White Horehound Medicinal Uses

White Horehound Medicinal Uses has a long history. White Horehound (Marrubium vulgare) is a perennial herbaceous herb in the mint family that is native to Europe, Asia and Africa. Horehound has been mentioned in conjunction with medicinal use dating at least back to the 1st century BC, where it appeared as a remedy for respiratory ailments.

White Horehound Medicinal Uses Overview

• The horehound herb plant is packed with nutritional benefits including high amounts of Vitamins A, B, C, and E
• The leaves and flower tops of white horehound have a long history of been used in home remedies as a bitter tonic for the common cold.
• White horehound is used for digestion problems including loss of appetite, indigestion, bloating, gas, diarrhea, constipation, and liver and gallbladder complaints.
• It is also used for lung and breathing problems including cough, whooping cough, asthma, tuberculosis, bronchitis, and swollen breathing passages.
• White horehound medicinal uses include the treatment of painful menstrual periods.
• It is also used to treat  jaundice), to kill parasitic worms, to cause sweating, and to increase urine production.
• White horehound is sometimes applied to the skin for skin damage, ulcers, and wounds.
• In manufacturing, the extracts of white horehound are used as flavoring in foods and beverages, and as expectorants in cough syrups and lozenges.

White Horehound Herbal Preparations and Uses

Parts Used: The leaves and flower tops, in fresh or dried form. The horehound herb can be used as a powder or in ointments, infusions, candy, juice and syrups.

Syrup – For children’s coughs and croup, as well as a tonic and a corrective of the stomach.

Powder – The powdered leaves can be used as a vermifuge.

Ointment – The green leaves, bruised and boiled in lard, can be made into an ointment which is good for treating wounds.

Infusions – A simple infusion of the leaves in water and then drunk as a tea, for the treatment of colds and other chest complaints.

Juice – Two or three teaspoons of juiced horehound herb may also be given as a dose in severe colds.

Candy – Candied Horehound is used as cough drops or lozenges.

White Horehound Herbal Recipes

Horehound Tea

• 3 tsps dried White Horehound (or approx 5-6 tsps fresh)
• 600 ml freshly boiled water

Pour the freshly boiled water over the herb, cover and allow to steep for 45 minutes with a towel over the top of the saucepan, teapot or plunger to keep it warm. Strain and drink whilst still luke-warm with a squeeze of lemon juice in it and sweetened with a touch of honey.

Horehound Cough Drops

• 1 cup fresh horehound leaves or 1/2 cup dried leaves.
• 1 ½ cups boiling water
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons honey

Pack horehound into a wide mouth canning jar. Pour boiling water into the jar and let it steep for 20 minutes. Strain liquid through cheesecloth into a nonreactive large pot. Squeeze all of the liquid out of the horehound. Add the sugar and honey and bring to a boil while occasionally stirring with a wooden spoon. Continue to boil the mixture until it reaches a hard-crack stage. Measure temperature with a candy thermometer or by dropping some of the mixture into a cup of cold water. Take a bite of the hardened drop. If it is gooey keep cooking. When it is hard enough to crack when you bite it remove the pan from the heat.

Butter a heatproof cookie sheet or baking pan and pour the hot mixture in. After the mixture has cooled enough to touch (but don’t wait too long or it will harden) begin pulling pieces off of it and rolling them in your hands into balls then slightly flatten them. Let them cool then store in a moisture proof container.