TT - Strange Cold Remedies

Since I shared Lea's not at all strange and very effective cold remedy with you all yesterday, I figured why not riff off that theme for this week's TT. I give you 13 home cold remedies. The ingredients for Lia's tea are all listed here, but some of the others are a bit more, shall we say, esoteric. Yes, somebody, somewhere, is actually doing this. The "cures" are all taken off the internet, snarky comments are emphasis is mine.

1. Wet socks for sniffles
To clear congestion when you have a cold, first warm your feet in hot water, then soak a thin pair of socks in cold water, wring them out and put them on. Put a pair of thick, dry socks over the wet ones and go to bed. According to 1,001 Home Remedies (Reader's Digest), the wet socks help draw blood to your feet, thereby boosting circulation, which helps clear congestion. Yeah, thanks, but no.

2. Chocolate for coughs
If a tickly cough is bugging you, treat yourself to a bar of chocolate. Theobromine, found in cocoa, suppresses sensory nerves, which will help soothe your throat. Now this is one I can support!

3. Lizard soup(!!)

"The lady at the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) shop explained that the lizards are best in a soup, and set out collecting all the bits and pieces to make the soup with. The soup ingredients (herbs) are yam, chinese dates, ginseng, medlar, and something called tragacanth. About 10 grams of each.... You cook these herbs with some pork bones and the lizards. The TCM shopkeeper told me I could eat the lizards (snap off the head and limbs and toss them out) and that the tails are the best, as in beneficial, parts to eat. They're reported to be good for asthma, colds, lungs and heart." Umm, no thanks. I don't care how well it works, no way no how am I eating a lizard!

4. Kam Wo Tea

Kam Wo Tea is great for the first stage of colds and flus, especially with a sore throat. Take at the first tickle in the throat. Excellent for singers. Ok, this one sounds a bit more palatable.

(Numbers 5-11 are taken from here)

5. Cayenne(Capsicum sp): Chilies, especially Jalapeno, are proven antiviral and most effective against cold. However, your stomach needs to tolerate the chilies to treat your virus infection! So, get into the habit of eating more chilies to develop better tolerance. Good to know, since I've been loading up Lea's homebrew with a very hefty pinch of cayenne pepper.

6. Echinacea: This is the best herb to take during the early stages of cold. Although, it's not an antibiotic and doesn't kill germs, it stimulates the production of white blood cells, which fight off the virus. In all honesty I've never found echinacea to help me all that much. I used to give it to the kids in the winter as a preventative, but it didn't seem all that effective.

7. Elderberry (Sambucus nigra): Elderberry has been used for centuries as a (natural remedy for cold and flu). It deactivates cold and flu viruses by preventing them from replicating. It’s best taken at the first signs of a cold. Sambucus nigra? Is this what sambuca is made from? I could do that...

8. Garlic (Allium sativum): This truly natural antibiotic destroys foreign bacteria with the help of a substance called allicin. Garlic is best when fresh. This one's in the tea too, and RivkA (the one with the capital A) recently recommended eating fresh garlic on toast every day as a way to stave off colds, twice a day when you're actually sick.

9. Ginger (Zingiber officinalis): Ginger, either freshly grated or powdered, taken as a tea induces sweating and elimination. It boosts the immune system and respiration. It provides relief for virtually all cold symptoms, like fever, sinus congestion, sore throat, stomachache and nausea. I'm going to try adding this one to the tea as well next time. I love freshly-grated ginger, and we always have it in the house.

10. Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis): Hyssop has some properties that make it valuable in treating colds. Hyssop is a main ingredient in za'atar, a popular spice mix here in the Middle East. We put it on salads, breads and all kinds of things. I've never heard of it being called a cure for the common cold though.

11. Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis): Lemon Balm is often found in cold formulas for feverish conditions. It’s an excellent remedy to take in the wake of a cold to nurture the nervous system and to expel feelings of lethargy. It’s best used when fresh. Melissa, as it's called in Israel, is a common herb in minty-type herbal teas. Again, I've never heard of it being particularly good for colds though.

12. The ever-popular chicken soup, otherwise known as "Jewish pennicillin". As a good Jewish mom myself I didn't need the internet for this one.

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13. "My grandma fried onions and plastered them on your chest, gave you an enema and then you could only wish you could die. The cold didn't seem too bad after that. (I should think not!) The cure was much worse than the illness. My grandfather preferred bitters for a cold. Just the name made me cringe. It was black and kept in the fridge in a gallon jar. God only knows what was really in it." Note: this same site also mentions several people who used to EAT Vicks Vapor Rub!