Herbal Honeys and Syrups
This video is part of the Online Herbal Medicine Making Course. Learn more at chestnutherbs.com/online-herbal-classes/herbal-medicine-making-course. The herbalists featured in this video are "Artemisia Dawnsong," aka Juliet Blankespoor of Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine, and "News Anchor Beverly," aka Asia Suler of One Willow Apothecaries (www.onewillowapothecaries.com). MEDICINAL HONEYS AND SYRUPS When the temperatures drop and the nights grow longer, my attention is inevitably drawn to the impending cold and flu season. Herbal syrups are one of my favorite medicinal preparations for respiratory infections, especially in winter. Silky and sweet, golden with summer’s nectar and sipped by the spoonful—medicinal honeys can be divinely flavorful. I prefer honey-based syrups over sugar or glycerin syrups for many reasons. First and foremost, I love the alchemy of honey—the synergy of flowers and bees, the sacred geometry of the hive, the fanning of wings concentrating summer’s goodness into a nourishing food that can miraculously withstand millennia. Honey also has its own medicinal virtues, imparting anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory benefits to the syrup. It helps to coat the throat, easing the spasms of dry hacking coughs and effectively taming nagging nighttime coughs. As you can imagine, honey can be quite soothing for sore throats. And, children have a special affinity for honey—they are typically a good bit more excited about taking a medicinal syrup than straight tea or tincture. Artemisia DawnSong’s Herbal Syrup Recipe: This syrup recipe enhances the extraction of both alcohol-soluble and water-soluble constituents, and has a long shelf life due to its high alcohol content. You can use one herb in this recipe or combine multiple herbs in each step. Just remember to maintain the proper proportions of honey, water, and alcohol. The Syrup contains equal parts, by volume: 1 part Herbal Honey Infusion 1 part Concentrated Herbal Water Infusion or Decoction 1 part Herbal Tincture Artemisia’s Cough Syrup for a Productive Cough 2 ounces (60 ml) elderberry honey infusion (Sambucus nigra var. canadensis, Adoxaceae) ½ ounce (15 ml) elecampane tincture (Inula helenium, Asteraceae) ½ ounce (15 ml) spikenard tincture (Aralia racemosa, Araliaceae) ½ ounce (15 ml) usnea tincture (Usnea spp., Parmeliaceae) ½ ounce (15 ml) echinacea tincture (Echinacea purpurea or E. angustifolia, Asteraceae) Yields 4 ounces (120 ml) Combine all ingredients into a four-ounce (120 ml) bottle. Dosage: 1 teaspoon (5 ml), 3 times a day, for a 150-pound (68 kilogram) adult. Determining dosage in children by weight: Standard: To determine the child’s dosage by weight, you can assume that the adult dosage is for a 150-pound adult. Divide the child’s weight by 150. Take that number and multiply it by the recommended adult dosage. For example, if your child weighs 50 pounds, she will need one-third the recommended dose for a 150-pound adult. If the adult dosage is two teaspoons of syrup (10 milliliters), she will need one third of that dose, which is 3.3 milliliters (one-third of 10 milliliters), or about ¾ teaspoon full. Note that one-third of that dosage is tincture, which means that a 3.3 milliliters dosage contains 1.1 milliliters of tincture. Metric: To determine the child’s dosage by weight, you can assume that the adult dosage is for a 68-kilogram adult. Divide the child’s weight by 68. Take that number and multiply it by the recommended adult dosage. For example, if your child weighs 22.7 kilograms, she will need one-third the recommended dose for a 68-kilogram adult. If the adult dosage is 10 milliliters, she will need one third of that dose, which is 3.3 milliliters (one-third of 10 milliliters), or about ¾ teaspoon full. Note that one-third of that dosage is tincture, which means that a 3.3 milliliters dosage contains 1.1 milliliters of tincture. VERY IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTE: Do not give honey to babies under one year as there is a possibility that botulism (Clostridium botulinum) endospores can be present. The risk is that these spores can grow into a potentially fatal botulism infection in a baby’s immature digestive system.
