Ingredient: Blackcurrant

Black currant tea is one of the oldest of old-fashioned remedies for sore throats and colds. It is made by pouring half a pint of boiling water on to a large tablespoonful of the jelly or jam. To make the jelly use the same recipe as for blackberry jelly.

The fresh juice pressed from the fruit is, of course, better than tea made from the jelly, but as winter is the season of coughs and colds the fruit is least obtainable when most needed.

Source: Food Remedies: Facts About Foods And Their Medicinal Uses, Florence Daniel

Blood Purifier, A Recipe Invaluable

The simplest and best blood purifier known is a sliced lemon, two tablespoonsful of black currant preserves, and ten red sage leaves, to a quart of boiling water, sweetened to taste, which makes a most agreeable drink.

Source: Fray’s Golden Recipes for the use of all ages, E. Fray

How to make a Cordial for Colds

First, prepare a quart of the juice of black currants, by bruising and boiling them for twenty minutes, and then straining off the juice with great pressure through a sieve into a basin. Next, boil four ounces of linseed in a quart of water until reduced to one-third of its original quantity, taking care that it does not boil fast, and, when done, strain the liquid into a very clean saucepan; add the currant juice, two pounds of moist sugar, and half an ounce of citric acid, or one pint of lemon juice; boil all together until reduced to a thick syrup—that is, when it begins to run rather thick from the spoon without resembling treacle; as soon as the syrup has reached this stage, remove it from the fire, and pour it into a jug to become quite cold. This syrup will keep good for any length of time, if bottled and corked down tight, and kept in a cool place. A tea-spoonful taken occasionally will soon relieve the most troublesome cough.

This cordial may also be prepared in winter, using for the purpose black currant jam, or preserved black currant juice, instead of the juice of fresh-gathered currants.

Source: A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes, C.E. Francatelli