Grandmother’s Cough Syrup

Take half a pound of dry hoarhound herbs, one pod of red pepper, four tablespoonfuls of ginger, boil all in three quarts of water, then strain, and add one teaspoonful of good, fresh tar and a pound of sugar. Boil slowly and stir often, until it is reduced to one quart of syrup. When cool, bottle for use. Take one or two teaspoonfuls four or six times a day.

Source: The White House Cookbook, F.L. Gillette

To Remove Disagreeable Odors from the House

Sprinkle fresh ground coffee, on a shovel of hot coals, or burn sugar on the shovel. This is an old-fashioned disinfectant, still good.

Source: Things Mother Used To Make, L.M. Gurney

Dandelion Tea

Infuse one ounce of dandelion in a jug with a pint of boiling water for fifteen minutes; sweeten with brown sugar or honey, and drink several tea-cupfuls during the day. The use of this tea is recommended as a safe remedy in all bilious affections; it is also an excellent beverage for persons afflicted with dropsy.

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

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

Lime-flower Tea

To half an ounce of lime-flowers, placed in a tea-pot or jug, pour a pint of boiling water, and when the infusion has stood for ten minutes, sweeten with honey or sugar, and drink the tea hot, to assuage the pains in the stomach and chest, arising from indigestion. This beverage may also be successfully administered in attacks of hysteria.

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

Camomile Tea

Put about thirty flowers into a jug, pour a pint of boiling water upon them, cover up the tea, and when it has stood about ten minutes, pour it off from the flowers into another jug; sweeten with sugar or honey; drink a tea-cupful of it fasting in the morning to strengthen the digestive organs, and restore the liver to healthier action. A tea-cupful of camomile tea, in which is stirred a large dessert-spoonful of moist sugar, and a little grated ginger, is an excellent thing to administer to aged people a couple of hours before their dinner.

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

Linseed Tea

Put a table-spoonful of linseed into a clean earthen pot or pipkin with a quart of water, and a little orange or lemon rind; boil this gently for about ten minutes, and then strain it through muslin into a jug; sweeten with honey or sugar, add the juice of a lemon, stir all together, and give this beverage to allay irritation of the chest and lungs—in the latter case, the lemon juice had better be omitted. Linseed tea in its purest form is an excellent accessory in aiding to relieve such as are afflicted with gout, gravel, etc.

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

Baked Lemon for a Cold

Dose a teaspoonful. Bake a lemon till soft, take out all the inside, and mix with as much sugar as it will hold, strain and stand till cold when it will jelly.

Source: My Pet Recipes, Tried And True

Whooping Cough

Bruise a tumbler of flaxseed, three ounces of liquorice, two ounces of loaf sugar, two of strained honey. Pour to these a quart of water; boil until reduced half. Give frequently. Hog’s lard and molasses in equal quantities with a little laudanum is also good.

Source: Mrs Hill’s New Cook-Book

Specific for a Cough

Take equal quantities of camomile flowers, elecampane, life-everlasting, mullen, a few races of ginger, and as much fat lightwood splinters as camomile. Boil to a strong tea; strain it, and add enough honey and sugar mixed in equal quantities; boil down to a syrup; add enough good apple vinegar to give a pleasant acid taste. Pills made of fresh tar, brown sugar, and the yolk of an egg,
are good for a cough. Pills of fresh rosin taken from the pine tree are also good.

Source: Mrs Hill’s New Cook-Book