Homemade Cough Medicine

The story goes that once while visiting my grandmother, who I had dubbed Grommie, I had a persistent cough. She offered to make me some cough medicine but, after my mom asked what the ingredients were, was told that I would never take it. And who could blame Mom? It's weird. As mothers of any age do, though, Grommie made it anyway and they both watched as I took it, licked the spoon and asked for more. (Sorry, Mom. I sure know how that feels...)

It stopped the coughing, though, so it's a remedy I've used with my own kids. The song-and-dance remain the same. With each kid, it's been...

'Oooh, That's gross. I don't want to try it.'

'Well, think about how bad store-bought cough medicine tastes.'

'Umm, yeah. Okay. I'll try it....Okay, that's not bad.'

To make some yourself, all you need is an onion and sugar. I'm not big on measuring while cooking so you may need to adjust this a bit.

• Take a bit of onion, a little less than 1/4 cup. 
• Place it in a small bowl and crush it until no solid pieces remain. I use a little tart-shaper tool. You could also use the back of an ice cream scoop or a spoon. 
• Mix in a scant tablespoon of sugar. 
• The mixture will look like a thick liquid with visible sugar grains.
• Scoop it up in a large spoon and administer. 

I should add that I've used this successfully for both cold/infection coughs as well as the seasonal allergy type.