sore throat remedy

My Own Homemade Natural Sore Throat Remedy

My Sore Throat Remedy works so well it might grow on you beyond sick days!

Call me crazy, but I make my own sore throat remedy: It’s the only things that works for me. Judging by how many people thank me for my concoction, I have made quite a few converts. Although I have been blessed with very good health, all my life I have been prone to sore throat pains and discomfort.

Sore throat is my soft spot.

Everything leaves me with a sore throat: a two-hour cooking class, bronchitis, colds, sinus infection; IBS; HPilory; even once ages ago, a massive case of salmonella that scared the living daylights out of me: it took me almost a year to get rid of. I was even operated on nodules on my vocal chords about ten years ago.  Little children picking up the phone when I call their home run to their mothers at the first sound of my voice,  saying “Mommy, pick up, it’s Levana!” My singular trademark raspy voice caused me nothing but misery. Sultry, sexy and all that jazz? Please! I would have gladly traded it even for that of Archie Bunker’s wife Edith if that only meant no more sore throats and no hoarseness. Is it any wonder I have a mug of tea with me at all times?

Visits to the doctor were useless.

A couple months ago a particularly debilitating sinus infection was treated with steroids and an intensive antibiotic treatment. That left me with a severe sore scratchy throat, and an unrelenting dry cough. After a second visit to the doctor, suspicions briefly turned to Acid Reflux Disease: They were quickly dismissed since I didn’t have any of the the other symptoms associated with it (heartburn, reflux etc). During a very recent sleepless night of desperate coughing I racked my brains for some relief. I remembered my mother’s war cries, which sounded too good to be true, the cure is in the pot! the cure is in the refrigerator!

It seemed the cure could always be found somewhere in the kitchen when we were growing up. On upset-stomach days my father would boil oregano leaves in water, strain the liquid and drink it, sweetened with a little honey; other improbable but wondrous mixtures included seltzer, baking soda, cumin and lemon juice. I dragged myself to my desk in the middle of the night, poking around online for a homemade “sore throat remedy”.

Of all the recommendations made for a Natural Sore Throat Remedy, beside the familiar ones (lemon, salt, vinegar gargles, tea and honey etc), here are the ingredients that intrigued me: Turmeric, cloves, sage, green tea, cayenne, cinnamon, ginger, oregano, fenugreek. In short, back to the kitchen!

Good perennial tinkerer that I am, I had all the ingredients handy right in my pantry.

I started experimenting (what else did I have to do?), playing with different ratios to find the perfect sore throat remedy. My first batches, predictably, tasted downright vile, but I didn’t let that deter me, and just kept going. When I finally got a mixture that was tolerably drinkable, I made myself a cup of tea out of it, drank it, went back to bed, praying for sleep to come, and….you won’t believe this…. slept like a baby.

Grateful and encouraged, I have been making myself a cup of tea with the mixture every morning and every night. No more coughing! No more frog in my throat! I even tried singing, and it sounded like singing, not croaking. Could this be for real? I feel as if I hit gold! I think all of you out there who are, like me, plagued by sore throats, might feel the way I do. Thinking about my success with my concoction, it all made sense: Each of the ingredients I used in my homemade sore throat remedy is a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant, and used all together in a single combination they act much more potent than the sum of their parts.

Let me reassure you: While my sore throat remedy mixture doesn’t taste exactly like Pinacolada, it doesn’t taste anywhere near as offensive as those almost unimaginably bitter Chinese herbal mixtures many of us had to endure at some point in our lives to alleviate some condition or other the holistic way. Rather, it tastes just, you know, a little funky, definitely something we can live with.

Dare I say I love the taste?  A vastly improved Turmeric Tea.

Five minutes work will leave you with a good two weeks’ supply. Here comes.

You want to use every ingredient in powdered form to make this sore throat remedy. All are easy to find in good grocery stores and health food stores, but where I thought there would even be a small chance you might have trouble finding them, I have included a link to Amazon: All are inexpensive, and will arrive at your door in just a day or two. And if you are missing one or two ingredients, go ahead and make the tea mixture with the ones you do have, you will add the missing ones when you get them.

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup turmeric powder
  • 3 tablespoons sage powder (including a link just in case)
  • 1/4 cup ginger powder
  • 3 tablespoons ground cloves
  • 1/4 cup cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup ground green tea (including a link just in case)
  • 1/4 cup oregano powder (including a link just in case)
  • 1/4 cup fenugreek powder (including a link just in case)
  • 2 teaspoons cayenne powder: Here's where I want you to proceed with caution. Some brands are incredibly hot. Start with 2 teaspoons. After you taste your first cup of tea with the mixture, add some cayenne to the mixture if you think you can tolerate more. Cayenne is key in the mixture, so if it's not brutally hot, more is even better.

Instructions

Work in the sink, so as not to stain any counter space with the turmeric powder. Keep everything bone-dry: The spoons, the measuring cup, the jar. Place all ingredients in a wide mouth quart glass jar. Mix the contents thoroughly with a spoon, making sure the mixture is thoroughly combined and no lumps remain.

Mix one tablespoon of the mixture with 1 cup boiling water (or hot milk or coconut milk) a little more if it is not too strong for you.  Some of the powder mixture will settle in the bottom of your cup, that's OK, don't mix again, leave that part behind. Better yet, put 1 tablespoon mixture in a drawstring tea filter: David's Tea Filters are my favorite, very easy to order, very inexpensive and hassle-free; you will love them not only for this sore throat remedy spice mixture but for all loose tea leaves. The tea bag gets discarded, and you get a perfectly clear cup of tea.

Drink the tea as is, or sweetened with your favorite sweetener (I don't sweeten mine. Promise: It's not so bad. Pretty good even).

Store the sore throat remedy spice mixture in a perfectly dry glass jar, and keep it with your spices.

Makes about 2 cups

10 replies
  1. Chavah
    Chavah says:

    Hi Levana,

    I’ve made the mixture (I’ve also added some cinnamon and peppermint), and it really works! The spices have a soothing effect, and the remedy itself tastes very delicious (I’m serious :) ). Thank you very much!

    Kind regards from Latvia.

    Reply
  2. Ziva
    Ziva says:

    I had the same thing – is it going around? -This is so effective! I had to pulverize some ingredients at home, but didn’t it work on my cough and my hoarseness! Brava!

    Let me just add, eating amchar or other hot stuff also helped. Hot peppers and ginger the most. Definitely the individual ingredients help, but if you want the full effect, go for it! Nothing beats it. And you and your lovely Daughter-in-law both know, nothing can ever be too hot! (Hi Elisheva! Still loving those jalapenos!)

    Reply
    • Lévana
      Lévana says:

      Ziva so did you make my mixture? I couldn’t be sure from your comment. I absolutely love it, and it seems I have made quite a few converts:-)))

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