Horehound

Marrubium vulgare · Herb

40 pairings

Horehound (Marrubium vulgare), also called white horehound or common horehound, is a bitter, woolly-leaved aromatic perennial of the mint family, its wrinkled grey-green foliage and square stems carrying a musky, faintly minty scent and a deep, lingering bitterness. It is best known as the flavour of old-fashioned horehound candy and throat lozenges, and as a bittering and cough-easing herb long used in teas, syrups and traditional ales.

Picking a good onedrag

Newly dried, musky and bitterGrey dust, no scent left

Shop freshAn in-date packet, steeped weak and brief or boiled to syrup and candy. Traditionally avoided in pregnancy and in medicinal doses; a bittering pinch is not that.Everyday best

Colour of the cut herbGreyer and duller, the flower whorls browning off

What is in the packetMostly leaf and tops, some stem and dust

The crushCrisp still, crumbles readily under the thumb

Scent when crushedMusky still but flattened, the mint nearly gone

What to look for, from newly dried, musky and bitter to grey dust, no scent left.

Preparing