Hot Ginger, Lemon and Honey tea ( with an added kick)

After a hard and busy week at work, the weekend finally arrived and the weather came with it.  It has been glorious, the sun appears to have finally come back, at least for the next few days..

Just sitting on the porch you can see that Spring is well on it’s way,  crocus are popping up everywhere and the daffodils are happily nodding as we pass by.

And not soon enough; the darkness of Winter was staring to bite,

Lou has been ill with the awful flu, that’s been doing the rounds and which has seemed to have lasted for ages.

And I have had/have a rather bad sore throat for that last few days – the kinds with the nasty white spots and – I know TMI!!.

So I have been drinking lots of my special ‘get better’ tea. 

It’s a recipe which was given to me by my own mum.

It works for colds, flue and sore throats

It’s a  wonderful hot and soothing Tea

And it’s made from wonderful fresh ingredients  –

What you will need is L

freshly grated ginger,

fresh lemon juice

and honey.

  Mum always gave it to us as children at the first sign of a sniffle or complaint about a sore throat.

And it’s what I have always given and recommended to my children.

(and even my grandchildren drink it now too)

Ginger – is well know to help and aid digestion, but it’s heat also helps a fever to run it’s course as well as boot the immune system

Honey – is well know for it antibacterial properties, and has been used for 100’s of years in many other ways to help cure ailments. 

I know how good Honey feels on my sore throat, and if my throat is really bad, I have been know to east just a spoon full of it. 

I do prefer to use local honey if I can, and we have fantastic Sheffield Honey,  but if you can’t get hold of local honey, a good honey will do if need be.

Local Honey is also good for hay fever suffers too, and some research has shown that taking local honey helps boost your immune system so that local flower pollen doesn’t bother you so much

Honey is such an amazing  thing – and  bees are so important.

Did you know you can actually adopt a beehive!

Fresh lemon juice is high in Vitamin C and also full of the plant phytochemicals which also help help boost your immune system, again very important at this time of year.

(slight cheat there as I have used up all my lemons! – so used a stock photo.! – shall be buying more tomorrow – lemons that is! )

So back to the  tea …

1. Grate  a piece of fresh ginger root, usually the size of your thumb nail..approx 1 inch depending on how fiery you want it. .
2. Then put the grated ginger in a tea pot – or into a glass jug (one that’s suitable for boiling water!)
   
3. Squeeze the lemon, again it’s down to taste – I like my quite lemony and so use all of it. I also like to add some peel too for that added zing!
   
4. Add a tsp of honey or more, again to taste.. and to be honest depending on how bad my throat is.
   
5. Freshly boil some water – not the stuff that has sat in the kettle – like all tea the fresher the water the better, and add to the pot/jug. *
   
6. Cover and let it stand… now I like mine warm, so I can’t leave it that long, but you can leave it up to 20 mins, for the flavours to develop  and drink it cold.
7. Oh and strain it before drinking it…
8. If I am feeling really unwell I take my paracetamol with the drink… a mixture of the herbal and the pharmaceutical.**

Then drink regularly, if I have it with paracetamol then I tend to have it very 4 hours or so… but you can have it more often if you wish and as a cold drink too

Without the paracetamol that is! 

Cheers my dears!

* My mum also use to make this with barley water too – that is fresh pearl barley.  To make it with pearl barley, you need to add a handful of barley (2oz) to a pan of hot water, approx 1- 1 1/2 pints of water .

  Then bring it to the boil rapidly, then cover and reduce the heat to a simmer.   Simmer for approximately 6 minutes or so.

The barley can be added to a soup if you don’t want to waste it –  but it’s the water we want to use for out ‘tea’.   Use like Boiling water as above.

Pearl Barley water can be used as a face cleaner, as well as for many other  ailments, such as stomach cramps, urinary track infections – and it taste good, especially with lemon and honey added to it. 

Though if you do have these issues, and the continue after a few days I do strongly suggest that you speak to your GP/Doctor about them and get checked out!

** Okay there is also another addition to the ‘tea’ which I find worked best if taken as a nightcap- or just before you want to retire… add a good slug of whisky to the tea… it really does help you sleep .

Though this ‘added’ is not something I ever gave to my children!

It’s a strictly Over 18’s only please

( Or 21 if your State side! )

Oh and No paracetamol if I used a Toddy!

 ©2011, 2012  Shullie H Porter.  All Rights Reserved.