Cider Vinegar Tonic
and other remedies ...
The Threee G's:
Cider Vinegar Tonic
We use a simple tonic at our house to keep away various kinds of sickness (and the bad pipsewah): one part apple cider vinegar, one part honey, and four parts water. I mix it up with warm water so I don't have to shake the bottle too long to get the honey mixed in. This stuff, I tell ya, is really great. Good for the digestion as well as everything else. (I can make all kinds of wild claims as long as I'm not selling it.) This tonic helps you ward off colds and flus and shortens the time you are sick if you already got it.
Best ingredients are, natch, organic vinegar and raw honey (and of course good water). Whenever you feel anything starting to attack you, take a shot or two of this tonic.
Take it Straight
If you're really under attack from them bad germ guys, take a hit of cider vinegar straight up, no chaser. Wow! It's only five percent acetic acid but it hits hard like 100 proof (50%) alcohol. A couple of hits warms you clear to the toes. Then about every hour for a while thereafter, take a shot of the tonic.
Goat Milk
We don't use this stuff very much, since it's not plentiful in town, but once in a while an occasion comes up. The one that convinced me was the episode with an old yellow tomcat a few years back. While usually he took care of himself pretty well, as cats do, there was one occasion when he needed outside help. He got all scratched up and then the scratches got infected, and he was gradually going downhill. About the time we were deciding that we had to get him doctored, some friends who had goats had a sudden surplus of milk (their main customer having gone on vacation) and they gave us a bunch of goat milk. We drank as much as we could, and gave some to "Rowdy" the cat. Almost overnight he was about half cured, but then the supply of goat milk was gone. We could tell the infection was starting to get the upper hand again, so we obtained some more goat milk from another friend, and that cured him the rest of the way, and just as quickly as the first part had been. And we were cured of all doubt.
Garlic
Yeah, garlic. Good fer what ails ye, as my grandma used to say (trouble was, she didn't say it about garlic; missed a good bet there). There's a film called "Garlic is as Good as Ten Mothers" which, as you might surmise, extolls the virtues of garlic in getting and keeping you well. There's lots of benefits to eating garlic, but here's one you might not be aware of: getting rid of heavy metal toxins that might be floating around in your body. The garlic must be raw for this effect. Whatever mojo it's got that does this trick is ruined by cooking, though there are plenty of benefits that survive cooking. So anyway, let's cut to the chase: if you have been exposed to any of a number of heavy metals such as lead, mercury, or cadmium, eat garlic. It's good fer what ails ye.
Cooking with garlic: good idea! I once had a copy of the "Alice's Restaurant Cookbook" in which Alice wrote, mainly about improvisation: "Oregano makes it Italian, Tarragon makes it French, Sour Cream makes it Russian, and Garlic makes it Good!"
Growing garlic: plant in September or October, dig up in May or June (or July). More about it on garlic.html
Ginger
Try Ginger Tea -- take a piece of fresh ginger root about the size of one joint of your little finger and put it in a blender with about a pint of water and boil it for a half hour. Strain off and drink. A little honey if you like. Yum good! Chase away head colds and stuff like that.
Let me know if you have anything that ought to be included in this page.
ebear@zianet.com
I put all this together on the 13th day of February, 1997, modified a bit on August 17.
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Eric Bear Albrecht