As long as there have been grandmothers, tight budgets and kids with runny noses there have been home remedies for colds.
While many share common elements (heat, liquid, honey), others reflect unique aspects of particular ethnic groups, their histories, diets and penchant for kookiness. But most of all, they reflect what ingredients are available.
“People tend to use what is in their immediate environment,” says Dr. Lillian Beard, a pediatrician, and associate clinical professor at the George Washington University of Medicine. “Early on that meant pulling up what was in their garden and figuring out which things had therapeutic value for teas, poultices and compresses and which didn’t. This resulted in a lot of trial and error and deaths and losses, but people eventually developed community knowledge.”
“I remember every time we got sick my mom would boil sliced garlic in milk,” said Joanna Augustynski, director of public relations at the Polish American Association. “I thought it was just me, but I talked to other Polish people and their parents used it too. I remember as a child being forced to drink it, but I think it worked.”
Despite the wide availability of commercial over-the-counter cold treatments, many of these home remedies are still in wide use among Chicago’s immigrant population.
“I found that the ones that have survived the test of time have done so because they effected some demonstrable change,” said Beard, who co-authored “Salt in Your Sock: And Other Tried-and-True Home Remedies.” “And with those that did not, there was at least psychological basis. The effect was in the doer’s belief that it would make them feel better. What was most interesting in doing my book was playing this clinical detective and trying to figure out why something might work.”
We recently asked Chicagoans from different ethnic backgrounds — and a couple of Tribune reporters (including myself) who have tried ethnic remedies — to share a few home cures and comment on their effects. For some of the remedies, we also asked Dr. Beard to give us some medical explanation for its effectiveness and to tell us what to beware.
Russia
Ailment: Cold with congestion
Remedy: Peel a hard-boiled egg while it is still hot. Wrap the peeled egg in a handkerchief or paper towel and then place it on one side of the nose for a few minutes and then the other. You can also place it between the eyes. Or try it on congested ears.
Comment: “Somehow it dried up my congestion,” says Tribune reporter Russell Working, who lived in Vladivostock for five years.
Dr. Beard: “It probably would work because the egg can retain its heat for a while and it is also nice and soft. If you think about the size of an egg and putting it on the sides of your nose and the forehead, you can see you are stimulating the maxillary, ethmoidal and frontal sinuses.”
India
Ailment: Cold with congestion
Remedies: Stand on your hands or your head for a few minutes with or without leaning on a wall.
Comment: “This is also a yoga pose and it gives you immediate relief if you have a stuffy nose,” says India native Prem Lalvani, chairman of the Asian American Coalition of Chicago. “Within a minute you can feel your nose open up because all the blood comes to your face. If you can’t do this you can try to lie down at a slant so the blood rushes to your face.”
Mexico
Ailment: Cold with cough
Remedy: Squeeze a whole lemon into a bowl of honey and eat a few tablespoons of it. Or, you can put it in tea.
Comment: “You just eat or drink this syrup and it will make your cough feel better,” says Mexican-born Noemi Ordaz, assistant to the press attache at the Consul General of Mexico in Chicago.
Dr. Beard: “So many cultures use lemon or lime in tea for the vitamin C value and with honey it is even better. But the value is not just in the pulp and juice. It is also in the skin. If you scrub the lemon really well and cut it and soak it in hot water, you can chew on it and get vitamins from the skin too.”
Poland
Ailment: Cold
Remedy: Slices of garlic boiled in milk.
Comment: “I don’t quite remember how I felt when I drank it, but when Mom said it would help you, traditionally you thought it would, especially if it tasted that awful,” says Joanna Augustynski director of public relations at the Polish American Association.
Germany
Ailment: Cold or flu with fever
Remedy: Wrap legs in a cold wet towel while lying in bed until the towel has warmed.
Comment: “This is a remedy from German grandmothers,” says Stefanie Armbrufter, an intern at the German American Chamber of Commerce. “It makes the fever go down.”
Dr. Beard: “I can see why they would do this with a fever. Even today in my office we still sometimes use sponge baths to reduce rapidly climbing fevers that can’t be brought down with something like Tylenol. But if you bring it down too quickly there is a risk of convulsion or seizure.”
Taiwan
Ailment: Cold with sore throat
Remedy: Pour a full can of Coke and half a teaspoon of salt in a pan and boil. Drink it as hot as you can stand it.
Comment: “I think logically hot fluid just makes your throat feel better. I know that I felt better, but caffeine doesn’t bother me,” says Taiwanese-born Benjamin Chi of Chicago.
Dr. Beard: “I am not sure about a cold and sore throat but flat Coca-Cola or Coca-Cola syrup has been used to settle a stomach for a long time. There is something in the formula. You can get a similar effect with flat ginger ale because ginger is a natural anti-nauseant. Carbonated sodas can often be upsetting to an already distressed stomach.”
China
Ailment: Cold
Remedy: Acupuncture and herbal infusions. For a head cold, that can mean acupuncture needles inserted next to the nose, on the cheek, the wrists, elbows and the foot. The huge variety of possible herbs could include fang feng (silar root), xi su yi (perilla leaf) and fu ling kuai (poria cocos).
Comment: “We look at a few things that also include taking a look at the patient’s tongue and checking the pulse,” says William Dunbar, president of the Midwest College of Oriental Medicine. “Then we customize herbs and acupuncture to the actual individual who is sick. There are an almost infinite combination of acupoints and herbs that you combine for one person’s current health status and situation, not their disease but their current state of health. In Western medicine we have a finite number of remedies on the shelf, but in Chinese medicine we make it exact. So it is not the cold but the actual person who has the cold that we treat.”
Uzbekistan
Ailment: Cold with cough
Remedy: Take a large radish (preferably the kind you find in Uzbekistan called turup, but you can use daikon). Cut out a chunk that can be jammed in the top of a mug or glass but will not touch the bottom. Poke holes through the radish and let honey filter through overnight. In the morning, remove the radish and drink the honey.
Monica Eng’s comment: “In the morning, the honey has dripped through and is liquidy with a tiny radishy bite. I drank several spoons of it and it warmed my throat but did not stop my terrible cough.”
Japan
Ailment: Cold
Remedy: Soups, either udon noodles with fish or seaweed stock called katsu odashi and some hot pepper flakes called togarashi. Or miso soup with green onions.
Comments: “I think this works because it makes you sweat out the cold. They always warmed me up and helped my colds. They’re like our chicken soups,” says Osaka born Kay Kawaguchi of the Japanese American Service Committee.
Dr. Beard: “In addition to the thinning of the mucus from the hot soup the pepper acts as a vasoconstrictor relieving swelling that takes place in the nasal passages. It can even be used to cauterize a cut like a bloody nose. Put a little on paper and then on a moist Q-tip.
Russia
Ailment: Cold with chest congestion.
Remedy: Take about a dozen small (baby food size) jars and clean them with alcohol. Massage the cold sufferer’s back with lotion or oil. Light a match inside the jars and place them on the person’s back. Arrange jars in a triangle with the wide part at the top of the back. Leave jars on for 15 minutes. (Note: The skin underneath will turn a little blue.)
Comment: “When my son had bronchitis, it really helped,” said Russian journalist and Oak Park-resident Nonna Working who was born in Ussurisk, Russia. “When you take them off it will make a popping sound and if there is no congestion and the person is not sick, they will not stick. They do this in the hospitals, too, in Russia. When we do it, the jar doesn’t get so hot, just the air inside. I’ve never been burned by it. The only unpleasant feeling is when the skin is pulled slightly upwards.”
Dr. Beard: “I heard about this from a lot of people like older Jewish women when I was doing my book. I have no idea why it works for them but I do know that you can end up getting second-degree burns and so I caution people.”
– – –
Ailment: Cold
Remedy: Take a very hot bath and an aspirin. Cut a large clove of raw garlic and stuff a piece in each nostril as long as you can. Remove them and you will probably sneeze. Blow your nose and go to bed.
Comment: “It looks very disgusting but my father does this and sneezes a lot, but in the morning he feels fine,” says Working.
Dr. Beard: “I would advise real caution on this because there is a chance of actually aspirating the garlic, puncturing the septum or having it cause a choking hazard.
– – –
Ailment: Cold
Remedy: In a cold shot of vodka, squeeze the juice of half a lemon and as many shakes of cayenne pepper as you can stand. Drink it as fast as you can. Go to sleep.
Monica Eng’s comment: “I was feeling miserable and it cleared up my nose, made me feel warm and amiable.”
Dr. Beard: “For children I would caution against using alcohol even though it has been a staple of the home remedies and pediatric preparates (children’s over-the-counter medicine) even 15 years ago. Yes, it can make the child sleepy and seem to stop coughing, but we found it can also dampen the respiratory effort. For adults it would be difficult to say that they can’t or shouldn’t try it.”
Poland
Ailment: Cold with cough
Remedy: Mix chopped white or yellow onions with half a cup of honey. Smash the bits of onions in the honey until they release their juices. Eat a few teaspoons of them as needed.
Comment: “I used to do this when I was a child and I was forced to eat it but I remember it helped my cough and cold. Today I buy Tylenol, but when I go back to Poland people are still using these home remedies,” says Chicagoan Malgorzata Cieslak of the Polish American Association.
Dr. Beard: “Honey itself is an anti-inflammatory and it is a good natural expectorant. So if you add honey to hot water it certainly enhances its therapeutic value. An onion, like garlic, is a part of the alium group of plants and it has anti-inflammatory properties and is somewhat anti-infective. So if you can take the taste of onion and garlic, especially in honey, it can clear the congestion.”
Norway
Ailment: Cold or on verge of cold
Remedy: Home glogg remedy of Port wine, brandy, ground cardamom, fresh ground nutmeg, cinnamon sticks, cloves, raisins, almonds, orange rinds and caramelized sugar.
Comment: “My dad would give it to my mom when she felt like she was coming down with a cold and she would be back up and at ’em the next day,” says Norwegian-American Myrna Pedersen, who grew up in Park Ridge.
Ethiopia
Ailment: Cold
Remedy: Put eucalyptus leaves in water and boil them. Remove the pot from the heat, put a towel over your head and breathe in the steam through your mouth and nose.
Comment: “You sweat and you sleep with covers and you will be fine the next day. It clears your nose and throat. But you should also drink some honey lemon tea,” says Almaz Seyoume, case manager for refugee resettlement at the Ethiopian Communitiy Association in Chicago.
South Korea
Ailment: Cold
Remedy: Ginger tea with honey.
Comment: “It made me feel much better,” says Moon Yoon, receptionist at the Korean American Community Center, who was born in North Korea. “Most Korean families were poor and so they used this.”
Beard: “Ginger is used a lot in Asian medicine and it is definitely an anti-nauseant. Also the tea itself and its hot liquid is very good for a cold because it helps to thin mucus secretions and expedite the secretion flow. And viral particles and bacteria don’t fare well in high temperatures. So just the hot water is therapeutic and the aromatic ginger’s sharpness might help to open nasal passages.”
