
Prepare a tincture or herbal acetum with your new horehound . Pick , rinsing and chop up your horehound to fill a glass jar about ½ full with the plant material . Then fill your jarful with vodka , rummy , brandy or Malus pumila cider vinegar , cap it tightly and then permit it to sit in a dark spot for one month . Shake the jar every day , and then filter it after 30 Day . Store it in a tightly sealed jar in a coolheaded , glum place and utilize it by droppel when you call for relief from a cold or the flu . Take three to four full droppers full three time a day until your symptoms improve .
Step 4
ironical horehound when the outgrowth have flowering pinnacle . This can occur throughout the summer . dress off the flower spikes and strip off any yellow or dead , ironic leaves . Tie the lower end of several flower spikes together with bowed stringed instrument and then hang them upside down in a warm , coloured , ironic , well - ventilated expanse for about one week . When the plant fabric feels dry and crunchy to the touch , strip the leave of absence and prime off the stalks and store them in tightly seal shock or charge plate zipper bag . you may subsequently utilize the dried works in the same ways you apply the refreshed flora — use a little more than you would of the fresh industrial plant material for your tea or tincture .
Step 5
Make a cough syrup from unfermented or dried horehound leave of absence and flowering tops . meld about ½ cupful of plant material with two cups of water and allow it to simmer for 10 minutes . tense your intermixture and then mix in three cups of honey , conflate it well . Store in nursing bottle or jars with tightly meet lids . When you require to relieve a cough , take this remedy by the teaspoon as needed .
Warning
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not sanction the use of horehound for any ill or disease . Talk to your doc or other dependent health care professional before you take any herbs as medicament .
