Although usually thought of a herb for adding to savoury dishes, thyme has another important role to play: it’s a great healer - wonderful for easing coughs and colds and soothing sore throats. It helps to relax the throat and has decongestant, antimicrobial, antibacterial and antiviral properties.

Common and lemon thyme are the best culinary varieties for soothing drinks.

First of all, make yourself a jar of thyme infused honey: see below – unless of course you have a jar of actual thyme honey from a gorgeous Greek island which would obviously be even better!

Per Cup

• 1 rounded spoonful of Greek thyme honey/homemade thyme infused honey
• Good squeeze of lemon juice
• Hot water

Stir the honey into a cup of hot water with lemon juice to taste and drink whilst warm.

Thyme Infused Honey

Thyme honey, from bees working mainly on thyme flowers, is fabulous stuff and very good for you.

A very close second in the health and taste stakes is standard flower honey infused with thyme.

Fabulous on hot buttered toast or muffins (very fabulous in fact!), this makes a wonderfully soothing drink with hot water and lemon to ease a cough or sore throat: a neat teaspoonful sooths the throat and helps suppress a tickly cough too.

1x jar of clear honey (sizes vary)

1 x bushy sprig of thyme, taken from the tips of the branches, cut to fit inside the jar, washed and dried

Pour the honey into a small heavy bottomed pan: a milk pan or similar, and add the thyme.

Bring to a gentle boil (not rolling) boil.

Remove from the heat.

Pour into a sterilized jar together with the boiled sprig of thyme.

Cover with the lid.

It’s ready to use immediately but the flavour develops beautifully after a few days.

Store, as with any honey, at room temperature.