Cold recipes - especially for GTM

I hate having a cold, and anything you can take to make it less debilitating is always welcome. I swear by a good hot (as in spicy) curry and a "brandy shandy" just before bed. In the WI book I bought recently, during WWII, the country was lemonless and onionless in 1941. Apparently onion milk was a sovereign remedy (the outer skin of the onion was removed and the onion cooked in milk. The onion was then eaten and the milk drunk.) One Worcestershire remedy was to take a sprig of Rosemary and boil it in half a pint of cider for 15 mins and then drink it as hot as possible at bedtime. Apparently this brought on great sweating so it was recommended you were in bed before you drank the remedy! I should imagine the cider was of the home-made variety too, and not the fizzy sugar water which often passes for cider these days. In Gloucestershire they doubled the amount of cider (!) and replaced the Rosemary with a teaspoon of ground ginger. This was also to be drunk in (or beside!) the bed . . .

The remedy I have heard of through my late m-in-law, was Elderflower and Peppermint. Take a handful of elderflowers (I dried some this year as I imagine many people did in the past) , put into a jug and pour over 1 1/2 pints of boiling water. Let it steep for 30 mins on the hob. Strain and sweeten with treacle or honey. Drink hot in bed. The more you drink, the sooner will the cure be effected.

For a cough, Coltsfoot Tea was recommended: 2 oz dried coltsfoot leaves. Boil in three gills of water for 15 minutes. Sweeten with sugar or honey. Take a wineglassful four times a day. Halve this quantity for children.