Horehound, that is!

Back during the early spring of last year, I had some vauge idea that being self employed would involve periods of uninterupted time where I could try time consuming recipes that I've always wanted to take a crack at, such making horehound candy. So, I bought some seeds, and - waddaya know! - a horehound plant came up. It did pretty well too, especially considering the condition of the soil in my yard, which is, not to use too technical a term - "crappy"

Anyway, by fall, I was pretty sure that I wasn't going to have time to make much of anything with it, but I still dried it out over the stove and hung it up, just in case it came in handy.

Yesterday, when I realized that I was getting The Hub's cold or flu, I also realized that I now have a LOT of work lined up, and it would be really bad for me to get sick. Wondering what I could do to be of the most help to myself, my eyes landed on the horehound, which has been used for time out of mind to treat chest congestion. In fact, for many years, it was used to treat asthma. So I got on the handy dandy internet and learned how to make a tea from the dried leaves. It's not hard. You basically grind the leaves up and pour very hot water over them and let the whole thing steep for about 3 minutes.

Also, word to the wise - you're going to want to use a LOT of honey to get this down. This does not taste like herbal tea. This tastes like medicine. It is one of the most undilutedly bitter things I have ever tasted. What I had to look on line for was to see how much horehound to use vs. how much water....because it's not like you can just throw any green thing in a cup and make tea out of it and be assured that because it's natural it can't hurt you. Too much of it can cause a big stomach upset, and, like anything else, it's possible to take a large enough dose to do yourself harm. Since I have no complex measuring equipment in the house, I was looking for older, more traditional instructions that said things like "half a handful". I decided to start with a small dose and, if it seemed more was needed I could try it. So I brewed a cup of tea from about 3 dried leaves of the plant, ground fine.

I lay down and had no coughing, no wheezing, no asthma, no problem. Meanwhile, The poor Hub was up all night coughing his head off. He took cough syrup. He took a hit of whisky. He took a decongestant. He took a hot shower, and he just about took the cake with all the complaining he was doing. But he still didn't want to try - "What the hell? Some wierd leaves you got out of the garden and made into a tea?! I don't think so."

Suit yourself, Modern Man, I thought and didn't argue with him. But this evening when he came home, he was MISERABLE. I offered him the tea and he didn't say anything. But when I gave him a cup he asked, "Is this the stuff?" and drank it with a shrug.

His cough slowed down within 10 minutes and stopped completely after 1/2 hour. Believe me, after hearing him sound like he was going to cough up a lung last night the quiet that has decended upon the house is blissful.

"I can't believe that worked." he said to me quietly in the jeep as we rode up to take care of my Canine Client together. "How did you know about that stuff?"

"The horehound? I don't know. It's just a thing I've always known." I said. Then I realized that this is one of those things that I think of as "common knowledge" that, actually, isn't. And The Hub tends to think of me as this Mysterious Woman....way baffling to me since I always say exactly what I mean, but I thought I'd better try to give him an answer, "I guess my old Gram knows a lot about home remedies. And my mother knows a lot about it. I guess I've picked up a lot of reading on the subject."

And it's true that I was confident that the stuff would do some good. What surprised me was how MUCH good it did both of us. I mean, I can totally see why big pharmacuetal companies, like the ones that market and sell my inhalers, would have a big interest in making an herbal remedy sound ineffective or even dangerous. Because horehound, like many common herbs, will grow almost anywhere- you practically can't kill it. It's not expensive. You can't patent it. Moreover it was easy to try and easy to prepare as a tea. You didn't have to be Eli Lily to figure it out.

"You know, was going to go the hospital if I couldn't get some relief from that cough. I've NEVER had a cough that bad in my life. I pulled a muscle in back from coughing for petes sake, and I just couldn't stop! I'm so glad I have you!!"

Wow, I thought, it was just a simple infusion! But I didn't say that. Maybe it doesn't hurt, every once in awhile, for your husband to think you have some deep mysterious knowledge. I have to say, though, that's a lot of bang for the buck...or, in this case, the 99 cent seed packet!!