Horehound Candy

Horehound (Marrubium vulgare) is back in full force. Although not an edible, this Mint Gone Wild is a good medicinal. It is easily recognizable by its greyish green leaves and woolly whitish square stems. This is a very bitter herb, which is commonly used in cough remedies. When gathering plants you always want to harvest the part of the plant where the energy is. Right now there are many spring greens/leaves that are going through an explosion of growth. The nutrients and life force will follow that energy, so this is the time to harvest the young horehound.

One of my favorite herbal medicine books is Opening Our Wild Hearts to the Healing Herbs, by Gail Faith Edwards. This horehound candy recipe comes from Gail’s book. She calls for an infusion of horehound, which is really a strong tea allowed to soak for several hours. This process makes more of the plant essence, and its nutrients available to our bodies. Click here to read Susan Weed’s, another amazing herbalist, directions on making an herbal infusion. To wrap my candies I used a recycled, unbleached, biodegradable parchment paper. Click here to familiarize yourself with the If You Care brand, widely found at coops and grocery stores throughout America.

Horehound Candy

1/2 c horehound infusion
1 c honey
1 c brown sugar
1 T butter

Prepare your infusion. Put 1/2 cup infusion, honey, brown sugar and butter over heat. Stir constantly. When you drop a bit of the syrup into a glass of cold water and forms a soft ball, then remove from the heat. Pour out onto a pan or something else where it can cool enough to work with. Roll into balls and wrap in parchment paper. Store in glass jar in a cool place and start taking them when you begin to get a cold.