Onion tea for your cold - #naturalmedicine recipe with scientific studies
My late grandmother and grandfather were in the business of making natural organic tea from various plants. They did other things too like ointments, syrups, drops, and balms but collecting plants and making tea out of them was their main thing. I still have a lot of their books they were collecting and some recipes and I do hope that someday I will have enough time to look into that heritage more. Today, I will share with you a tea that they used to make when someone was sick or had a cough. It is really simple to make and the ingredients are amazing with their health benefits.
CC0 licence, Pixabay, author: PublicDomainPictures, adapted by me
Ingredients are simple, all you have to use are onions, garlic, cloves, bay leaves and honey. Just make sure to add honey when the tea is done and not too hot. Here is the recipe:
- pour 2L of cold water into a bowl
- peel 4 onions and roughly chop them, put them in the water
- peel 2 garlic and squash it, put it in the water
- put two handfuls of bay leaves in the water
- put one handful of cloves in the water
- heat up the water and let it boil for 10 minutes
- turn the heat down and let it rest for 30 minutes
- put tea in your cup and add honey
- ENJOY
Now, let us see why this tea is soo good for you by looking at the ingredients.
- A 2016 STUDYfound that consuming onions increases oxylipins that help regulate blood fat levels and levels of cholesterol
- Onions’ sulfurs are effective anti-inflammatory agents, you can read all about it in this STUDY
Onions are high in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants (quercetin and sulfur). They are in the nutrient-dense food group because while they are high in good stuff, they are low in calories (0 grams of fat and 0 grams of cholesterol). One cup of them contains about 10% of daily needed vitamin C, vitamin B-6, and manganese. People have been eating them for thousands of years and they were even used in ancient Egypt in burial rituals.
- A double-blind, placebo-controlled SURVEY found that a daily garlic supplement reduced the number of colds by 63% compared to a placebo and the average length of cold symptoms was reduced by 70%
- A STUDY about effects of garlic on systolic and diastolic blood pressure found that 600–1,500 mg of aged garlic extract was just as effective as the drug Atenolol at reducing blood pressure over a 24-week period
We use garlic mainly for cooking but throughout the history its main use was medicinal. The Greek physician Hippocrates (often referred as the father of Western medicine) prescribed it for various medicinal problems. We know today that the most of garlic health benefits are caused by sulfur compounds formed when a garlic clove is chopped or crushed. Only 28 grams of it contains 15% of the RDA for vitamin C, 23% of the RDA for Manganese, and 17% of the RDA for vitamin B6.
- According to a STUDY conducted at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, bay leaf essential oil showed antioxidant properties
- A RESEARCH by the Journal of Clinical Biochemistry and Nutrition reveals that bay leaves may improve insulin function. Bay leaves may help decrease risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular diseases
Bay leaves support your digestive system, reduce inflammation throughout the body and improve your respiratory health. They even reduce stress and anxiety. When you have a cold, or a cough, bay leaf can help unclog stuffy air passages and get rid of bacteria, just be careful with using it. Bay leaf isn’t recommended for pregnant or nursing mothers since it could cause uterine contractions. If you are scheduled to have a surgery, stop eating bay leaf two weeks before it. These leaves have great benefits for your health. They are also a good source of Folate, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, Calcium, Iron and Manganese.
- A RESEARCH showed that cloves may help decrease oral inflammation and bacteria
- Clove bud extracts significantly control the growth of oral pathogens according to the STUDY from the Dows Institute for Dental Research and Periodontics Department, College of Dentistry, The University of Iowa
Cloves are little boosters of our immune system and they are famous for their medicinal properties. From Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine to modern medicine that uses them to ease the oral pains, cloves are always a good thing to have around the house. Minerals in cloves include potassium, calcium, sodium, and magnesium and as for the vitamins, they have vitamin E, A, C and K, folate, and niacin. Biochemicals found in cloves have antioxidant, hepatoprotective, anti-microbial, and anti-inflammatory properties. They can help cure headaches and even have aphrodisiac properties but you should be careful with them. Clove oil must be diluted because it possesses cytotoxic properties, boiling cloves in water like in this tea is the best and the safest way to consume them.
Onions: Health Benefits, Health Risks & Nutrition Facts from livescience.com, written by Jessie Szalay
Health benefits and risks of onions from medicalnewstoday.com, written by Natalie Olsen, RD, LD, ACSM EP-C
Garlic: Proven benefits from medicalnewstoday.com, written by Christian Nordqvist, reviewed by Natalie Butler, RD, LD
11 Proven Health Benefits of Garlic from healthline.com, written by Joe Leech, MS
BAY LEAF from webmd.com
Bay Leaf Benefits for Digestion, Wounds, Diabetics & More from draxe.com
10 Health Benefits Of Bay Leaves That Keep Diseases At Bay> from curejoy.com
9 Surprising Health Benefits Of Bay Leaves from positivehealthwellness.com, written by KAREN REED
Cloves: Nutritional facts and health benefits from medicalnewstoday.com, written by Megan Metropulos, MS, RD, LDN and Megan Ware, RDN, reviewed by Natalie Butler, RD, LD
13 Surprising Benefits Of Cloves
Until next time,
KEEP YOUR SMILE ON
&
TAKE CARE OF YOUR HEALTH!
Image sources AND LICENCES in order of appearance:
- all images used in this post are free for commercial use, they are royalty free with the links to original images provided under them
- line divider that I use is from FREE CLIPART LIBRARY, and is here
- titles are made by me using a photo from pixabay that can be found here
- my bitmoji avatar was created on https://www.bitmoji.com/, visit the site to create yourown
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I had known about ingredients but Onion I never knew could be added up in tea. Thank you for sharing
Yup, people usually make a syrup out of it but I like this tea, it is much quicker to make than a syrup.
Great piece of work.
From the TCM perspective, all these ingredients are warm and pungent and help "release the exterior", which are the category of herbs that help fight off those danged common colds.
We have remedies that involve spring onions and onions and ginger - but the addition of clove and bay leaves are brilliant.
I'm putting a link to this article in a monthly email periodical I put together (outside of Steem), and I'm hoping that content like this will attract folks across to this wonderful platform!!!
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Amazing and simple tea recipe! Will remember to try this the next time someone has a cold!! Thank you for sharing!
I love when things are simple to make and I have tried this many times and it never failed me 💚
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Thank you very much my science people 💚
This sounds so interesting. I've heard about how good garlic and honey is for a cold but I had no idea about onions. I will definitely give this a go if I get sick.
Garlic and honey is a great combination. Think of this recipe as an upgrade :)
Been having a resilient cold for a month. I shared on steemit eons ago my ginger tea recipe but itbis failing, gonna try this asap
Give it a try and feel free to add more onion than it is in the recipe, the more the better. Hope you feel better soon 💚
Thank you I am kind of desperate, my vouce does not recover and I can barely talk without the itch. I think next week it is time for a cough supressant if not better but will try this. Made super strong ginger tea.
This sounds delicious!!! Like a savory sweet broth!!!! Mmmmmmmm
Im going to start making my bone broth again soon...just in time for the chilly air. I loved sipping bone broth in the mornings!!!
So healing for the gut lining! I will try yours and you can try mine! Hehehehe
Hugs to you fairy lady ♥️
Hmmm... I would not really say that it is delicious, but it is healthy :D I add lemon to my cup to ease the onion flavour and lots of honey :)
Really??? It sounds so good! Hahahhaa I love onions and garlic!!!
Maybe with a pinch of salt?? Hehehhee
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That sounds like a cross between broth and tea. Sure would be an immune booster. Another excellent post, as always. This reminds me to pack garlic for my camping trip. 😉
Garlic is awesomeeee. I am glad you enjoyed the recipe! 💚