Recipe: Flu Fighting Tea

Fever, aches and pains, a wracking cough and a sore throat…sounds like the flu! It’s never fun to feel under the weather, but so many of the cold and flu remedies available are full of chemicals that you wouldn’t otherwise put in your body. One of my favorite all-natural ways to feel better is to drink a big cup of honey lemon flu fighting tea. This is a recipe that my  husband has perfected over the years, it tastes great and it’s very effective at soothing a cough and sore throat. Not only that, but the the ingredients in this tea are also excellent at fighting cold and flu symptoms at the root!


Start off by steeping a good quality, organic echinacea tea bag and several thin slices of fresh organic ginger root in some hot water. Then, stir in freshly squeezed lemon juice and raw honey. Finally, add the spices. Clove and cinnamon add a wonderful flavor to the tea, and a little cayenne pepper adds zip! The great thing about these ingredients is that they not only make the tea taste great, they also contain compounds that work to help you feel better…and get over the virus faster.
Let’s start with the echinacea tea. Echinacea is an herb (Purple Coneflower, it’s actually quite pretty!) that is traditionally used as a cold and flu remedy. Studies are mixed as to its effectiveness, but it has been shown to increase white blood cells…which helps your immune system fight off germs. Ginger tastes great with the lemon and honey, but it also has many properties that help when you’ve got a cold or the flu. Ginger has long been known for settling upset tummies, but did you know that it also contains a powerful painkiller and acts as an anti-inflammatory? It’s also used to fight the upper respiratory woes that come with  colds and the flu.
Lemon and honey are a great combination, they taste wonderful and the lemon juice is full of vitamin C. Honey has antimicrobial properties, and has been shown to be more effective in soothing a cough than the active ingredient in most cough syrups (here’s how to harness honey’s cough suppressing power in a homemade cough drop). And did you know that cinnamon is as healthy as it is tasty? Studies show that this sweet spice also reduces inflammation, and his antibacterial properties. You may know that clove was used to ease the pain of toothaches, you can harness clove’s anesthetic properties to soothe your sore throat too. It’s good for your cough, becuase it acts as an expectorant. Finally, the cayenne pepper helps clear out your sinuses.

My husband has been making this tea for years, and I had always thought that he’d just put together the ingredients based on taste and how soothing they were to a sore throat and cough. Turns out, he’d done his research too!  Don’t you love it when something you love turns out to be good for you? Me, too!

Flu Fighting Tea (Andrew’s Hot Lemon)

Ingredients:
1 bag good quality organic echinacea tea (optional)
3 or 4 thin slices of fresh organic ginger root
3 tablespoons organic lemon juice, fresh squeezed
2 tablespoons raw organic honey
1/2 teaspoon organic ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon organic ground clove
Cayenne pepper to taste
Looking for quality real food ingredients? Be sure to the check out the Village Green Marketplace!
Directions:
1. In a large cup of hot filtered water, steep the tea bag and the sliced ginger (you may omit the tea bag if you’d like).
2. Add the lemon juice, honey and spices and stir well. The tea will be cloudy.
3. If you’d like, you may strain the tea through cheesecloth to remove the ground spices and ginger. At our house, we just drink it as is.
Enjoy, and feel better soon!

What’s your favorite all-natural cold and flu remedy?