Home Remedies For The Common Cold
Easy herbal practices for cold & flu season: Part Two
Just when we think cold season is finally over, someone gets sick and the miserable hot-potato-like game of shared colds starts all over again. If you’ve read Part One of this letter, then you already know a few at-home cold remedies: like how to make an herbal steam tent, or concoct an amazing immune-boosting broth.
But what about when your body needs something a little stronger? That’s where these next few remedies really shine.
In herbal practice we like to start with the gentlest solutions first. That’s why the first installment of this letter is filled with ideas for gentle immune support. And while the following herbal remedies are still incredibly easy on the body, they’re also a bit more likely to help you recover faster, and make your day-to-day more bearable.
Here are three of my favorite at-home herbal remedies for treating the common cold.
Start drinking fire cider asap
(Pictured: Elderberry fire cider, pre & post shake)
At the first sign of a cold, this is always the bottle I reach for. While you can buy fire cider online or from your local health food store, having some of your own is always the cheaper (and more rewarding) option1.
Keep in mind that fire cider (like all good things) takes time. After combining these ingredients, you’ll have to wait 4-6 weeks to let the vinegar work its magic before it’s ready to drink. If you need it sooner, see if you can find a local herbalist willing to sell you some.
There are a number of fire cider recipes out there, but this is one of my favorites—especially with regards to how versatile and adaptable it is. Don’t have any elderberries? Go buy some pomegranate. Fresh out of lemons? Swap in some lime.
Fire Cider is a folk remedy, which means it’s less about measurements and more about feeling into the medicine as you make it. Add the proportions of things that feel right, and have fun with it!
Fire Cider Recipe
2-3 cups of an immune-boosting fruit or herb (ex. fresh or dried Elderberries, Hibiscus flowers, oranges, pomegranate)
1 large onion, chopped
10-15* garlic cloves, minced (depends* how much “fire” you want to breathe!)
1.5 cups fresh grated ginger root
Zest & juice of one lemon or lime
Chopped sprigs of fresh Rosemary, Thyme, or Oregano (or all three!)
A generous dash of powdered Cayenne pepper & Turmeric
Large bottle of Apple Cider Vinegar
Honey (to taste)
Sterilized jars, with lids
Directions: Combine all of your ingredients (besides vinegar and honey) in a large bowl, then use the mixture to fill your jars 3/4 of the way, covering the mixture with vinegar. Be sure all of your ingredients are fully covered2 with vinegar, then shake the jars and store them in a cool dark place for 4-6 weeks. Visit them often and shake up the ingredients. After the 4-6 weeks, strain out your material into clean jars and add honey to taste.
Fire cider can be consumed directly (I like to take it in shot glasses), or diluted with water or sparkling water. As a vinegar-based remedy, it also makes for an amazing salad dressing! You can get even more fire cider recipes by snagging a copy of Rosemary Gladstar’s book.
Make a cuppa’ garlic milk
Yup, seriously. To borrow a few words from the renowned herbalist Wolf D. Storl:
“For decongestion of the lungs, there is nothing better, in my experience, than drinking hot garlic milk.”
When I read this passage from Storl’s amazing book The Herbal Lore of Wise Women and Wortcunners, I was in the later-stages of a long-winded cold, that was taking up occupancy deep in my lungs. Before bed that night, I made a cup of garlic milk and felt the garlic going to work after the first spicy sip.
Which isn’t really that surprising when you stop to consider the many qualities of this garden herb. To quote Storl:
“It contains vitamins (A, B₁, B₂, PP, C), minerals, and trace elements. It is a diaphoretic, diuretic, expectorant, stimulant, and antiseptic.”
In plain English? It makes you sweat, pee, expectorate the nasties from your lungs, and also prevents the spread of infections.
This probably a good time to mention how much I love garlic: I can eat cloves at a time (cooked), and almost everything I make has a healthy smattering of garlic and onions.
So while this recipe won’t be for everyone, if you love garlic as much as I do (and enjoy horrifying your household members with your latest concoctions), I can’t recommend this herbal remedy highly enough.
To make garlic milk:
Crush one clove of raw garlic, and infuse it in boiled milk. I made mine in full-fat oat milk, which worked really well. My understanding is that you want to choose a milk with higher fat content to fully extract the benefits of the garlic.
Apply eucalyptus oil
One of the biggest issues with being sick for weeks on end is the lack of sleep that goes with it. When I was little, my mom used to apply Vicks Vapor rub to my lips and chest. As a cough suppressant, Vicks works well to soothe irritated throats and decongest your nose just enough to fall asleep.
But one of the main (and arguably best) ingredients in Vicks, is, alas, Eucalyptus oil. And it’s pretty easy to make your own.
Things you’ll need:
Eucalyptus essential oil
A carrier oil (like olive or safflower)*
A small glass spray bottle (I like these ones)
*Tip: If you want to use this oil on your face, be sure to pick one that’s non-comedogenic.
To make Eucalyptus oil:
Combine eucalyptus essential oil with your carrier oil at a ratio of 1% dilution: 5-6 drops of essential oil per ounce of carrier oil.3
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(Photos by Katherine Hanlon, yours truly, Yogesh Pedamkar, and Christin Hume.)
Because most fire ciders act as an immune stimulant, they’re not suitable for long-term use, or for people taking immunosuppressant medications.
This helps ensure you don’t lose the batch to mold! Another tip for kitchen medicine? Always store your ciders, elixirs, glycerites, and tinctures is sterilized jars. This means washing and drying your jars fully (extra moisture can translate into mold growth), and disinfecting both jars and lids with alcohol (at least 70%). I like to keep a spray bottle of diluted alcohol on hand for this exact purpose.
There’s a lot of nonsense going around the internet promoting the use of non-diluted essential oils. It’s important to note that most essential oils will severely aggravate your skin if applied in their concentrated form. There are exceptions to this (like lavender oil), but Eucalyptus is not one of them!