This is the best recipe if you have a cold that makes you feel like your brain is filled with mucus and you're feeling really sorry for yourself. Over the years, I have scribbled this recipe onto various scrap pieces of paper, texted it, emailed it, even forced people to memorize it and then sent them home to make it.
So here it is so you can refer to it anytime. It is delicious and safe for the whole family. It kind of tastes like Christmas. In fact you could even make an adult version by adding a splash of whiskey or bourbon.
What you'll need:
1 stick of cinnamon snapped in two
1 tsp of coriander pods
1 tsp of cloves
1 inch of fresh ginger sliced
3 cups of water
1/2 lemon
Honey
Instructions:
1) Combine all the ingredients apart from the lemon and honey and bring to the boil WITH A LID ON, then simmer gently for 12-15 mins. It's important you keep the lid on the whole time because a lot of the medicine is in the volatile oils that will escape otherwise.
2) Strain
3) Add juice of 1/2 lemon and honey to taste
4) Put on some comfort TV and start to feel human again
5) You can actually re-use the coriander, cloves and ginger one more time if you want to make another cuppa later
Yes, it's delicious but how does it work?
The cinnamon and ginger warm your body up. This is very important when you're sick because bacteria and viruses can only reproduce within a very narrow temperature bracket. You make your body a hostile environment for germs by keeping as warm as possible - that means warm baths, and no cold drinks or cold food until you're better.
The cinnamon is "mucilagenous" or in other words it coats your mucous membranes to help your body wrap up the snot better so your nose isn't constantly running.
The cinnamon, ginger, coriander, cloves and honey are all anti-microbial so they will help fight the infection as well as helping you digest all that mucous you're basically swallowing all day.
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