Herbals for persistent coughs

Candied mandarins 

Sweet and bitter apricot kernels 

Dried Chinese figs

Fritillary bulbs 

Liquorice roots

Whole mandarin oranges are pressed and candied, and then dried. Their natural vitamin C helps soothe colds and coughs.

The heart-shaped larger sweet apricot kernels, and the cyanide-tinged bitter apricot kernels are usually used in a proportion of two-to-one in prescriptions to soothe persistent coughs in winter.

Fritillary bulbs are the fruits of a delicate alpine flower that grows in the cooler highlands of China. They are also good cough cures, although used very sparingly because of their cost.

Liquorice is a common cough cure in both Chinese medicine and Western homeopathy. Some mothers may place a slice in their children’s mouths at the start of a cold, together with a wafer of ginger.