this morning, after i stumbled out of bed, swallowed an ibuprofen and some vitamins with an exaggerated slug of water and then crawled onto the couch, tugging one of the cats towards me for warmth, Ulrich asked if i remembered the syrupy potion i’d made for him many winters ago when he caught a cold during one of his visits to pittsburgh. he wondered if he should make the same thing to try to cure my current cold or other respiratory infection (multiple COVID tests have all been negative).
neither of us could remember exactly what went in it - i’m fairly certain that at least raw onion and honey were involved, but Ulrich thinks there was also garlic and a few other pungent spices (the thought occurred to me, but only fleetingly, that the reason behind Ulrich’s offer might not have been pure kindness but rather an urge to literally “give me a taste of my own medicine”!).
a quick search through my old e-mails and notes didn’t reveal any hints, so i looked online for other recipes and discovered this “Basic Cold & Flu Tea” from The Herbal Academy (which i hadn’t heard of before today). Some notes added by me below:
Ingredients
3-4 slices fresh ginger with skin
3-4 slices fresh turmeric with skin (not in the original recipe but I asked Ulrich to add this)
One clove chopped garlic
Cayenne powder (Ulrich used about 1/8 tsp.; it turned out quite spicy!)
Tea of choice (Ulrich used green tea)
Honey to taste
Milk/milk alternative, optional (I asked Ulrich to leave this out)
Directions
Bring 3-4 slices of fresh ginger (skin on), turmeric (skin on), and one clove of chopped garlic to a boil and simmer for approximately 20 minutes
Use ginger water to steep tea (we used green but black, oolong or any herbal tea would work too)
Add cayenne powder as hot as can be tolerated to induce sweating (~1/8 heaping tsp. managed to induce sweating for me!)
Honey to taste
Add milk or dairy alternative (almond, soy or other)(we left out this step)Drink 3-4 cups per day
Drink before bed and bundle up to induce sweat
man! i have had the tea twice today and while i am not yet back to 100%, the first infusion of cayenne into my system was so energizing that i practically jumped out my chair. it felt like some internal sludge was being burned away from my gut and esophagus. of course, later in the day any sludge which remained seemed to have coagulated towards the section of my head between my nostrils and eyebrows, but a few spritzes of nasal spray quickly took care of that. i’m already looking forward to bundling up and sipping another cup of tea later tonight (herbal instead of green for this last one of the day) and then drifting off into a fiery stupor…
This reminds me of Fire Cider, which a lot of my friends make before cold and flu season and use for medicinal purposes all through the winter. Heal up, my friend, and glad to hear Ulrich is taking good care of you!