I have been so fortunate as I haven’t caught a cold or flu in a LONG time.
When I did it was drink tea with a little lemon and honey. Rub chest down with Vicks and take tylenol if feverish. Same with the flu.
The only time I have called for a Rx is when a cough got so bad I thought I was going to cough my guts up.
OH! I read a tip on prepping but you probably already know this. It said BEFORE sealing flour, grain, rice etc. in air tight containers to freeze them first. That way you kill off ALL the WEAVEL EGGS.
I have made/used this before and it is very soothing. Also, no chemicals! When I feel a cold coming on, I drink extra fluids and slam Vitamin C and Zinc, though I hate the ‘metallic’ taste Zinc leaves in my mouth. Ugh! Anyhow, printable recipe at the link below:
Homemade Cough Syrup
Ingredients
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Juice of ½ lemon
1½ tablespoons water
1 tablespoon raw honey
¼ teaspoon ground garlic (or 3 cloves, finely chopped)
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
small glass jar
Instructions
Add all the ingredients to the jar.
Put cap on jar and shake contents thoroughly. (And do so before each time you consume.)
Consume one-third of mixture (just over 1 tablespoon) for each serving.
Place in refrigerator. (Let it sit out for around 10 minutes for each future use.)
https://draxe.com/beauty/homemade-cough-syrup/
Yogurt made with jalapeno pepper stems!
I finally decided to try pepper stems to make yogurt instead of purchasing starter or using store bought yogurt with live cultures. On a whim guessed at using six jalapeno stems with caps but no pepper attached to 1 quart of powdered milk before incubating. Did not stretch the process out making the pepper as starter first but put them straight into the heated and cooled powdered milk.
I incubate yogurt in a glass quart jar in the oven. Turn the oven on the lowest heat for 60 seconds and turn it off.
In goes the jar but do not put a lid on it or it’ll seal itself. I was not expecting much since the family decided they needed the oven all day and half the night so the batch wasn’t incubated as it should have been. I’d pretty much given up while it was still liquid after about 3 hours. This morning it is yogurt and no excess whey floating around that I’d read about. A bit spicy but a nice flavor though not one for breakfast. It would be nice to use in cooking, a savory cheese cake or as a dip. Just tried it (adding salt and powdered garlic) on some squash fritters and yum. I’m leaving the stems in to see if the flavor gets stronger. Maybe bell pepper stems would result in a breakfast yogurt.
I’ve put some of this batch into ice trays to see if they’ll work for future starters. Of course, this batch will be chained. My normal chains are 3-4 times using store bought yogurt as the original starter. The chained batches shouldn’t be as spicy so more versatile.
I have frozen jalapeno and serrano stems but will experiment to see if dehydrating stems would work as that would be a long term storage option.
Bottom line, it works and is an alternative for bad times.
Some info on yogurt:
Any milk works from cream to half ‘n half to store bought milk to instant non fat dry powdered milk. Guessing the long term prepper milk would, too. Cream is heavenly but costly.
If you don’t have milk or sour cream on hand, yogurt can be substituted in most recipes. To make it into a cream cheese product, lay a paper towel or your choice in a colander and dump in the yogurt. Let it drain 8 hours. It makes a great baked cheesecake. Use the whey where you can.
Yes, it can scorch on the bottom even as it is cooling so 1) take it off the burner and/or 2) pour it into another pan. Sure, that is dirtying up another pan but it saved the batch.
You can add jello powder mix to flavor it before putting it into jars. The warmth will dissolve the powder so it comes out smooth. If you add a pinch in your serving bowl, the yogurt will be cold so it will only partially dissolve which is ok.
My oven doesn’t have any bells or whistles so I heat it on the lowest setting of 150 or just to when the light turns on for no more than 60 seconds and then turn it off. Put your jars of yogurt in without the lid. Don’t put a lid on or it’ll seal. After a couple hours, when you remember, turn it back to the lowest heat for another 45-60 seconds and off again. Do this maybe 3 times over the course of 6-8 hours or let it be overnight and it’s done. If the batch hasn’t firmed up enough, put it back in the warm oven for a couple more hours. Or the above gelatin will firm it. Or claim you were making a yogurt drink and it came out perfect.
Freeze the original store bought yogurt in ice cube trays and store in baggies. Set one or however many cubes out when you first start an entirely new batch and it’ll be thawed by the time it is needed (I use one cube for 1 quart - ymmv). Save a little homemade yogurt from the last jar as starter for the next batch. This can be chained up to 4 times so you don’t have to waste money using more store bought. After 4 chains, it becomes too tart and icky.
Yes, it is very cost effective to make yogurt yourself. Stirring can be a bit time consuming but not really if you’re in the kitchen anyway. I’d rather save a few cents and know a skill.
I’ve read hot and bell pepper stems and stalks, lemon (Is it the rind or the juice that makes it work so you wouldn’t have to waste the whole fruit? Bet lime would work and maybe grapefruit with orange and tangerine down the list?), goat poop and ant eggs (passing on those two!), special cherry limbs, etc. can be used as culture. Saw a Turkish video of an older couple swishing grass/weeds/something to supposedly use the airy bacterial culture but couldn’t translate it, so does anyone know about that? Also, something about ground cashews but couldn’t get into the site.