In second grade, we were allowed to bring cough drops to school and keep them in our desks. Since I had a cough, my mother let me take an orange box of Luden's Originals to school. They were as big as footballs and had a barely tolerable, medicinal taste.I was the new kid on the block, as usual, since my family moved on the average of once every two years, which I hated, by the way. Just as soon as I felt warm and woolly, and made a few friends, it was time to pack up and hit the road. But, I digress. Anyway, I was clueless as to the "cough drop protocol" at my new school.
Psst. I'll trade you cough drops. The girl with the curly red hair whispered to me, when the teacher turned her back.
Okay. Sure.
She took a little round red piece from a funny looking white box with two old men on the front, and handed it over, under my desk. I had never tasted anything so mouth-watering-good as a Smith Brothers wild cherry cough drop. I was in heaven. It was even better than my favorite butterscotch Lifesavers.
Bleh! What's this? She whispered loudly, spitting my sticky Luden's football into her hand.
What I didn't realize, was that cough drops were the approved "candy of choice" at school. Everyone had a "cough" and brought delicious wild cherry ones to enjoy on long snowy afternoons. When I asked my mother if I could please have some Smith Brothers cherry flavored, she refused, because they were "just like candy" and didn't work for coughs. Hmm. Little did she know.
I finally got rid of a pesky cough that's been bothering me for months. My grown-up cough drop of choice is Ricola sugar free cherry. It brings back delicious memories of lovely borrowed Smith Brothers. But, if you're in need of a really high powered drop, forget the Luden's
and go for straight for the Fisherman's Friends, my friends.
But now Luden's is sweet, I think they must have improved the flavor. I agree with you about the Butterscotch Lifesavers, they are my favorites.
ReplyDeleteFisherman's Friends would kill anything...
ReplyDeletei too love the butterscotch lifesavers.
ReplyDeletespeaking of butterscotch....
i used to make jello butterscotch pudding and eat it hot.
as long as i am putting something in my mouth and swallowing.....i guess i won't cough either.
maybe i can carry pudding in my pocket at work.
smith bros are the best!
(in my opinion)
xx
I always use Halls cough drops, since my coughs are usually accompanied by nasal symptoms, and all the Halls have that added mentholation that really clears the sinuses - and they taste pretty dang good, too!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite home cough remedy is a hot honey and whisky.
Honey and whiskey? Now you're talkin'!
ReplyDeletebeen living on cough syrup for 3 weeks now....
ReplyDeletebut maybe i'll try the hot honey and whiskey!
Gee, I have not had a cold/cough since moving to Oregon. Don't know why. This brought back lots of good memories.
ReplyDeleteFisherman's Friends? Is that a brand?
Butterscotch anything is my favorite.
ReplyDeleteI always envied the bigger boys who smoked Kool cigarettes for their sore throats and coughing spells. The menthol was the cure they said and most believed since they were sold behind the counter at the drug store.
ReplyDeleteWillow
ReplyDeleteI am a Fisherman's Friend fiend. Throughout the winter months, I always keep a packet handy.
Fisherman's Friend does do the trick when the peppermint won't( at least for me ). But honey-lemon is the fave! And I know too well the constant moving around. One never gets a chance to really make any friends, wot?
ReplyDeleteOh, I remember those Smith Bros. well -- and yes, they were yummy. And honey, lemon, and whisky at home.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your cough drop story, Willow. At my boarding school when we had coughs, we were given a dose of what we nicknamed "French furniture polish." A dark brown liquid poured from a formidable looking old fashioned glass pharmacy bottle, dispensed by Matron. It felt warm and delicious going down, and most likely was alcohol based! Yay for Rico-laaaaaa!
ReplyDeletewillow i love fisherman's friend cough drops. strange that eh? my students love cough drops but i don't think i've ever seen a trade. lots of sharing though. abe's comment about kool cigarettes made me laugh. i smoked kools in grade six at recess in the ravine at the back of the school. i had no idea that there was any medicinal quality to them!!! have a lovely day at the manor. steven
ReplyDeleteToo funny--we were discussing these at work the other day--I always loved Smith Brothers cough drops. Our school "worked" the same way as yours. My grandmother gave me Smith Brothers (just one more thing that endeared her to me) and like your mother, my mom frowned upon them as being too sweet. I don't think I've ever had Fisherman's Friends. I always use Hall's lemon drops with honey, but they're definitely no Smith Brothers in the taste dept!
ReplyDeleteid rather it work than taste good honestly, but if you can get the two together...great. ricola is mine of choice as well. happy sunday willow!
ReplyDeleteI loved the Smith Brothers so much I probably would have married them had they not been old and decrepit looking. They were the absolute best! I even chose them over other candy when I didn't have a cough.
ReplyDelete(Fisherman's Friends, on the other hand, are nasty tasting... but they do work.)
Great memory poke! I loved the Wild Cherry too and we did trade them in school. My father, the original natural food & remedy guy, always bought us the Luden's "Original" menthols too. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteYou were so lucky to have had Luden's. My mom would only by Throat Discs and if you've never had them, believe me, you should be glad. Yuk! The only nice thing was that they came in a tin, which I thought was really cool.
ReplyDeleteI used to love the black licorice flavored Smith Brothers cough drops (candy). But it's been so long since I've had a cough, I can't recall what I have more recently used.
ReplyDeleteLadyCatLarew, ah, yes, I can see you loved the Smith Brothers just as much as I did!
ReplyDeleteCough drops make my tongue numb.
ReplyDeleteBut a wee dram works!
The kids who would never talk to me suddenly got really friendly when they saw me take my Smith Brothers from my desk. Fickle friends of my cough. I learned to have some grit and say "NO!" but it took me a few boxes.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the walk down cough drop lane.
i haven't thought about those smith brothers cough drops for years. oh how i loved them!! and you're right, the ludens were too big and were shaped like footballs.
ReplyDeleteglad your cough is better. i need to try the ricolas!!
I had a German friend in Trinidad who was never without her box of Fisherman's Friends. (I can't bear them myself; give me a wild cherry cough drop anyday.) I remember the famous image of the Smith Bros from one of my favorite childhood books -- The Egg and I, by Betty McDonald. Have you ever read it?
ReplyDeleteDidn't Smith Bros. Have the Black cough drops also. Maybe that was before your time .Ha ha
ReplyDeleteTis great to be young..
Yvonne
Yes smith brothers had licorice cough drops too. I liked those but as with you Willow head for Riccola's nowadays. A fun post. I dont think we were allowed to bring them to school, at least to this degree. But then I'm from Puritan country, eh?
ReplyDeleteYes, yes, I remember the black Smith Brothers, too. But my little taste buds weren't too fond of licorice.
ReplyDeleteAt the exact moment I was reading your post, I heard Jean Arthur reference Smith Brothers! She was referring to Ronald Colman's beard. Yikes! What are the chances of that happening? I am watching "Talk of the Town" which also stars Cary Grant. What synchronicity!
ReplyDeleteThose cherry cough drops...what memories!
Painter, that is too scary!! What kind of strange synchronicity is that? doo-doo...doo-doo (that's the Twilight Zone theme music, in case you didn't recognize it!)
ReplyDeleteI loved these cough drops, and they were like candy! They were always in my grade school book satchel! I keep Hall's Honey Lemon & Cherry in a tin at school...for students and for me! The tin looks like a comvincing replica of the Oxford English Dictionary...and I always get a chuckle out of students when one asks for a cough drop...I reply: "Cough drop?....hmmm....I will have to look that up in the OED."
ReplyDeleteThere are astonished looks...mumbles & grumbles.."She doesn't know what a cough drop is...?
I lift the lid, pull out a several Halls and ask innocently, "You mean one of these?"
I think I'm missing out - I need to go find some Smith Bros! What I remember are "chips" which were small licorice-flavored dots that were chewy. My grandma kept these in her church bag!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, my friend the doctor says that hot whiskey and honey is absolutely the best cough medicine. The whiskey relaxes the muscles that are spasm-ing and the honey coats the throat. I've also heard that you can add lemon to the above, although I'm not sure what that does.
I loved Smith Brothers but now Fisherman's Friends do the trick.
ReplyDeleteHow dull life is when you get to be a responsible adult.
I used to almost look forward to getting colds so I could suck cherry flavored cough drops and take NyQuil! But now that honey and whiskey idea is sounding pretty good. :)
ReplyDeleteMy mother also frowned upon the Smith Brothers....I loved them. But, nowadays I enjoy the honey/lemon/whiskey concoction. Some Kentucky made Maker's Mark has wonderful medicinal qualities...
ReplyDeleteFishermans Friends- now that's what I call pulling our the big guns. Have saved me many a time from those nagging eye-watering coughs that keep the rest of the family awake at night. Two at a time and we all sleep.
ReplyDeleteSo funny! What is it about Fisherman's Friends? They have a truly indescribable flavour and still blow your head off. Personally, I just think they work by making you forget the cough, you're in such agony.
ReplyDeleteI loved those cherry Smith Brothers!
ReplyDeleteWillow,
ReplyDeleteLudens was one of my favorites growing up as well as Smith Bros. Anise flavored ones. I didn't like the cherry ones at all.
Today it's Hall's Honey and Lemon Menthol that I'm addicted to. A few years ago, while on a diet, I switched to sugar free halls menthol but holy moly man did they play havoc with my digestive tract.
rel
Hi Willow,
ReplyDeleteGlad you're rid of that pesky cough. How nostalgic a post this is. I'm afraid my mother spoiled me with the cherry flavored cough drops. But, I'm a big girl now, and Fisherman's Friend is my drop of choice.
Marjorie
Ludens were the "sucker" of choice at my school too. I totally forgot about them so thanks for the memories. Fisherman's Friends?
ReplyDeleteJoyce
In Canada we have Buckley's. You haven't lived until you've tasted Buckley's.:-)
ReplyDeleteThere are two bags of Luden's Wild Cherry Throat Drops in my medicine cabinet. I don't need them, I just want them for comfort. When I was a little girl, my great-grandfather always had a box of them for me at the ready:) I really love your post. It brings back many sweet memories.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Trading cough drops in school these days is a criminal offense!
I used to sneak those Ludens...I liked them! ha! I'll never forget the first time I gave Taylor a Smith Brother's cherry one...he loved it...and ate the whole box! ha! Remember Sucrets? I wonder if they still make those. That's what my friends had in their desks.
ReplyDeleteFisherman's Friend is definitely the way to go! I remember the cough syrup that had cod liver oil in it--not tasty.
ReplyDeleteYou won't believe this...Bach & I were just discussing these very cough drops this evening! Our 2 cats reminded him of the 2 "cough drop brothers" and we both said how good the cherry ones were.
ReplyDeleteKey the "Twilight Zone" music...
There's a dirty joke here somewhere...
ReplyDeletebut I shall refrain! ;)
I love the Ricola drops, but you're right. Fisherman's Friends are the best!
ReplyDeleteHmm, Jeff, it's usually Otin who points those out for me!
ReplyDeleteLadyCat, that is too crazy! Too many strange cough drop synchronicities. I had no idea the Smith Brothers were such a hot topic out there!
ReplyDeleteInstant memory connection...loved bringing my 'medicine' to school...I was very stingy about sharing...loved the flavor and licorice and the box!!
ReplyDeleteI had Luden's Wild Cherry when I was a kid. Could even get them at the movie theater. I'd eat the whole box during the movie.
ReplyDeleteFunny what we remember.
Somehow I missed out on Smith Brothers. I don't know if it's universal, but in California you have to show your ID when buying cough syrup because of kids who buy it for "other purposes". Not my idea of a fun way to get wasted.
ReplyDeleteHee, hee. Your mother was right, Willow! xx
ReplyDeleteLoved it. Bartering in school? Marvellous. I wish you better with yoru cough. Many thanks for such an amusing tale.
ReplyDeleteGreetings from London.
Loved it. Bartering in school? Marvellous. I wish you better with yoru cough. Many thanks for such an amusing tale.
ReplyDeleteGreetings from London.
We were getting gas and there was a sign for Coffee Brothers Coffee at the station, and when we left, we reflected on these very same brand of cough drops. There was a look about the packaging too.....
ReplyDeleteHaven't used any since then, since I notice a lot of them have sugar in them.
Cheers!
Hard to fit in with the wrong cough drops! Poor little Willow.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to check for menthol yesterday and now have a whole package of cough drops I can't stand. (If they're menthol, I'd rather be sick.)
ReplyDeleteHello Willow,
ReplyDeleteFor me, can't beat 'Victory V' lozenges http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_V
or Halls menthol & ucalyptus, neither of which I've had for years! I loved them.
I think my cough medicine of choice is Laphroaig 10 year old. I doesn't cure your cough, but you don't care anymore.
ReplyDeleteOf all those names willow, the only one I recognise here in the UK is Fisherman's Friend - I could quite easily become addicted to those so I rarely buy them. As Spacedlaw says - they would pretty much kill anything. Keep warm.
ReplyDeletea recipe that you might enjoy up over at Black Street. xo les Gang
ReplyDeleteps Halls cough drops are my one and only go to cold medicine. Ahhhh that mentholatum fortunately colds seem to evade me most of the time.
ReplyDeleteWillow,
ReplyDeleteFunny post! LOL.... psychic here.. LadyCat and I just were talking about the Smith Bros... yikes...scarey :) The Bach
I like Ricola cherry honey, as they come as close to the Smith brothers taste as is possible.
ReplyDeleteOh man. I LOVED those cough drops! Wow, what a trip. Hadn't thought about them in forever.
I never ever liked any kind of lozinge.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it has to do with the - for me - rather dramatic disappearance of a hard candy I found behind a sofa cushion: It was full of fiber and dust, so I dropped it in a bucket of water (there were always buckets of water standing around in the barn) to soak, to better clean off the dirt. Well, would you believe it that the candy was gone when I went back to retrieve it hours later? What a shock! ;-)
Fisherman's Friends are BRUTAL!!!
ReplyDeleteDo you get Buckley's in the States? They are just as bad.
I had completely forgotten about butterscotch Lifesavers, but your words immediately brought the taste back to my tongue! Sweet!
Kat
Yes Fisherman's Friends are powerfully good. I had pneumonia once and I swear they helped me get better, that and putting my head in a bowl (steam inhalation!).
ReplyDeleteSusan, your Blackstreet recipes are always the BEST! Thank you. I'm popping over right now...
ReplyDeletePS
ReplyDeleteThe library book group is reading the Guernsey book at the moment. I would love to hear what you think of it.
Ah, yes, I remember the Smith Brothers.
ReplyDeleteWhose names -- it's right on the front of the box -- were Trade and Mark.
If someone else has written this among your 70-some comments, forget I mentioned it. :-)
Berowne, Trade and Mark? That made me laugh out loud! You were the first and only one to mention it.
ReplyDeleteI read today's WikiHow and immediately thought of you! http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Homemade-Cough-Drops
ReplyDeleteWe moved evry three years (you sound like a military kid) and I'm old enough to remember the bad cough drops and those awful peppermint louzenges mom would make us eat while traveling...traveling by Greyhound bus.!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe Smith Brothers brought back so many little girl memories in Indiana. It's funny how we enjoyed them as such a treat in school. It seems as though there was some very waxy paper the cough drops were in within the box. I enjoy the Ricola now, but it certainly doesn't have the charm of those little cherry drops in the 50's.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of the lime drops in "Little Women". Wonderful memory Willow, and you tell it so well. :)
ReplyDeleteThe Smith Brothers paper(?) is just great! We still have Dr. Bayard, now plastic, but the same old look.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good thing there was no medicine in those Smith Brothers Wild Cherry! I'd have been dead by 3rd grade. Great post on a tasty subject. (cough)
ReplyDelete