Drops for sore throat and cough with ginger, essential oils and other natural ingredients

Ingredients

• 150g brown or white sugar
• 100ml concentrated tea from one or more of the plants: chamomile, basil, sage, thyme, mint, lemon
• the juice of half a lemon
• 1-2 teaspoons of ginger powder
• 1 teaspoon turmeric (turmeric) powder
• 1/4 - 1 teaspoon of nutmeg powder (optional)
• 5-7 cloves or 1/2 teaspoon of powdered cloves
• 5-10 drops of propolis tincture (optional)
• 1-2 drops of one or more of the following essential oils: cloves, mint, thyme, sage, rosemary, tea tri, oranges (max. 10 drops)
• 2 tablespoons honey wax cap (if you do not have, use only honey or honeycomb)

Materials

• - pan for melting sugar
• - wooden spoon

Preparation

• In the first step, prepare ~ 100ml of concentrated tea from one or more of the following plants: chamomile, basil, sage, thyme, mint, lemon. Put the plants in a container, add boiled water and leave to infuse for 3 minutes.
• Melt the brown sugar together with the strained tea. Very important: let it to melt over low heat and mix it constantly! Sugar can burn very easily and completely change the taste. The total time can vary between 30 minutes and 1 hour. Depending on this and certain ingredients, the candies will come out stronger or softer.
• After about 10 minutes, prepare the juice from half a lemon and add it to the composition. Mix almost continuously with a wooden spoon and keep on low heat.
• For the last 3 minutes (the sugar is already melted) add in the composition the spices: ginger, turmeric, nutmeg, cloves (cloves crushed in a mortar).
  The quantities can vary depending on the taste of each.
  Mix continuously!
• When all the ingredients have been homogenized (after 3 minutes), turn off the heat and leave to cool slightly. The composition should be liquid, to flow easily from the spoon (a thin syrup).
• When the composition has cooled slightly, but still liquid (like a thin syrup), add the essential oils and, if you have, and the propolis tincture. Mix continuously!
  Pay attention to the amounts of essential oils: if you put too many drops, the candies may caramelize (not stay strong). Therefore, I recommend combining several oils in a container and from there put no more than 5 drops.
• Add the last ingredient (perhaps the most important): hiney was cap (or honeycomb). It is good to delay this step as much as possible, in order to slightly cool the composition, but at the same time not to harden ( the idea is not to add the cap at very high temperatures and to lose its properties ).
• In the end, the composition should have the consistency of a dense syrup and still flow easily from the spoon.
• Drop (candy) formation:
  - Method 1: on a sheet of waxed paper add the composition, still liquid, with the help of a wooden spoons, by dripping.
  After a few minutes, when the drops hardened, they are powdered with sugar and stored in a container, for not melting.
  - Method 2: we also use a sheet of waxed paper / parchment, placed on a tray. The composition is poured evenly over the whole sheet in a layer of about 3mm. Various sizes can be formed with a knife by light but not total cuts. When it has cooled and hardened completely, the forms break by hand and are individually wrapped in food foil.
  - Method 3: on a plate put powdered sugar in a layer of about 5 mm, form small holes with your finger and in these holes effectively pour the composition. Leave to cool and then place the formed drops in a closed container.
  - Method 3: on a plate put powdered sugar in a layer of about 5 mm, form small holes with your finger and in these holes effectively pour the composition. Leave to cool and then place the formed drops in a closed container.