It’s time to make Homemade Honey and Purple Onion Cough Syrup when you notice the kids, husband, or yourself start sniffling even a little bit. This recipe also works well as a remedy to soothe a sore throat, scratchy throat, a cold, and phlegm in the throat. Your kids will love it!

This fun recipe has two main medicinal ingredients: raw honey (or regular honey) and purple onion. You can add additional medicinal ingredients but don’t have to; it’s effectiveness stands on its own without them. 

The Benefits of Honey 

Raw honey is well known for its medicinal properties. Raw honey contains phenolic acids, flavonoids, enzymes, sugars, and organic acids. 

It’s been used as a remedy in the treatment of wounds, burns, and inflammation, and works synergistically with antibiotics. It repairs tissues, releases oxygen from hemoglobin, and charges up the Pac men macrophages. Honey disinfects wounds (and the throat) with its hydrogen peroxide, cleaning them from free radicals, and prevents scarring.

The anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties of honey keep injured tissues moist so they don’t deteriorate. Honey can promote fast healing and reduce scarring. 

And medical studies have shown that when patients were given honey, they used less antibiotics, healed faster and got out of the hospital sooner. Also, buckwheat honey has been known to improve symptoms in children with colds. 

Studies have shown that processing honey into lozenges, drops, and syrups maintains antibacterial and anti-inflammatory activities compared to raw honey. 

The Healing Benefits of Onion

Purple onion is another name for red onions. Red onions often look purple due to the reddish-purple pigments in them called anthocyanins. Red onion is high in quercetin, rutin, and other antioxidants. They are rich in flavonoids and organosulfur compounds such as allicin, fisetin, diallyl disulphide and diallyl trisulphide.

These medicinal ingredients have been found to scavenge free radicals, kill microbes, lower cholesterol levels, act as antioxidants, prevent against stomach ulcers and cancer (cervical and colon cancers and osteosarcomas), and help detoxify heavy metals. The organosulfur compounds generate the characteristic odor and taste of onion after being cleaved by the enzyme alliinase, which happens with a little heat. 

Onion (Allium cepa) is known as a remedy that will soothe colds and coughs, break up blood clots, kill cancer cells, work as an antibiotic, and prevent platelets from clotting. It’s also helpful as an asthma remedy. Onion detoxifies chemicals in the liver, kidney, brain, blood, heart, reproductive organs, pancreas, and embryo.

With all these exceptional benefits, let’s start making Honey and Purple Onion Cough Syrup.

How To Make Honey and Onion Cough Syrup

This recipe is the most effective way to release all the medicinal properties of the honey and onions. Most recipes on the internet tell you to cut the onions and leave them quite large. However, by processing the onions, you release more of the active ingredients. Then, with the heat, the allicin is released in large quantities.

Honey and Purple Onion Cough Syrup

• Dosage:  ½ to 1 teaspoon every 1-2 hours when symptoms start
•   Or 1 teaspoon 3 to 4 times/day for a current cough

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cooking Time:  10 minutes

Total Time:  50 minutes with cooling time

Yield:   Three 8-oz jars cough syrup. 4 to 8-oz jar of honey onions, ready to use in food recipes. Enough for 6 months for a family of 4 (plus you can give two jars away)

Equipment Needed

• Small mason jars with lids
• Medium-sized pot
• Tongs
• Food processor
• Chef’s knife

Ingredients

• 1 large red onion
• 24 to 28 oz. raw honey or honey

Directions

1. Sterilize your jars and lids in your dishwasher. As an option, sterilize them by immersing in a large soup pot filled with water. Then bring the water to boiling. Boil for 10 minutes. Remove jars and lids from water with tongs and set on a paper towel to cool down.
2. Slice off onion ends. Peel off outer skins of red onion. Discard. Then slice onion in large pieces. Add to food processor. Process till almost a puree form.
3. Add processed onions to pot. Then add honey. Mix with a spoon. Turn heat to low medium heat and bring to a rolling boil. This will take about 8 minutes. Then turn off the pot.
4. Start pouring mixture into a strainer in small amounts. Wait for the liquid is removed. Pour warm mixture into sterilized jars. Seal with lid. Create label with these words on it:  Honey and Purple Onion Cough Syrup, Today’s Date. Label the jars.
5. Take remaining strained onions and pack them into another jar to use with different entrees, especially those that use sweet and sour sauce. Add lid and label. These flavored onions will add great new flavors to many dishes!