Homemade Horehound Candy

Submitted by skymonkey

"This recipe is from fresh horehound leaves. My mom grew up with this (my grandpa would buy it all the time) and she hated it. We had horehound bush growing in the herb garden, and we wanted to try it. We found this recipe and tried it. It was not too bad. My DH seemed to like it, even though my mom hated it. So try it and see if you like it or not. NOTE: Horehound candy was also used as a medicinal remedy for coughs way back several years ago."

 

• Ready In: 2hrs
• Ingredients: 4
• Serves: 100

ingredients

• 2 cups horehound leaves (packed)
• 1 1⁄4 cups water
• 4 cups dark brown sugar
• 1⁄4 cup light corn syrup

directions

1. Wash horehound leaves and put in saucepan. Add water and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, mashing occasionally with fork. Remove from heat; cover and let cool (needs to stand at least 1/2 hour to infuse.
2. While infusion in cooling, butter a 9x13 pan.
3. Drain horehound leaves into measuring cup (I use a coffee filter to strain it). Be sure to squeeze all the liquid from the leaves. Make sure you have at least 1 cup of liquid. Discard leaves.
4. Pour liquid into a 4 quart saucepan. Add brown sugar and syrup. Bring to a boil and cook to 300 degrees on a candy thermometer (hard crack stage).
5. Pour into prepared pan and let cool. Just before it sets up, score into squares with a knife to make it easier to break apart. When cool and set, break into pieces and store in airtight container.
6. Note: The infusion (liquid from the leaves) can be frozen to use later.

Reviews

[Leiah C.]

I have been looking for a horehound candy recipe! I am growing it in my garden now. Just one plant, but I hope to propagate it into several (crossing fingers). My grandmother used to give me horehound candy when I was a child when I had a cough or sore throat. I can't wait to use this recipe!

 

[Weewah]

Well, all these years later, somebody tried this recipe! And thank you for posting it, I must say. My Folks are from SW Missouri and always used horehound candy medicinally. The problem is that because the herb tastes so dang nasty, candy-makers use less and less of it in their horehound drops. My dad complained about it often enough that I searched for recipes and found yours. The horehound flavor in these candies is strong enough to choke you, so: Just right! Lol. I used white sugar, not brown - you really couldn't tell though, because it is too strongly flavored with horehound. <br/>To be perfectly honest, I used the recipe more as a guide than a rule. I used more leaves than called for (I grew the plants; seeds from ebay) and used fresh ones. I simmered the leaves for about an hour because I wanted to get all the good I could out of the plant. Do yourself a favor and DON'T TASTE THE INFUSION. It brings new meaning to the word BITTER. I'm afraid I'm not a fan of bitter, so I don't like these drops and I would have to be very ill indeed before I was reduced to putting one in my mouth. Ugh. However, Dad is a fan, and they are - for him - just what the doctor ordered. I chop a couple drops up and put them in hot water for a warming drink that he likes very much. So, thank you Skymonkey!