Soothe a cold with ginger tea
With the arrival of coldand-cough season, you may be thinking about cooking up a big batch of chicken soup as a cure for what ails you. I suggest you stock up on some fresh ginger root instead.
Ginger, of course, is one of the many flavours to be found in an Asian stir-fry or Indian curry. But used in larger quantities than specified for those recipes, it can become quite spicy.
Of all the home remedies out there, I have found tea, prepared with fresh ginger, to be the most effective.
Ginger tea is easy to make. Essentially, there’s nothing to do but chop up fresh ginger root, combine it with water and let it simmer. When you’re done, you’re looking at a clean-out-your-sinuses beverage.
I’ve provided a recipe below, but there’s no need to be so formal. You can wing it and you’ll be fine.
When making the tea, you might imagine that the first task would be to peel the ginger root. In fact, it’s not necessary.
Just rinse it well and slice off any bruised spots. Then chop it and pile all the chunks into a small saucepan. The more finely it’s chopped, the better — but half-inch (1.25-cm) chunks are good enough.
Cover the ginger root with 1 inch (2.5 cm) of cold water. Then bring the tea to a boil. (Starting with cold water pulls out more of the ginger flavour than starting with hot.)
The longer you simmer it, the stronger it becomes. So take a sip after 15 minutes or so and, if you approve, strain out the liquid. You can drink it straight up or with honey and lemon — or even a pinch of cayenne.
If one potful of the tea doesn’t entirely vanquish your cold, you can return the chunks to the saucepan, add fresh water and repeat the process.