RECIPE: Grandma's Homemade Cough Syrup

Vovó Zilca meeting my youngest and her 5th great-grandchild

So Grandma was nice enough to share her cough syrup recipe with me and now I will share it with you.  Look at how efficiently this train of information works! You ask, I deliver.

Diabetics beware! This is an old school recipe. That means that it comes with a lot of sugar! I'm just happy it doesn't have something crazy like whiskey in it.

What you need:

2 Cups Sugar
1/2 cup water
Well washed leaves from 1 stem of Ruta graveolens (also called common Rue)
2 tablespoons of bee honey (I don't know of any other kind of honey but since she specified...)

How to Make it:

• You first need to caramelize the sugar in pot on the stove. Be careful not to burn it! It can not be burnt! 
• Once nice and caramelized, add 1/2 cup of water. Mix well over low heat.
• Now is the tricky part. Take the leaves and mash them into the caramelized sugar and water mixture. We are talking serious mashing. I don't know how the woman does it but you can't see any leaf in there when she's done. 
• Let cool a little
• Add in the 2 tablespoons of honey and mix well

And there you have it! Something tells me that it's not as easy as it seems. The stuff is the perfect consistency. It's amazing. Then again, after making a few thousand batches I bet it becomes second nature.

Finally, put it in a glass jar and this bad boy will last you for a while. Here's a picture to see what my fresh batch from Grandma's kitchen looks like:

Disclaimer: I have never actually made it. It would be a bitch slap to the Grandmother's face if I didn't call her and request it. She has called me twice since this morning to discuss the syrup.  When it was finished she said that she would find a way to get it to me tonight. Since it was late and raining, she did not expect me to come over with the boys. I told her I would be there first thing in the morning. 

A half hour later she called back. She told me she loved making the syrup for her great-grandson and that I was to call her for anything and everything I need.  

Then asked to talk to my husband. 

She told him was sending his cousin to bring the syrup so that my youngest could start taking it first thing in the morning. 

Sweet and stubborn, just like I like my Grandmothers-in-law! 

Great Grandma Saves The Day

Homeopathy is on the rise as people are getting over the side effects of medical treatment. Here in Brazil, there are many homeopathic options.  Personally, I think the one I use is the best.

I call my husband's Grandma. After 7 kids this woman has a few secrets of her own. Hell, she even did home births before it was considered cool or dangerous or whatever you think of it. In her day, the baby came out of the vagina whenever and wherever it wanted.

So this is the woman I call when someone has a cough. It didn't start out that way of course. My oldest was about 10 months old when I was introduced to her syrup. She heard through the family gossip line, aka Grandma telepathy, and showed up at my house with some weird stuff in a jar.

It was her homemade cough syrup. All natural and with a base of honey, she said this was the cure all for cough, mucus, and allergies. I of course turned to my American ways and said that my child could not have honey yet, he'd obviously die. No honey before 2 years old!

I swear, they entire family almost disowned me for this. Everyone, EVERYONE, had been eating honey since birth. NO ONE had died, gotten that mysterious illness from it, nor had they ever taken another medicine for cough. This honey mixture was it.

I was finally worn down about a year later. I figured he was almost 2 anyway. And you know what, he took it without a problem. Honey seems to go down even easier than butter. And while I can not confirm if it was a coincidence or repeated use, but my son stopped have mucus/allergy issues a couple months later. A teaspoon a day and a lifetime of a difference.

Now my 2nd is dealing with the same thing and I've just called the Grandma for her secret syrup. She insisted on mixing it up with her own 87 yr old hands. I think that's wise. After 60 yrs of mixing, I'm pretty sure those hands know what they are doing.

And with that we start our own little Brazilian homeopathy experiment, honey syrup mix versus the doctor. Just call me crazy but something tells me that 87 yrs of life may beat out 7 yrs in medical school.