Honey Cough Syrup Recipe

Between honey and whiskey, I definitely have more honey readily available but a recent gift of a large Missouri whiskey bottle made me think of this old cough medicine and whiskey sour drink recipes.

I had my first ever whiskey sour drink as a prescribed remedy. I had been working in Southampton, England, many years ago. We had worked straight through three shifts. I had laryngitis from all of the talking. We were dead tired and soaking wet from a late rainstorm that drenched us before we headed back to our hotel. We agreed to change out of wet clothes and meet around the hotel fireplace near the bar for a nightcap.

By the time I made it to the bar, there was a whiskey sour waiting for me, prescribed by our resident doctor, who said it would help with my cough, sore throat and laryngitis. At first I stuck to my cup of hot tea but I was enticed to try it and then down it quickly in the interests of a fast recovery. The things we have to do in the interests of research…My, did that whiskey sour taste good!

The combination of lemon with honey – that’s what they said they used at the bar – with the whiskey was refreshing, delicious and went down smooth. It stopped my coughing and made my throat feel better.

The next morning I had a little of my voice back but, better yet, I was feeling rested so I decided to take a peek at the recipe for a whiskey sour. Look at how similar this whiskey sour recipe is to the old cough syrup recipe with honey:

Old Beekeeper Cough Syrup Recipe

1 teaspoon whiskey

1 teaspoon honey

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Take 1 teaspoon (of combined ingredients) very hour as needed for cough.

Whiskey Sour Recipe

“Combine bourbon, lemon juice, and simple sugar syrup in a cocktail shaker. Fill shaker with ice, cover, and shake vigorously until outside of shaker is very cold, about 20 seconds. Strain cocktail through a Hawthorne strainer or a slotted spoon into an old-fashioned or rocks glass filled with ice.”

A few days later, as we were completing our time in England, someone else ordered me a whiskey sour thinking I regularly enjoyed them. Not wanting to be rude I took one sip and didn’t finish it, it did not taste good. All I could taste was the whiskey and I thought either this is a badly-made drink or my taste buds have changed.

Our nearby doctor smiled and whispered. I was now deemed “fully recovered.”

So go ahead, make yourself a whiskey sour. It will never taste better than when you need it for a sore throat and use honey instead of the sugar syrup mix and see what you think.

I was told by a beekeeper I met several years ago that this is an old beekeeping recipe, too. He said he takes it as a “preventative.” You know, just in case he might get a cough. Someday.

Charlotte Ekker Wiggins is a beekeeper, gardener and sometimes cook. Published by El Dorado Springs Sun once in print and online with author’s permission. Copyright 2017, all rights reserved. This column may not be reprinted, republished or otherwise distributed without author’s permission. Contact Charlotte at gardeningcharlotte at gmail dot com.

BUSINESS OR PLEASURE? – The three main ingredients of both whiskey sours and an old-timer’s honey cough medicine. Which one to make first?

WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED – Here is the old honey cough syrup recipe still on an old doctor’s prescription pad. (Photos by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins).

Facebook Comments