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WINTER COLDS
Colds have existed since ancient times,
being known in ancient Egypt, where there were hieroglyphs representing
the cough and the common cold. The Greek physician Hippocrates gave
a description of the disease in the 5th century BC. The common cold
was also known among the ancient American Indian, Aztec, and Maya
civilizations. A mixture of chili pepper, honey, and tobacco was
one common Aztec treatment for colds.
Your nose is running, your throat is sore: you've got a cold. What
you need is a hot toddy to make you feel better! One of the nicest
things about a hot toddy is this lovely sounding name. The word
toddy appears to be a corruption of the Hindu word tari, which is
used for a sweet alcoholic drink made of palm sap. From there the
word seems to have found its way to Scotland, where it is used by
Robert Burns in a poem of 1785 to mean a generic alcoholic drink.
Nowadays the word is almost always used as here, to describe a hot,
sweetened drink of spirits and water.
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| Ingredients
50ml/2 fl oz./3.5 tablespoons of strong alcohol such as:
· Whisky - You don't need to blow your best single malt on
this, and you probably wouldn't be able to appreciate it anyway.
A supermarket blend will do just fine; the sort that in old cowboy
films would be called 'gulpin' whisky'
· Bourbon
· Dark rum, - although you probably don't need to use quite
as much for the desired effect
· Brandy
50ml/2fl oz./3.5 tablespoons boiling water
Half a teaspoon of honey
A dash of lemon and a couple of cloves (both optional)
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Method
Give this recipe to somebody else. If you have a partner, flat
mate, parent, sibling or responsible offspring present - get them
to go to the kitchen while you curl up under a blanket - you're
poorly, remember?
Place the alcohol in a container and stir the honey into the whisky.
Add the boiling water (pouring it over the teaspoon to clean off
the last of the honey).
At this stage you may wish to pop it into a microwave to make
sure it's really piping hot. Make sure the toddy is in a container
used for a microwave and cook for no more than a minute or until
it's fizzing and you can smell alcohol.
Add lemon and cloves to taste.
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| A
hot toddy should be sipped very slowly allowing it to soothe your
sore throat, clear your nose and relax your aching muscles. Clutching
a thick whisky tumbler of steaming liquid looks and feels great,
but, perhaps because of the volatile nature of the alcohol, it goes
cold really quickly, and a cold hot toddy is pretty nasty. A pottery
mug holds the heat better, but not by much. Best of all is one of
those insulated mugs, preferably with a lid, which keeps it warm
down to the last sip.
There are no grand medical claims attached to this recipe. Nobody
says that it will cure your cold, and indeed alcohol can deplete
your immune system, but a hot toddy may well make you feel a little
better.
Please be aware that many over-the-counter cold cures should not
be taken with alcohol, and so you should be careful about combining
different forms of cold relief.
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For more information
or to book an appointment please call Sarah at ATRIUM on 957 534 019
Sarah Morning; Complementary
Therapist and Masseuse, ATRIUM, Calle Real 12, Iznajar.
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