honey

Just raw honey, apply for 10-15 minutes. I swear honey could be prescribed, my inflammation dropped in like a week.

I haven't used maple syrup, but I make a Belgian Tripel that I use honey as the priming sugar for bottle conditioning and that turns out really well. It adds just the slightest hint of the honey.

Parent context: I read on Daddit a while ago that a spoonful of Honey is still the top recommendation. Is that still the case? Or is it just a placebo? Reply: Honey in tea never did anything for me or my kids, so I asked the pediatrician about it and was told to not take the honey with water because it coats the throat better without it. So drink a bunch a of fluids first, then take a few spoonfuls of honey, then chill on the liquids for a bit. I tried it last time I was sick and it actually did work pretty well.

don’t worry, honey is absolutely not a placebo — it’s one of the real genuine remedies here. seems to work in 2 ways: honey alone has some throat-coating and antibacterial qualities that make it great for sore throats; and in general drinking fluids helps ameliorate mucus buildup, and many people drink their tea with honey when sick, so it’s kind of pulling double duty — helping by itself, and helping by being an agent of hydration.

anecdotally, while recovering from the flu this year, i cut out coffee and replaced it with tea + honey (i’m a teacher, so “replacing” means like 1.5 quarts a day), and this is the least coughing and mucus-based agitation i’ve ever had recovering from a sinus issue. it’s the real deal.

Assuming your kid is a year old, honey is just as effective as cough medicine, per studies