Homemade Winter Remedy
Recently while scrolling on Instagram, I saw a post about a traditional Caribbean Winter Remedy that people make there to boost their immune system during the winter months.
Here’s the original Instagram post and recipe from @WakeUpWithMarley
Click here to buy the Original Caribbean Remedy from Marley
This ‘winter remedy’ is basically a homemade cough syrup that you can make and store in your fridge for months. Typically you would take a tablespoon of it everyday to fight off the flu and give your body extra support.
December is usually a busy month for me with Christmas and social events.
Even if I stick to my routines and eat healthy, the chances of getting sick or exhausted during this month are always higher.
I remember a couple years ago, almost everyone in my family got sick with something over Christmas and New Years.
So this year, when I saw the recipe for a homemade, natural winter remedy that I could easily make at home … I went and bought enough ingredients to make several portions for friends and family.
From the original recipe, I added:
garlic
ginger
red onion
turmeric
lime peel
And I also added (not in the original recipe):
fingerroot
lemon peel
kaffir lime peel
crushed black pepper (to increase absorption of the turmeric)
I chose to not add cloves, bay leaves or star anise. I love those ingredients in sauces and soups, but didn’t want to have it with honey. Maybe I will next time.
Making the homemade winter remedy was easy and fun.
I just needed to buy the glass containers, fresh ingredients, and a lot of raw honey.
Once I got all this home, I washed and prepped everything which only took 15-20 minutes.
Then, came the fun part of filling up the jars.
First, the ingredients went into the jars and then the honey.
According to the original recipe, I added a third of the honey first and let that settle for a bit before adding the rest of the honey.
You’ll notice that the ingredients absorb some honey, so you may need to add more to get the jar filled up. I had to go buy more honey because I under-estimated how much I would get from the ingredients.
I was able to make 5 large glass jars and 2 small glass jars in total.
After all the jars were filled, I put them in the bathroom sink to keep them in a dark place and avoid ants.
I left it for 3 days like this before putting in the fridge, but I visited the jars often and swirled them around to mix up the honey.
Over time, the ingredients will release their juices and combine with the honey.
After about 24 hours, the thick honey turns into a looser syrup and it smells strongly of the ingredients (which is lovely if you used a lot of lemon and lime peel like I did).
The result is a delicious, natural cough syrup that is full of anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and anti-bacterial nutrients.
Just looking at this jar in my fridge makes me so happy! 😀
But it also feels wonderful to give a jar of this homemade cough syrup to my friends and family members.
I gave a jar to my mom, to my brother and his girlfriend, and to several close friends in the area. #sharingiscaring 🥰
I’ve been taking a large tablespoon of this winter remedy everyday and it’s already helped me bounce back from a few coughs and colds.
If you want to boost your health this holiday season, grab yourself a jar and make your own homemade winter remedy! 🫚🍋🍯
