Onions are pure medicine this time of year. Did you know, for example, that onions (red or yellow) can relieve coughs, ear infections and cure colds? Onions are also expectorant, diuretic, cleansing for the respiratory tract and good for digestion. In Germany, onions are considered to have a beneficial effect on potency if you take 1 teaspoon of raw onion juice per day. Sounds like that to my ears… you get a little gassy from raw onions and your breath is not so attractive. But as a home remedy for various ailments such as earaches, coughs and colds, onions work perfectly.

The beneficial properties of onions are not a new discovery – the ancient Greeks used onions for all sorts of ailments and during the Middle Ages onions were cultivated as a medicinal plant. Hildegard of Bingen, a German abbess in the 9th century, recommended boiled onions as a cure for gout and fever.

Onions boiled in milk or onion syrup work for coughs. Alternative: put half a chopped yellow onion in boiling water, place the bowl/pan by the bed and inhale the onion fumes. The room does smell of onions, but you have to live with that! For earaches: chopped onions in a piece of cloth that you put against your ear – I got that as a child. It wasn't fun to lie on the couch with onions against your ear, but it helped! My favorite cure for colds is curry fried in onions. I eat it regularly during the winter, but especially when I feel a cold coming on. When my nose runs, my head feels like a heavy ball and my throat itches. Curry onions are both food and medicine that are warming, bactericidal, expectorant and very tasty. And very easy to prepare: peel and slice yellow onions, fry in rapeseed oil or butter. Add curry (hot), a pinch of cayenne pepper and squeezed lemon juice. Season with salt and top with chopped parsley.

To make onion syrup , boil three onions in half a liter of water with three deciliters of sugar or honey. Let simmer under a lid for 20 minutes. Strain the liquid and pour the syrup into a well-cleaned jar and store in the refrigerator. Take 1 tablespoon a few times a day when you feel a cold coming on.

Onion honey is also a great cure for coughs. Both onions and honey are expectorants and both have antibiotic effects. They strengthen the immune system to protect against viruses, bacteria and other nasty things that can settle in the respiratory tract. To make onion honey, you need 1 yellow onion, half a liter of water, the juice of a lemon, 1 tablespoon of honey. Peel and slice the onion into large slices. Boil it in the water for a quarter of an hour. Then turn off the heat and let stand for five minutes. Stir in the honey and lemon juice. Drink 2-3 times a day as needed.

Take care of yourself!

The Lisen