White Horehound

Description

White Horehound – Marrubium vulgare

Organically grown at Bushyhead Botanicals’ Herb Farm

🌿 Shade dried & Harvested at bloom

White Horehound plants grow wherever they want at our herb farm. Being a member of the mint family, they are very hardy and grow easily. They grow larger in full sun (their preference) but pop up everywhere the wind takes them. Their little gray/green furry leaves are a nice contrast to deeper green wherever they grow.

I use white horehound as a digestive tonic. It stimulates bile production. But white horehound really shines in its ability to help coughs and colds, naturally and without harmful chemicals. Cough and cold medicine in the United States is a very big business. In any given week, almost 10% of American children are using a cough and cold medicine. Unfortunately, these medicines can cause adverse reactions that include dizziness, confusion, headache, nausea, and vomiting. In fact, in 2004 and 2005, over 1,500 children visited emergency rooms because of their reactions to these medications.

Among its chemical constituents are marrubium (a “bitter” that is sometimes called maribun or marrubiin), essential oils, tannins, minerals, wax, saponins, B-complex vitamins and vitamin C. Horehound’s compound, marrubium, decreases the thickness of phlegm and promotes the secretion of fluids into the bronchial passageways, producing mucus. Horehound also promotes good digestion. Marrubium stimulates the stomach to secrete digestive juices, helping the stomach to digest food.

White horehound has a bitter smell when fresh. The odor diminishes as it dries but the taste remains bitter. White horehound is often mistakenly identified as one of the bitter herbs eaten at Passover. Modern research has revealed that it is not one of the bitter herbs referenced in the Bible, but it could certainly be used as such! To make white horehound palatable for use as a remedy, add sugar or honey to it. The familiar horehound cough drops use brown sugar as a sweetener which gives them their brown color.

Want more information on this herb? See Horehound Materia Medica