[Iowa Granny]

And one I still use: 3-4 Tbsp apple cider vinegar in 1/4 cup warm water and a few dashes of Tabasco sauce (we used to use horseradish or hot mustard), drink it down to clear up congestion.

What??????? You mean you don't fry up a mess of onions, put them in a sock and secure the sock around your neck with a safety pin?

My Grandma did the fried onion thing. It made me cry, because I just didn't want to do it.

[Carolinamom]

Musterol applied to the chest will blister your skin....voice of childhood experience.

[alwaysconservative]

As much as I love my mother, I would have beaten her away with a stick if she approached me with a "mess of onions" in a sock! Yuck! I thought the Vicks Vapo-rub on my chest under a cotton cloth and stuffed up my nose was bad enough.

I remembered another old remedy: "Green drops" for a toothache. It was this VERY strong clove-smelling ointment that you bought at the pharmacy. You put it on the aching tooth and somehow the pain went away.