Onions are are a fantastic little vegetable to have on hand if you’re fighting a nasty chest infection or worse and if your cold has migrated and settled in your inner ear.
Not only are onions absolutely packed with Vitamin C, but they are also an astringent, which makes them a powerful natural weapon against excess phlegm.
No wonder then that their use as a home remedy for combating infections has been recorded as early as the sixth century BC in India.
Here are three very simple home remedies to combat colds, coughs, and earaches that I have adapted from Jude’s Herbal Home Remedies:
Congested Chest Remedy
Lightly fry one onion and place on a thin flannel. In a bowl, add a few drops of spirit of camphor (if available) to some olive oil and rub over chest. Put flannel with onions on chest. Place hot water bottle on top of flannel. Cover with blanket.
Ear Ache
½ onion, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons of honey
Fry the onion until it starts to sweat. Take off from heat. Add honey. Place in a small dish and let stand until cooled to a little above body temperature. Remove onion pieces. Using a clean eye dropper, drop 2 or 3 drops into the ear and place a cotton ball in the ear. Dip a clean finger into the mixture and rub gently around the area just underneath where the ear meets the cheekbone. Repeat with other ear. For best results use a red onion and Manuka honey with UMF (Unique Manuka Factor) 15+.
Onion Cough Syrup
4 cups of chopped onions
4 cups of water
1.5 cups of brown sugar
8 Table spoons of honey
Mix the onions, sugar, and water and simmer on low heat for four hours. Strain the onion pieces out, add the honey, and fill into a bottle. Take one table spoon every hour until cough subsides.
For best results use Manuka Honey with a UMF of at least 15.
Article written by Tamara Sigerhall
