Cough Cure Experiment: Steamed Orange with Salt

Steamed orange with salt - a natural remedy touted for coughs.

I don't know why I started coughing a week back.

But I also heard some of my friends have been having lingering coughs too. Weather? Maybe. It has been raining at night but blisteringly warm in the day. Change of temperature perhaps.

I have horrid experiences with coughing and it goes way back to my childhood days. Weak lungs maybe. Cold gets to me so I don't even wear bare back tops because my lungs might catch a cold! So travelling to cold countries is a bit of a love-hate relationship for me. I like that I don't sweat but I also know too much of cold and I get all wonky inside.

So yeah. From my past experience I only either get Wind Heat cough or Wind Cold cough. Both are terrible.

Both are hacking, phlegmy and wrecks sleep especially at night.

For the past week I have tried a lot of remedies.

From drinking water steeped with Indian borage (plucked fresh from my garden) to eating royal jelly, I tried them all.

Initially the cough wasn't so bad.

But the past few days I was majorly annoyed. I was coughing at night and made me lose sleep. Had to wake up in the middle of the night to drink some hot water to soothe my itchy and dry throat.

It sucks when you don't get a full night's sleep. (I treasure my 8 hours. Since young I have always loved sleeping. If I don't get to bed by midnight I can get all heaty the next day and be grouchy.)

Finally Nic told me to grab Woods peppermint cough syrup from the Chinese medical hall.

As an aside I noted that Woods now comes in 50ml and 100ml plastic bottles. When I was a kid, it came in larger glass bottles! How times have evolved.

Anyway I was taking 10ml of the pepperminty cough medicine 4 times a day. Seriously it did help. It loosens phlegm and disgusting as it is, we need to spit it out. So there I was running to the bathroom sink every few minutes to expel the loosened mucous.

I also noticed that cold makes my cough worse - being in an air cond room for instance threw me into a coughing fit. I would tear up and turn red with all that sputtering. At some point I'd sneeze too.

My cough was worse in the middle of the night and upon waking up.

I actually finished one 100ml bottle of Woods peppermint cure in 2.5 days.

While waiting to go and buy another bottle, I recalled a cough remedy using orange.

You see, I made a silly mistake last night.

I sliced some oranges for Nic after dinner and thought since it is full of vitamin C I should also have some to boost my immunity.

Bad idea.

If you are coughing, avoid oranges like the plague. You will cough much worse and I experienced that last night. I was coughing like crazy! My throat was dry and itchy.

The other type of food to avoid are deep-fried or spicy food. That I was diligently avoiding.

So today I decided to dig up that remedy that I heard so much about. If fresh orange killed me, the opposite of that is steamed orange with salt which I believe will cure my cough.

I don't know why a steamed orange works the opposite way but changing the properties of natural food could change its effects.

It's quite easy. Just soak an orange in water for a while (just in case there are pesticides). Next slice about a third off the top. Using a fork, pierce the orange flesh while sprinkling some salt over. Caution: don't overdo the salt. Half a teaspoon is good.

Cover the orange with its top. Place orange in a bowl. Put bowl into steamer or wok. Cover and steam over medium high heat for 15 minutes. Turn off fire - let the orange cool a little before you eat up the softened pulp. The orange "sweated" out some of its juice and salt into the bowl after 15 minutes and I also drank that salty liquid up.

I am so crossing my fingers that this works. This is much better than eating cough medicines.

Shall keep you posted on the results of my experiment.

P/S - I actually wrote a post about Chiangmai since I was there in November but that takes a backseat to this.

Home Remedies to Treat Cough and Bronchitis

How To Stop Coughing - Top Cough Remedies

The Complete Book of Ayurvedic Home Remedies

Goji Berry, Chrysanthemum & Red Date Tea

I've been making this simple tea for a few times already. Not sure if I had shared this before but all it needs are 3 ingredients - dried goji berries, dried red dates and dried chrysanthemum bulbs. This sugar-less concoction is good for health especially if you want to maintain immunity. It's even more important these days what with the pandemic and Covid-19. But it is also a pleasant brew - no boiling needed. All you need is a handful of goji berries (washed and soaked for 5 minutes in water), 3-5 large dried red dates and a teaspoon of dried chrysanthemum flowers (these are the small heads of flowers, not the usual type for making chrysanthemum tea). Put all the ingredients in a teapot and pour in boiling water. Let it sit for 10 minutes and voila, you have made yourself a healthy tea without sugar. It has a natural sweetness from the red dates and goji berries. And once you have drunk all the tea, you can continue adding more boiling water for a second b...

The Remarkable Nut of Nuts

In this recipe, walnuts and dried red dates are combined to make a healthy and life-giving dessert. And with honey added, it packs a punch. A truly simple dessert which is used to prevent the usual flu magnets - colds and coughs. It helps too with your kidneys and with bowel movement. Walnuts are much revered in Chinese medicine, not least because the nut resembles the brain! Again, the Chinese believe that walnuts are good snacks for children as they help boost brain power which is true because of the high amounts of Omega 3 fats (good for the brain). Walnuts are of course a good source of essential omega-3 fatty acids and in Roman times, considered the food of the gods. Walnuts are a 'yang' tonic and useful for toning up weak kidneys. It also warms lung Qi while acting as a laxative, moistening the intestines (hence encouraging bowel movement if you are constipated). Walnuts are called Hu Tao Ren (juglans regia) in Chinese medicine. Walnut & Red Date Dessert 150 gm walnut...

Corn Silk That You Should Never Throw Away

The next time you buy fresh corn still in its husk, you should never throw away the corn silk. Most people throw away the husk and silk, thinking that they're useless but I can tell you, corn silk is great for your body. Save the corn silk to make a healthy tea. Just place all the silk into a pot, cover with 500ml of water and simmer for 10 minutes on low heat. Turn off the heat and pour yourself a steaming cup of sweetish corn silk tea that tastes a little like corn. Corn silk or Yu Mi Xu is a natural corn fibre that is also used in Native American medicine. It contains flavonoids that give corn silks their colour and have antioxidant properties. I t is considered an important medicinal plant, able to induce diuresis and excrete dampness according to TCM. Corn silk is helpful towards Kidney, Bladder, Liver and Gall Bladder. meridians Therefore it clears damp heat, bloating, rheumatism, skin eruptions, gout, wasting and thirsting disorder, hepatitis, cholelithiasis, ch...

The Soup Queen

Search This Blog