I have a mild interest in traditional herbal remedies - I don't necessarily believe them all, it more stems from my interest in wildfood. However I have tried out some crazy remedies and found them to work. For example, rubbing a sage leaf across your teeth does whiten them up; inhaling the smell of lavender does make me feel calmer...it's not all rubbish.
But I have one wildfood remedy that I particularly like, and that is rosehip syrup. Mum says that in the Stone Age you used to be able to buy the syrup from the chemist, but nowadays if you want it, you have to make it yourself. I take between 2 and 4 desert spoonfuls a couple of times a day if I feel myself coming down with something. I find it really soothing on a sore throat. It's very sweet but with a delicious fruity flavour, and I can even imagine it used simply as a foodstuff - maybe drizzled over ice cream? (Although our rosehp wine this year has come out a bit too acidic - we'll see how it ages).
The recipe we used this year was very clear and easy to follow with plenty of pictures and you can find it here:
http://www.jeremytaylor.eu/rosehip_syrup.htm
I would say do not follow the advice of Alys Fowler who made it on Gardener's World last year - she was chopping the rosehips by hand, which means that you come into contact with all the little hairs which make you itch like mad. We just bunged them in the food processor after topping and tailing and it worked fine.
Another remedy is one that I came across on my school's French exchange trip! My friend's mother put a small, peeled whole onion in a jar of honey and gave me a spoonful of that every day one time when I had a cold. I can't say it was the most delicious thing I'd ever tasted but it certainly wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be either.
But I have one wildfood remedy that I particularly like, and that is rosehip syrup. Mum says that in the Stone Age you used to be able to buy the syrup from the chemist, but nowadays if you want it, you have to make it yourself. I take between 2 and 4 desert spoonfuls a couple of times a day if I feel myself coming down with something. I find it really soothing on a sore throat. It's very sweet but with a delicious fruity flavour, and I can even imagine it used simply as a foodstuff - maybe drizzled over ice cream? (Although our rosehp wine this year has come out a bit too acidic - we'll see how it ages).
The recipe we used this year was very clear and easy to follow with plenty of pictures and you can find it here:
http://www.jeremytaylor.eu/rosehip_syrup.htm
I would say do not follow the advice of Alys Fowler who made it on Gardener's World last year - she was chopping the rosehips by hand, which means that you come into contact with all the little hairs which make you itch like mad. We just bunged them in the food processor after topping and tailing and it worked fine.
Another remedy is one that I came across on my school's French exchange trip! My friend's mother put a small, peeled whole onion in a jar of honey and gave me a spoonful of that every day one time when I had a cold. I can't say it was the most delicious thing I'd ever tasted but it certainly wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be either.
When Dad, who is a diabetic so doesn't heal very quickly, cuts himself or what have you, we often put honey on the wound and it seems to work a treat, even when prescription creams from the doctor's don't.
I take honey and lemon when I have tonsilitis.
It is also said that taking local honey can help with hayfever, I expect becuase the honey contains pollens from the area. We may be giving a few jars away, now that we've processed our honey, or I may hoard them jealously and eat it all myself...
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