Honey

“Colds, cough, sore throat. Food level: roasted sour orange with honey or salt, pimento for congestion, garlic. Bush: fever grass, rice bitters, leaf of life, cerasee, guinea hen weed (all three out in pregnancy and for young children), vervain. Doctor: cough beyond 5 days, flu beyond 7, fever beyond 2, and a medical check first for asthma or suspected pneumonia.”

“Tradition: the main cold remedy in Kingston and Windsor Forest. The fruit is roasted in the fire, the juice taken with 2 teaspoons of honey or with salt, the roasted flesh eaten with sugar, or a leaf tea drawn. Roasted fruit eaten or used to bathe for fever and "to keep cool". TRAMIL recommends it for colic, cough, diarrhoea, fever, flatulence, flu and headache.”

“Cough. Honey in warm water, from age 1. Daikon ame (daikon cubes in honey or sugar until syrup forms): the old home syrup. Never honey under age 1: infant botulism, spores survive heat, Japan's health ministry has warned since 1987, a baby died in Tokyo in 2017. A coughing baby goes to the doctor. Doctor signs (Thuisarts): urgent with fast or difficult breathing at rest, wheezing, confusion or drowsiness, getting sicker fast, coughing blood. Same day: fever returning after fever-free days, or over 75 with fever and feeling ill. Within days: chest pain, fever over 3 days.”

“Sore throat. Warm drinks, honey over 1, daikon ame: the old comforts.”

“Miel con limón: a spoon of honey with a squeeze of lemon in warm water, the first thing every abuela reached for. Never under one year (RIVM and Voedingscentrum: infant botulism, not in tea, not on a dummy, not a lick from a spoon). The sugar counts for diabetics.”

“Miel (honey). The cough spoon from 12 months. Never under one year. Sugar for diabetics.”

“Honey (med). In the syrup, the sage tea, on burns. Never under one year, not in tea, not on a dummy: infant botulism. On a wound the kitchen jar is not sterile.”

“Sage (žalfija) tea with honey stirred in afterwards, drunk or gargled, recorded for tonsillitis. Thujone: two weeks at most, never in pregnancy or breastfeeding, not under 12.”

“One line: rock sugar is sugar, so go easy with diabetes. Honey in pear soups and teas, never under one year. Bitter apricot kernel stays out of home soups.”

“Sweet belongs to the spleen. Sweet nourishes and soothes, rice, red dates, pear, honey. Too much sweetness is said to create damp.”

“One line. It is sugar: with diabetes small and rare. Made with honey, never for babies under one year.”

“In the kitchen. Warm drinks, warm soup, sekanjabin diluted in warm water. Honey in warm water for anyone over one year.”

“Fresh raw honey is acceptable in small amounts - natural energy, antimicrobial, enzyme-rich. Not a sugar equivalent.”