on Sore Throats and a Solution for Them

So, I've been sick for about three weeks now. It's really quite enraging, as just a month ago, I had just gotten over a cough that had been with me for at least three weeks before then. So, I was healthy for about a week before I made myself sick again stressing over wedding plans. Maybe I wasn't actually better for that week and just pretended to be while my parents were in town for graduation - even so, I wish I could pretend to be healthy a lot more often.

Regardless, a sore throat is always the first and last thing to hit me, illness-wise. It was particularly bad last week when swallowing was just about the most painful thing in the world, but still unfortunately necessary for me to survive. Eating is kind of a pain when you're sick. Throat Coat or Throat Comfort Teas only went so far to relieve the pain, and it was still difficult to swallow that itself. Cough drops didn't work very well either - while they cleared my sinuses at first, it didn't relieve the pain in the back of my throat, and eating too many of them gives me socially unspeakable bowel movements.

After sustaining myself on Campbell's Chicken Noodle soup and ordered-in noodle soups (with no pots large enough to actually cook myself a legit soup), I finally mustered up the strength to go outside and buy some supplies (funny how that coincides with a day that has nice weather). Note, the Hubby-to-Be was also sick for about a week because I inevitably got him sick, so he was miserable with me for a while, and also unable to procure these supplies. (I am a little upset about the fact that I was sick before he was, and I am still not recovered while he is. Sad face.)

The first things I decided to buy was a lemon, cinnamon sticks, and I would've bought honey and ginger, but we have a little pre-made honey-ginger tea thing at home. Ignore the fact that the Honey-Ginger tea mix is supposedly expired... The Korean Honey-Ginger tea is basically like ginger preserved in globs of honey - it has the consistency of jelly or jam, and I keep it in the refrigerator so the expiration date is kind of unnecessary. At the very least, it wasn't moldy, so we're all good. :)

What I used for my Honey Ginger Lemon Cinnamon Tea.

To make my happy throat-potion, as I call it:

• Boil some water in a small saucepan
• Add 1-2 cinnamon sticks
• Stir in some spoonfuls of the ginger-honey.
  If you're using plain honey and ginger, slice the ginger into thin flakes.
• Squeeze lemon juice in (about 1/2 - 1 lemon's worth)
  I also cut a few slices of lemon (pre-squeezed) off to put in to the pot as it boiled (also for eating later, as honeyed lemon slices are delicious)

 All ingredients are added to taste, so I don't have precise measurements. If it's too watery, you can let it boil off some, or if it's too strong, water can be added to tone it down. Boil until it suits your tastes and then ladle into a cup for your drinking pleasure! I also let it sit overnight in the fridge (made more than I could drink in one day) and it's also really good cold, if it's a hot day out, it still feels really soothing, and I feel like it's easier to breathe because of the spices.

EDIT/ADDITION:  So I just made this again, but made it super concentrated (much less water), and mixed the resulting "syrup" with seltzer water and made myself a fizzy, throat-soothing soda!


It's sweet, sour, and spicy all at once, and really soothing for the throat. If you don't like ginger, or don't want it too spicy, regular honey would work instead of the ginger-honey. I definitely need to make this earlier on in my times of sore-throat woes.