Cough

Ginger juice with honey is the first remedy for any cough — half a teaspoon of juice with a teaspoon of honey, two or three times a day. Turmeric milk at night for a dry cough; a kadha of tulsi, ginger and black pepper for a chesty one. A cough lasting past three weeks, blood in the phlegm, or breathlessness — see a doctor.

Half teaspoon haldi in a cup of warm milk at night (to DRINK, not apply). For a dry throat add a little ghee.

Kadha of 8-10 tulsi leaves, small piece of ginger and 4-5 black peppers boiled in a cup of water till half; sip warm with honey, twice daily.

Suck a small piece of mulethi (licorice) through the day, or take a pinch of its powder with honey — the classical throat-soother.

For a stubborn wet cough: 2 cloves of garlic lightly roasted, taken warm at night.

A pinch of ajwain wrapped in a betel leaf, chewed slowly, eases a wet cough.

Quarter teaspoon pippali powder with honey, three times daily.

Mishri with black pepper powder held in the mouth soothes a tickling cough.

extract a glass of juice from ripe apple, add mishri, and drink each morning to relieve an old cough. For dry cough, eat apple sprinkled with black pepper and mishri.

Two spoons of vasaka leaf juice with honey three times a day — it thins the phlegm and brings it out.

5-6 peppercorns crushed and boiled in a cup of water, with a little honey stirred in off the heat — it cuts thick phlegm. Honey goes in after boiling, never into boiling water.

A small piece of mulethi boiled in a cup of water, sipped warm twice a day — it coats the throat and loosens a dry cough. Not beyond two weeks, and not at all in high blood pressure: mulethi raises it.

1/2 tsp dry ginger powder boiled in a cup of water with a little jaggery — warming and drying, the right kadha for a wet cough. Avoid in acidity.

8-10 tulsi leaves boiled in a cup of water with 2 cloves, warm, twice a day — in most Indian homes this is the first kadha reached for, and it earns the place.