If you love this recipe, you’ll also love my homemade hot cocoa, chai tea concentrate (used to make hot chai or iced chai), turmeric latte, and pumpkin spice latte.
‘Tis the season for homemade sugar cookies, eggnog, and the sniffles.
Eating real food means you will be healthy 100% of the time. The sniffles? No way! Not when you eat real food.
I think that mentality and teaching are a huge fallacy of eating real, organic, farm-to-table, whatever people may want to call it today. Here’s the thing, we all live in a world full of outside environmental factors, so even if we only surround ourselves with organic fruits and veggies, pastured meats, and homemade everything, we are still human and live in a world with fellow humans and many other factors. Every single one of us will eventually catch a case of the sniffles, despite our diet or more natural cleaning products. It’s just part of this amazing experience we call life.
That said, I believe real food has the amazing ability to nourish the body and keep us healthy. This means that even though we may still need a box of tissues from time to time, Illness probably won’t come knocking as much as she used to in the past. I’m sure Illness can also be a man, but let’s go with she for today’s discussion, okay?
I’ve personally found this to be true in my family’s real food journey. The better we eat, the better we feel, and the fewer illnesses we catch and spread. And when Mrs. Sniffles or Mrs. Stomach Bug come knocking, she doesn’t stay for as long as she used to thanks to the nourishment and healing found via real food.
The good news is that when Mrs. Sniffles comes for a visit, and you know she’s probably planning to stay long and invite her friends, there are a few natural ways to encourage her to leave. I don’t want to be rude and call anybody names, but Mrs. Sniffles is sort of a party pooper. Sorry, we have a five year-old son…poop, pooper, and anything that remotely resembles that word has become part of normal vocabulary during this season of life.
So, she’s a party pooper, and we need simple ways to coax her to leave. Let’s talk about that, because today’s recipe is just the remedy we need to encourage her to pack up and leave!
At the first signs of a cold, I turn to a simple homemade tea recipe made with 100% natural, real food ingredients: honey, lemon, ginger, and mineral-rich salt. This tea, Soothing Honey and Lemon Sore Throat Tea, is soothing (thanks to the honey), boasts a healthy amount of Vitamin C (thanks to the lemon), helps relieve a sore throat (thanks to the anti-inflammatory properties, gingerols and shogaols, in ginger), and provides a touch of beneficial minerals to a tired body (hey, salt!). Pretty impressive for a cup of tea that costs about a buck (or much less depending on your ingredient prices) per cup and takes only 5 minutes to make. That’s my kind of natural remedy: simple and fast!
While this tea may be labeled sore throat tea, it can also be enjoyed as an immune-loving early morning drink (alongside coffee ;)), or just as an afternoon pick-me-up. No sore throat required!
Along with a cup of Soothing Honey and Lemon Sore Throat Tea, I also use a few other natural remedies to encourage Mrs. Sniffles to move on her less-than-merry way: elderberry syrup (I keep this around in the winter and take it daily), homemade vapor rub (for congestion), eucalyptus essential oil in the diffuser, homemade juice made with lots of fruits and veggies, and lots of rest. Using these remedies, Mrs. Sniffles usually gets the idea that she’s not a welcome guest and moves on.
Hopefully she doesn’t decide to knock on your door next, but if she does, you’ll know how to quickly say “good-bye.”
Soothing Honey and Lemon Sore Throat Tea
Ingredients
- 1 cup hot water
- fresh ginger two 1/2 inch slices
- 1/2 lemon about 1 TB of juice
- 1 TB honey
- salt
Instructions
- In a mug, add the hot water, lemon (squeeze the juice into the water first, then add the lemon), ginger slices, honey, and a pinch of salt. Stir the ingredients to dissolve the honey. Let the tea steep for about 5 minutes to infuse the ginger. After five minutes, press the ginger down to the bottom of the mug to help bring out the “juice.” There’s no need to strain the tea after it’s done steeping.
- Alternatively, you can make a stronger tea by boiling the water and ginger slices on the stove-top for 10 minutes. Then, add the remaining ingredients.
Notes
Nutrition
Hi. I am wondering what kind of tea is the best to use? We don’t really drink tea anymore since my mother in law passed, she used to make it for us and then make us try it. Mostly it was chamomile tea. Also, I am wondering what the recipe is to get rid of Mrs. Stomach Bug as she has been visiting all 9 people in my house for the last 3 weeks!! Not to be mean but she has OVERSTAYED her welcome ? TIA and thanks for sharing!
Hey Danielle, Tea bags aren’t used in this recipe, just the ingredients listed on the recipe. The ginger in this recipe should help with stomach bugs as well. Hope you’re feeling better soon.
Thnaks for this recipe Kristin!
I have been drinking hot lemon water since this April 2019 & it does wonders for my body, organs, skin & has almost eliminated my allergies & previous sinus issues.
I usually juice 1 whole lemon + add an additional slice of lemon to a 16 oz mug, add hot water and drink it on an empty stomach every morning & I love it! So the addition of ginger, a pinch of Himalayan Pink Salt & Raw Honey (plus I added a couple pinches of ground Tumeric) was such a treat!! I made a stronger brew by boiling the ginger in pot for a few minutes to really get that warm, spicy bite from the ginger for my tea. Thankfully, I didn’t have a bug or sniffles, I just wanted to try the recipe b/c it sounded yummy and it did not disappoint! Again, thanks so much Kristin!!
Also, that Mug Sweater Cozy is the cutest!! I need a set of those!
Sounds amazing, Tia! Yum!! Thank you, Target dollar section usually sells the mug sweaters this time of year.
Wow! Target AND the Dollar section of Target…two of my favorite places to shop. Lol! I will definitely be on the lookout for those adorable Mug Sweater Cozy’s!!
Once again Kristin, Thanks for the recipe! I will be enjoying your recipe this Fall & Winter! ?
Love this! So good
Hey Rose, I’m so glad you’re enjoying the tea.
As a college student who was caught unprepared by a sore throat: thank you!
I gargle with room temp raw ACV watered down a little and then just drink it. Gargling with it helps a sore throat too…will have to try to warm with honey.
Hey Angel, That sounds great!
I’m going to try thus out
Lemon becomes more tasty with honey
Definitely, Raj. Enjoy!
This sounds wonderful. Where did you get that darling cup warmer?
It came from Target :).
Do I peel the ginger?
Hey Robin, You don’t need to.
It was nice and warm a good recipe. 🙂
I have used this recipe all winter long and I love it. Works wonders for a sore throat. Tastes yummy too!! K
That’s so great to hear, Shelley! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the tea!
Delicious and so soothing! I also tossed in a bag of decaf green tea with lemon balm and used manuka honey and it was wonderful for my cold. Thanks!!
I found this very strong tasting at first, but very tasty. I’ve been feeling the dryness in my throat today and have the sniffles. This tisane was very soothing on my throat. Thank you!
Hey Bethany, I’m glad it was very soothing for your throat! I hope you feel better soon.