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“OLD-FOLK” WISDOM: How to Heal a Cold, Naturally

by LIVING HEALTH on June 2, 2017

In this installment article of our series: OLD-FOLK Wisdom, I am going to explain how you can heal a cold in a natural way, the way my grandmother used to do at the farm.

Recently, my family and I made a trip with friends to a location on top of a mountain where it is currently winter. We were headed to a small wooden cabin with a fireplace and a carefully-tendered lawn where the cold is known to pierce you all the way to the bones.

Upon arriving, at the end of the afternoon, we were blessed with a gorgeous sunset! From the front lawn you could see the mountains below covered with fog. Our hostess provided a simple dinner accompanied by an excellent wine. The fireplace was lit and we were engaged in conversation. Suddenly, one of our girls began to sneeze and kept on sneezing for a while.

At first, we thought she was sneezing because of the cold temperature, but in the middle of the night she began coughing and her nose got stuffy. She was having difficulty breathing, which caused her to become very weak. I remembered my grandma and her natural healing methods.

My husband and I went to the kitchen and prepared a chicken fat rub (organic and free-range), where you melt the fat on a spoon. We then took this fat and spread it across her chest and her back.

Afterwards, we prepared a good, fresh eggnog. I am sharing the recipe with you; see below.

Our daughter drank the hot eggnog and we covered her with a warm blanket. We also placed a pan filled with water, eucalyptus and mint leaves over a boiler, close enough to her bed, so that she could inhale the vapor. The hot eggnog warmed up her body enough that she started sweating and at the same time the vapor kept cleansing her respiratory passages.

We stayed there close to her, quietly having a conversation, until everyone fell asleep. In the morning, the sun rays were coming in through the window warming up the rooms and waking up each one of us. Our daughter was so much better, but the cough caused her throat to hurt, so I prepared my grandma’s special cough syrup, which I’m also sharing with you.

For her breakfast we made another hot eggnog and served it with cornmeal porridge sprinkled with cinnamon. Besides satiating hunger, the porridge warms up the body. We kept her inside throughout the day because the point was to keep her body temperature warm; exposing her to the cold weather would be counterproductive.

The next day she was perfectly fine and ready to enjoy the rest of our time together and the wonders of that beautiful mountainous location.

COLD-HEALING EGGNOG:

Ingredients:

1 egg yolk

1 tbs. of organic, unrefined coconut sugar—you can substitute with honey when the chest cold is causing pain.

5 oz. of hot milk

1 tsp. of ground cinnamon

1 pinch of freshly-ground nutmeg

Ruby Port wine—the quantity is proportional to the size and age of the person suffering from cold

Directions:

Put the egg yolk and the sugar in a large cup and beat it until the egg is of a cream color. Slowly add the hot milk, the cinnamon and the Port wine. Keep carefully beating the mixture in bain-marie (which means you place the large cup inside a pan with boiling water) until it begins to thicken, but be careful to not end up with scrambled eggs. Finally, grind the nutmeg over it.

HOME-MADE COUGH SYRUP:

Ingredients:

1 bunch of pennyroyal leaves (a type of mint)

2 tbs. of ground ginger

1 lemon (freshly squeezed juice)

3 tbs. organic raw honey

Directions

Place the mixture in bain-marie, cover it and let it sit until all the liquid is released. Then administer it, one to two tablespoons every three to four hours.