How to Make Your Own Lozenges at Home
Do you deal with a chronic cough from allergies or dry air, or are you prone to getting colds? Then you need a quick, simple remedy you can turn to for this annoying symptom. How about lozenges? Lozenges are small pieces of candy or gummy medicine that dissolve slowly in your mouth. You can purchase them at most pharmacies, but did you also know you can make your own? This allows you to control what ingredients go into it, which can be great if you’re picky about sugar, flavors, or additives. Wanna learn how to make your own lozenges at home? Here’s a step by step.
Choose Your Lozenge Type
To start, decide what kind of lozenge you want to use. A hard lozenge works more like a cough drop. It dissolves slowly and coats your throat as it melts. A gummy lozenge has a softer chew and works better for people who don’t want hard candy sitting in their mouth. The ingredients depend on the type. For a hard candy, you need a sweetener, a thick syrup like honey or corn syrup, water, and flavoring. For a gummy, you need a sweetener, syrup, water, gelatin, and flavoring.
Pick Your Main Syrup
Most homemade lozenges use honey as the syrup of choice. Corn syrup also works, but honey is the healthier option because it contains natural compounds and has a long history of medicinal use. People around the world have used honey as medicine for centuries. Honey coats the throat and can calm coughing long enough for your body to get a break
Add A Flavor That Serves a Purpose
The main thing you’re choosing is what flavoring goes in. Elderberry is a popular option because people use it during cold season, especially in syrups and gummies. Elderberries finish growing in late summer and fall. You can make syrup from them, add that syrup to a lozenge base, and take one during a winter cold to reap all of the cold-busting benefits these tart, purple berries have.
Heat The Mixture Carefully
Once you choose your syrup and flavoring, mix the rest of the ingredients together before pouring them into a pan to heat. For hard lozenges, honey, sugar, and water heat together until the mixture reaches the hard-crack stage, which is around 300°F. A candy thermometer helps you catch that point before the mixture burns or stays too soft to set. For gummy lozenges, warm the syrup and flavoring, then add gelatin so it can bloom and firm up. The mixture should look smooth and hold its shape once it cools.
Pour And Store Them Properly
Once your lozenges have heated up and reached the right texture, pour them into molds. Silicone molds give each lozenge a clean shape and make removal simple, but a lightly greased baking sheet or mini muffin tin can work too.
Let hard lozenges sit on the counter to cool completely before moving them into storage. Gummy lozenges need to go in the fridge to set; the cool temperature helps trigger the gelatin so each piece firms up. Once set, you can place your lozenges in an airtight container for storage.
A Little Relief, Right at Home
A batch of homemade lozenges can be a handy thing to have when your throat starts acting up. Keep them stored properly, use them when that scratchy feeling shows up, and save yourself an emergency pharmacy run.
