Description
Lozenges use dried, powdered herbs for their potency or essential oils, rather than extracting the herbal medicine in water. In their simplest form powdered slippery elm bark can be used instead of tragacanth gum to make lozenges .
Ingredients
Scale
- To make horehound lozenges take the dried horehound and powder it completely in a food processor or blender.
- 30 grams/1 ounce of Tragacanth gum
- 1/2 cup powdered, dried horehound herb
- 1/2 cup Brown sugar, or powdered stevia to taste
- Icing sugar, or tapioca starch to prevent sticking
Instructions
- Soak 1 oz. of tragacanth gum in 2 cups of water overnight.
- Bring mixture to a boil.
- Beat until mixture is of uniform consistency. Force it through a strainer to make mucilage.
- Add 1/2 cup powdered herb and 1/2 cup brown sugar.
- Mix well into mucilage to make a thick paste. Add more powdered herb as necessary to get the right consistency. You are looking for the consistency of pie dough.
- Roll out with powdered sugar or corn flower to 1/2 inch thick.
- Cut with round cutters, like a bottle lid or bubble tea straw. Or roll into a rope and cut with powdered scissor.
- Allow to dry completely over a few day, away from humidity.
- Sprinkle with more starch or icing sugar and store in air tight tin or wide mouth jar, tightly capped.
- Makes 1/2 lb. of cough drops. Horehound is bitter tasting so you will need more sugar or stevia to decrease the bitterness than when using an herb like anise or licorice that has its own sweet taste.
