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Catnip syrup with honey

Catnip boiled and made into a syrup with honey: the Cherokee remedy for colds and coughs.

Traditional use

Time
30 minutes
Makes
A jar of about 200 ml
Catnip

Catnip came to America with Europeans and was taken into Cherokee medicine. According to Hamel and Chiltoskey (Cherokee Plants and Their Uses, 1975), the Cherokee made a syrup of it with honey for colds and coughs.

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp dried catnip (or a handful fresh)
  • 300 ml water
  • 150 g honey

Step by step

  1. Bring the water to the boil with the catnip and simmer for 10 minutes with the lid on.
  2. Strain and reduce the liquid without the lid to about 100 ml.
  3. Let cool to lukewarm and stir in the honey.
  4. Keep in the fridge and take a teaspoon a few times a day.

Tips

  • The syrup keeps for about two weeks in the fridge.

Registry

Herbs in this recipe

Read more about effects and safety on each herb’s page.

  • Caution

    Europe · Herb · № 109

    Catnip

    Nepeta cataria

    Traditionally used as a mild tea for colds, fevers, restlessness and colic. Nepetalactone from the plant is being researched as an insect repellent.

    Western herbal medicine+2Folklore

Cultures and traditions

Where the herbs come from

The herbs in this recipe also appear in these traditions.