Kind of interesting story I came across today. A lady got burned at the stake for being a Witch a few hundred years ago for prescribing the following to a neighbor who’s symptoms sounded like a bad fever/cold/flu.
A tonic of one part ginger, cloves, aniseed, liquorice and some strong ale blended together.. Served every morning before breakfast and the lady needed to walk a bit before eating.
I guess it didn’t help her case that her ghost friend told her to do it which is what got her the wrong end of the witch treatment. However I found it interesting and decided to use my good friend the Internet to breakdown what was good about this tonic:
ginger – reduces nausea, vomiting, and cold sweating. Very potent anti-inflammatory compounds effective against pain and swelling.
liquorice – soothes a sore throat, loosens bronchial congestion, reduces inflammation, soothes digestive and gastrointestinal issues, helpful with stomach ulcers.
Cloves – A stimulant that acts as a stimulant and improves circulation. Helps stabilize blood flow and regulate your body temperature. Helps with coughs, stops vomiting, headaches, asthma and a bunch of other random things.
Aniseed – Helps remove phlegm from the bronchial tube and helps with digestive disorders, upset stomach, gas.
Strong Ale – Well I found all sorts of things about B vitamins in strong ale, anti-inflammatory and other properties of hops but lets face it: beer makes you feel better.
It sounds like this lady got the torch for creating a 16th century cold medicine….bummer……but it was fun to research what these ingredients do.
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