Homemade cough and cold syrup

Recently, my children managed to catch a horrendous cough leaving them miserable. Alas, after some googling, I found this cough syrup recipe on keeper of the home. Lemme just say that it works amazingly! I've made two batches now, and will probably never buy cough syrup again, simply because I learned that this homemade tasty stuff provides the same, if not more actually, amount of relief as robitussin would. (or so the kids' doctor says, and I believe it.). So, here's the recipe straight from Keeper of the Home.

Homemade Cough Syrup!

Ingredients:

-1 yellow onion

- Raw honey

No more than two tablespoons total of the following: (all are optional)

- Cloves - ground or whole - helps with pain relief

- Ginger - fresh or ground - helps with overall healing and circulation. (I imagine it might help if you're feeling queasy, but don't take my word for it in this syrup. Ginger is known to help nausea.)

- The original recipe suggested this too, but I haven't used it: "1-2 Tbsp. Comfrey or Slippery Elm (dried or powdered)- Comfrey is particularly good for healing, and Slippery Elm has more of a reputation for soothing and coating the throat"

Directions:

Step 1:

Chop onion and put into pan. Add any of the listed herbs now. (I also added half a clove of garlic because it is antiviral/antibacterial and will help out too.)

Pour honey into the pot until ingredients are covered fully.

Step 2:

Turn pot on very low and slowly simmer. Cover and stir occasionally. Let the herbs steep in simmering honey for about twenty or so minutes. Remove from heat.

Step 3:

Strain out onions and herbs. I used a coffee filter for lack of a better option. I poked a few holes in it with a tooth pick and rubber banned it around the jar for the syrup. I imagine cheesecloth would work well, as would, you know, a fine strainer. By the end of this process, there may be a few herbs in the syrup, which is fine.

Once the filtering is done, that's all there is to it! Simple, right? Jut stir win the fridge for as long as.. I haven't found a use by date for this recipe to be honest. So I imagine use it until it doesn't help anymore? (I would presume that to be when the jar is empty, but I'd make a new batch at least every six months to a year or so, just incase.)

Dosage:

1 tsp for children under 10

1 tbs for everyone else.

Also, I wouldn't give this to an infant because of botulism and honey, but the pediatrician I take my children to said it'd be fine in very small amounts. I'm not a doctor, so don't take my word for it and seek your doctors thoughts before administering to a child under the age of one.

All the best and happy cooking!