Jul 15, 2008

Kick A Germ Joy Juice

"Elephant Garlic de Placitas" by Linda Heath

I found a "Kick A Germ Joy Juice" recipe in a Permaculture recipe book yesterday, 'You can have your permaculture and eat it too', by Robin Clayfield, which I'm borrowing from the library.

Since we have all had a terrible phlegmy cough and the kids have just wanted to sit around and sleep on the couch for stretches of the last few days, I thought we'd give it a try. I didn't inflict it on Miss1, but Miss4 sipped at it in widely spaced sips before finally and conveniently spilling it on the couch... She did better on the batch I made today - without the cayenne pepper, and with more honey :)

Before sharing the recipe with the world, I googled to see what came up and there are about a billion different recipes with this name (okay, maybe a dozen), all variations on the same theme. So here you have a version of Kick A Germ Joy Juice. I must say it tastes mighty fine - I personally much prefer it with the cayenne pepper, but I quite like a bit of a burn, if it's the right sort of burn (and this surely was).

juice of one lemon (or lime or orange)
clove of garlic, finely chopped (or equivalent amount if using fabulous elephant garlic, as we were!)
1cm grated fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
mix together in a small jug and pour hot boiled water over the lot, dissolving
1 teaspoon honey
into it. Cover and leave to sit for 10-15 minutes before drinking.

I made about 1 1/2 cups with the above recipe and strained it through a tea-strainer (small sieve) as I poured it into the cups.

Very warming, and it makes you feel like you're doing something about the germs, which I'm sure is at least half the battle :)

A visitor yesterday happened to remark about the strong garlicky smell in the house, so perhaps use with discretion if the odour is repellent to you. I guess you could leave the garlic out, but I think it likely that the garlic is the most germ-kicking bit in the recipe, so probably not recommended if you actually want to fight off a threatening cold or flu.

Sláinte!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been using this recipe on and off for about 20 years and it seems to work every time. It was great to be able to see it on the 'net'! Keep on passing it on to others. it's a recipe worth it's weight in gold. Some of my, now grown children even remember the recipe and use it with success.

home handymum said...

Thanks for dropping by! I'm glad you commented on this post, as the recipe had slipped my mind and i am in need of it again.

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