As I get older my seasonal allergies seem to get worse. I don’t remember ever having them as a child, and then a few years back - BAM! – they hit me. It settles in my sinuses, giving me a sore throat, stuffy nose, headache, making it nearly impossible to fall asleep at night.
I don’t like to take medicine – unless perhaps I have a really bad headache – so I didn’t even think of buying allergy medication. I did, however, look around for some home remedies. I found a promising homemade decongestant but didn’t have all the ingredients on hand (I don’t usually stock radishes and red onion), but then I found a really simple recipe that actually looked like it might taste good, too.
Maggie’s Cough Remedy consists of cayenne, ginger, cider vinegar, honey and water. How easy is that? I didn’t have the cayenne but settled for chili powder, which I think acts in the same way. As you can imagine, with the pepper and ginger, it’s spicy – but a sweet spicy. As the original recipe notes, it’s quite watery and the spices don’t completely dissolve, so you just shake it up each time you use it. I made a small batch in a jelly jar and store it in the fridge.
It’s not a miracle elixir or anything, but I feel like it really helped, and the combination of ingredients seems to both tackle decongestion and soothe a sore throat. Safe for the whole family – except for babies, who shouldn’t have honey - and I don’t think you can overdose on pepper and ginger!
Maggie’s Cough Remedy
¼ teaspoon cayenne
¼ teaspoon ginger
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon honey
Dissolve the spices in the vinegar and water, then add the honey. Take one tablespoon as needed.
