Sugarless cough drops?

[Blaundee]

All of the recipes I've found for cough drops are basically candy... is there a recipe for some sort of cough drop that has NO sugar/ honey/molasses/splenda/sugar substitue/etc in it?

 

[ORChick]

I think that such a coughdrop would be hard to take. The idea is to suck them slowly to let the healing elements coat the throat. Children especially, but just about anyone else as well, would be hard pressed to do that with herbal drops without a bit of sweet to help. Even I (with an almost non-existent sweet tooth) would have a hard time, I think . Also (without actually looking up any recipes) I would think that the sugar, cooked to the hard-ball stage, is what makes it into a drop; otherwise it wouldn't harden. Syrups are good too, but again, to quote Mary Poppins, "a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down". And syrups require the thickening effects of sugar as well. Without that it would be like a tea, and would go down too quickly to coat the throat.

 

[baymule]

Skip the cough drops, just take a sip of whiskey. If you cough again, take another sip. After a while, you might still cough, but you won't care.

 

[Blaundee]

I think that such a coughdrop would be hard to take. The idea is to suck them slowly to let the healing elements coat the throat. Children especially, but just about anyone else as well, would be hard pressed to do that with herbal drops without a bit of sweet to help. Even I (with an almost non-existent sweet tooth) would have a hard time, I think . Also (without actually looking up any recipes) I would think that the sugar, cooked to the hard-ball stage, is what makes it into a drop; otherwise it wouldn't harden. Syrups are good too, but again, to quote Mary Poppins, "a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down". And syrups require the thickening effects of sugar as well. Without that it would be like a tea, and would go down too quickly to coat the throat.

I have used cough drops that were not like candy, they were very strong but very effective and not sweet at all- which is why I thought someone one here might know of how to make them. I bought those from Walmart a few years back and dont recall the name of them.

 

[ORChick]

I do have to wonder how they were made hard, if not with sugar or honey. I suppose that commercial places have access to various gums and resins.
I know that if you caramelize sugar till quite dark (but not burnt!) it gets less sweet; one of my older cookbooks suggests doing this to make gravy browning, and it works! A spoonful or two will make the gravy have a nice color, without making it sweet (eww!) So that might be a place to start with your cough drops. Also, depending on the herbs you use, and the amount, that would also mask some of the sweet taste.
You might also be able to come up with something based on gelatine; not hard, but at least not liquid, more like a gummi candy. Gelatine doesn't require sugar, though this recipe does have some in it; its candy, not medicine. http://www.bigredkitchen.com/2008/12/homemade-christmas-part-ii-aplets-or-turkish-delight/

 

[Hinotori]

Remember that the sugar itself helps stop the coughing as well by coating the throat. Mom always gave us a piece of hard candy to suck if she didn't have any cough drops at that time.

Horehound candy was a cough drop. I actually like the taste of it. It's very much an acquired taste. My favorite thing is to give a piece to unsuspecting friends who've never had it.