Home Remedies - Part Nine

Whether it's grandpa's secret recipe for a hot toddy, or Uncle Bob's sure fire cure for the hiccups, home remedies have been around for a long time. Between the rising cost of medicine and the length of the lines in the waiting rooms, more and more people are turning to home remedies for their minor illnesses. This series is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to home remedies. It should go without saying that the remedies in this series are for entertainment purposes only.

Coughs

Put the hair of the patient’s head between two slices of buttered bread and give the sandwich to a dog. The animal will therefore catch the cough and the patient will lose it. – A Northamptonshire, Devonshire, and Welsh Folk Remedy

Take one cup honey, half cup vinegar, one small teaspoon cayenne pepper. – the Farmer’s Advocate, 1876

Eat some dark chocolate. Chocolate can feel good on a sore throat, if you let it melt. Theobromine, a component of chocolate, has been demonstrated to relieve coughing.

A pint whiskey, 2 boxes rock candy; 1 tbl. glycerine. Put in bottle and shake, 1 tbl. at a time.

Mix 20 drops of garlic juice with pomegranate juice and drink it. It is beneficial in all types of cough. If you are averse to strong garlic, simmer the garlic until soft. Muddle one clove garlic with one tbsp honey. Stir in one tbsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice. The combination of garlic and acidic vinegar or lemon juice really opens up sinus passages and, along with the honey, breaks up phlegm. Garlic and honey are also loaded with vitamins and have antiseptic properties.

Infuse three drachms of garlick and half an ounce of mustard seed into a quart of white wine, let it stand a week closed up and drink a glass of it as often as you please. – the Complete Vermin Killer and Useful Pocket Companion, 1778

Three newly laid eggs, unbroken, over which is poured the juice of six lemons and allow to stand for forty-eight hours. Then pick out any bits of the egg shell which are not dissolved. Add one half pound of rock candy and one pint of Jamaica brandy; mix well and bottle. Dose: one tablespoon three or four times a day. – the New Cookbook, 1806

The use of raw onion is valuable in a cough. This vegetable should be chopped fine and the juice extracted from it. One teaspoon of the juice should then be mixed with one teaspoon of honey and kept for four or five hours-it will make an excellent cough syrup and should be taken twice daily. Onions are also useful in removing phelgm. A medium-sized onion should be crushed, the juice of one lemon added to it, and then one cup of boiling water poured on it. A teaspoon of honey can be added for taste. This remedy should be taken two or three times a day.

Grind coriander and sugar candy in equal quantity and take 1 tsp. of it with a cup of rice soaked water. It will be beneficial. This will give relief from cough.

One of the most effective and nauseating-sounding cures for persistent catarrhal infections, which may cause both coughs and bronchitis, is the drinking of the warm water into which all the goodness of the cabbage or leeks has leeched during cooking. Nasty though it sounds, it does taste quite savoury and should be taken night and morning. It is also an ancient remedy for whooping-cough. This will help in treating cough.

A sauce prepared from raisins is also useful in a cough. This sauce is prepared by grinding 100 gm of raisins with water. About 100 gm of sugar should be mixed with it and the mixture heated. When the mixture acquires a sauce-like consistency, it should be preserved. Twenty grams should be taken at bedtime daily.

The Honourable Mr. Boyle’s Genuine Sirup For Coughs: This excellent remedy cannot be made too public. It is thus prepared. Take six ounces of comfrey root and twelve handfuls of plantain leaves: cut and beat them well: strain out the juice: and with an equal weight of sugar, oil it to a sirup. -1814

If you dry chestnuts (only the kernels) both the barks being taken away, beat them into powder and make the powder up into an electuary with honey, so you have an admirable remedy for the cough and spitting of blood. – Nicholas Culpeper, 1652

Buttonwood, white oak, and white ash barks, equal parts boiled in water and sweetened with honey. Dose: one tablespoon three times a day. – the Primitive Physick, 1747

Buy a chest rub that contains camphor or menthol and apply it to your throat and chest. Both of these substances have been FDA-approved as topical antitussives, which simply means they stop a cough. They should not be taken internally.

If you don’t have any store-bought chest rub, try making a mustard plaster to loosen up chest congestion. Mix one part mustard powder and two parts flour in a bowl. Add just enough water to make a paste. Spread the paste on a dishtowel, fold the towel in half, and press it against the skin. (Never put the mustard mixture directly on your skin.) Check your skin often and remove the plaster if your skin becomes too red or irritated. Some people suggest using an egg white instead of water to make a plaster that’s less likely to burn.