by Svetlana Konnikova

Tired of heavily promoted over-the-counter concoctions like Vicks, Nyquil and a range of cold medicines hawked by the aspirin makers ? Want to try something new and helpful? Now you have a choice. You can make your natural medicines in advance and keep them in your refrigerator or herbal medicine chest. When you need them, these natural wonders are at your service, ready to heal you from sneezing and struggling with a cold.

Some are very efficient, especially when you use vodka or wine as one of important ingredients in creating natural remedy for colds or flu. It works and you’ll be surprised, but some of them taste really yummy!

  • Make rose hips liqueur with vodka. Prepare one cup of dried or fresh rose hips. If you use fresh berries, do not cut them. If you use dried, dice them and combine with 8-12 cups of raw organic sugar. Add 24 ounces of vodka and steep in the sun for five days. On the sixth day, add 10-24 additional ounces of vodka. Allow mixture to continue to steep in the sun for five more days. Filter on the 10th day, and take one tablespoon two ot three times a day, after meal.
  • Make a birch vodka by putting an ounce of dried black or yellow birch buds in a glass jar. Steep for two weeks in a cool place. Filter and take 15-20 drops to one teaspoon, dissolved in boiling water, before meal. This assists in treating cold, flu, inflammation of the kidney and liver, skin diseases and rheumatism.
  • Make our family drink, Sweet Kiss. Mix one cup of grape juice with 24 oz of spring water, four ounces of red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon), four tablespoons of organic sugar and honey, and one grated lemon or orange peel. Bring spring water to boil and add sugar or honey and lemon or orange peel. Boil three to five minutes, cook, filter and add grape juice and red wine. Filter the liquid into a glass pitcher. Drink one cup once or twice a day for recovery and pleasure.

These are only few of hundreds of old Eastern European remedies for colds and flu.

Precaution: Consult your doctor or qualified health-care practitioner before adapting these suggestions. Don’t take antibiotics without a doctor’s prescription because they don’t affect the flu virus. Bacteria in the body get accustomed to antibiotics and these drugs will not be useful in the treatment of more complicated diseases.

Rose hips and dried black and yellow birch buds usually available in health food stores.

Remedies excerpted from Mama’s Home Remedies: Discover Time-Tested Secrets of Good Health and the Pleasures of Natural Living by Svetlana Konnikova Copyright 2008 All rights reserved.

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