Occupational hazard

The downside of working with young kids is that they get lots of bugs. Teachers do build up an immunity but every now and then you succumb to the sniffles.  I've been fighting off a sniffly nose and a bit of a cough all week but I've woken up this morning with a full blown stinker.  After getting up to feed dogs and chickens I've gone back to my bed.  Not like me at all!!

I know there's no cure for the common cold but if there's anything I can do to ease some of these symptoms then I'm game.  I've been doing some googling and have so far found these natural remedies.  Some I knew about and some are new to me.

Cayenne pepper in orange juice sipped through a straw to ease a sore throat.  Easy one to try.

Garlic in everything.  Already knew about that one for colds.

Pomegranates have more antioxidants than green tea and red wine.  Drinking the juice helps fight throat infections as well as having all round immune boosting properties.  New one for me.

Sage tea.  I've tried this one in the past, really works!  Fresh sage is good if you've got it, just infuse and drink.  Dried sage works best as a gargle.

Carrots, cooked not raw.  Full of good stuff.

Kiwi fruits, more vitamin C than oranges.  Apparently eating them reduces the number days of having a sore throat.

I know I've got garlic, dried sage and carrots in the kitchen so will be having those today.  Another good one is honey and lemon.  I did a nice Manuka honey and lemon remedy once.

But my personal favourite thing for a cold is homemade chicken soup.  And luckily I just happen to have made a big pot of it for my visitors yesterday :-)

Summer or winter?

Yes, we Brits are preoccupied with the weather.  And we Scots are doubly obsessed with wind and rain.  So far it's been a wet summer here, interspersed with a few dry-ish warm-ish days.  In fact it's been so chilly at night this past week I've lit the woodburner and switched the Aga back on.

 

Thanks to the warm, damp and cool weather lots of bugs and viruses are doing the rounds.  We seem to be sharing a nasty cold one at the moment.  I've been dosing myself with hot honey and lemon to soothe my raspy throat and cough.

 

I keep seeing this cold remedy using honey and lemons on the internet so thought I'd give it a go.  So when I went to Sainsbury's to buy more honey I was delighted to see Manuka honey with 20% off.  I bought 2 x 340g jars of the 5+ at £6.55 each.  I would have loved to have bought some of the 10+ but it's slightly out of my budget.  The higher the NPA number the better the antibacterial properties but also has a higher price tag!

 

So I chopped up 2 unwaxed lemons and added them to a clean jar.  Then I poured over a full jar of the Manuka honey.  The instructions I've seen said pour honey until it's about a third of the way up the jar.

Once it settled it was about a third of the jar, this pic was taken almost straight away so it hadn't settled yet.  It now gets stored in the fridge for a few weeks until the lemons turn a deep brown colour and it looks marmaladey. Then you just add a spoonful to a mug and add boiling water for a soothing healing drink. Some recipes say use raw honey and some say any honey is fine.  The Manuka honey feels like a halfway compromise. I'll report back if it works :-)

In an attempt to feel more summery I made some elderflower cordial.  I just love the smell of it. The recipe is in the Soup Kitchen. 

I've changed the button at the top from My Other Blog to Ali's Soup Kitchen.  All detailed recipes from now on will be in the Soup Kitchen