Friday, May 9, 2008

Old School Home Remedy: The Hot Toddy


I know most people tend to think of colds and coughing in the winter months-but I'm prone to a Spring and Fall outbreak of bronchitis or some other nasty congested chest and cough plague. I'll be sick for a day or two and then feel better except for a horrible cough that likes to stick around for weeks afterwards. This wasn't something I dealt with as a child-its just another one of those things I like to blame on Georgia and its nasty smog polluted air and murderous pollen counts.


Anyway-I'm dealing with it right now, the cough can get so bad I've actually bruised my ribs and caused inflamation in the tissue surrounding my ribs. That my friends does NOT feel pleasant-so in an effort to combat the cough this year I'm taking it back, way back to the old school methods my momma use to use on me. Now I must say Chris Rock's famous 'Tussin does the job if you want to get some sleep, it will knock you right out (I swear by the children's 'Tussin-it works better than the adult version) but if you really want to kick that congestion out of your chest...


Its Hot Toddy time!


The recipe is really simple.


1. Juice two lemons into a glass microwaveable container ( I like to use my Pyrex measuring cups)


2. Add 1/4 cup honey to the mix (if you can get some local honey-that's even better)


3. Bring the lemon and honey to a boil in the microwave-probably about 1.5 minutes.


4. Set the honey and lemon aside to cool until warm.


5. Brew a cup of tea-I like to use wellness echinachea tea-but any kind will do.


6. pour the warm honey lemon mixture into the tea.


7. Add about a 1/4 cup of brandy or whiskey.


8. Stir and then add a dash of cayenne pepper.


9. Drink.


Ahh..relief. something about the lemon and honey being brought to a boil chemically changes it and gives it some healing properties. Either that or the whiskey gets you just drunk enough to forget the annoying cough all together.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I feel all warm and fuzzy just reading the recipe.

Here's Nanny's Period Wine Tea Concoction...

Boil a pot of water, add a couple regular tea bags, add some red wine, add some more red wine, throw in some sugar and some lemon juice. No measurements, just keep tasting till it suits your needs. When the girls were in town in April me and Poppy were both sick and drank the whole pot up :)

Love ya, hope you feel better soon. Hey maybe Red could use a cup of that too. Heehehe.

Alyssa said...

I think my gramma's hot toddy was more like a glass of whiskey with a little lemon juice and some tea if you were a wus :-) Maybe not THAT extreme but she will still tell me to make a hot toddy and curl up on the couch if I am sick and I am beginning to think that was the right idea all along!

Look Cupcake said...

I see you busted out the good ol' Seagrams for this occasion. :)

We never used tea, just hot honey, lemon & whiskey. It'll cure what ails ya.

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