THYME FOR COUGHS AND COLDS
Thymus vulgaris
Thyme is a creeping ground cover with small white to lilac flowers. Small oval leaves that come to a point. Very fragrant and grows to 30cm high and 30cm wide.
This tough little ground cover will grow almost anywhere. It grows naturally from the West Mediterranean to Southwest Italy where it grows on dry rocky soil. Give Thyme a sunny spot and it will generally flourish. Thyme can be propagated from seed or I have always found the easiest way was to dig up a piece with some roots and transplant it. Do it away from frosts, but still when
the weather is cool and the soil damp, to give it time to establish before the heat of summer. There are apparently over 200 different species of thyme and there is often confusion when it comes to identifying them even in nurseries.
They are all suitable for use in cooking with some having different flavors such as Lemon Thyme and Caraway Thyme.
I use thyme often in cooking - in soups, stews and pasta sauces. It has a great flavor and used regularly will help to keep you and those you cook for healthy. As a bit of a guide, if I were cooking a sauce for four people, I’d pick and use a couple of tablespoons (once chopped) depending on how many other herbs I’m using with it. I often use Rosemary and Sage along with Garlic and a bit of Chili. Chop it up finely removing any woody stalks. The thin soft branches that chop up easily are ok to leave in usually.
Thyme for coughs!
Thyme is amazing for coughs - this is where it stands out above anything else I’ve ever come across. It has been used to treat coughs throughout history, including whooping cough and bronchitis. Thyme is great for clearing congestion. Thymol (considered to be the effective constituent contained in thyme) is used in many pharmaceutical cough syrups, however as is always the case, ‘the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts’ - meaning that by taking the Thymol and removing it from the rest of the constituents contained in the herb and then adding who knows what (sugar, colours and other not so healthy stuff) to create the end product, the commercial cough syrups generally remain only marginally effective if at all.
Nature really is much smarter and provides us with these little bundles of parts, wrapped up as a whole, in the perfect combinations to be used by us and to be effective in producing health.
I first got an inkling into Thyme and it’s use for coughs many years ago when my daughter as a young child, used to suffer terribly with a cough that appeared each time she had a bit of a cold, and would continue for sometimes months after the cold was gone. It would keep her awake and night, and would concern the school teachers so much that they would phone us to come and get her even though she was not ‘sick’ as such, but would cough until she gagged. The doctor, convinced that it was asthma prescribed every manner of asthma preventative, puffer, inhaler etc that he could - none made the slightest difference. We had tried all the cough syrups, mixtures and anything else we came across. This continued for a few years until we tried Thyme. The Thyme didn’t stop her getting the cough, but it did stop it in it’s tracks, allowed her to sleep and generally cleared it up in a few days rather than months! She hated the stuff, but eventually realized that it did work and so took it happily. I used to send her to school with a drink bottle full of Thyme tea so she could have some during the day, which she gladly did.
Thyme is also great as a gargle for gum disease and throat infections. It has shown to be effective against the shingles virus (herpes zoster), it helps digestion, may help with menstrual cramps and can help destroy parasites.
How do I use Thyme?
To make the Thyme tea - simply pick about a tablespoon of leaves and stalks, put in a cup and fill with boiling water. Cover the cup to keep the steam in for about 5 minutes and it’s ready to go. Easy as that!
If you don’t like the taste as it is, add some fresh lemon juice and a teaspoon of raw honey - It’s delicious! This tea can be used also at the onset of a cold. It’ll usually stop it in its tracks I find. For this purpose I usually add some fresh ginger as well as the lemon and honey - even some Cayenne Pepper. If I feel like I’m coming down with something, I’ll have one before bed. See how I feel in the morning - if I still feel a little like it might be there (or even if it doesn’t) I’ll have another in the morning. No virus or bug is going to beat that combination!
The great thing is that you can have it as much as you like, it’s only going to do your body good.