Onion Syrup and Garlic Salve

One of my neighbor ladies has this medical issue that she seems to get at least once a year.  Either in the spring or the fall she gets pneumonia in her right lung.  The weather changes and she starts having chest pains.  The scary thing is there has been four times now that the doctors couldn't see the pneumonia on the x-rays right away.  

Just a quick lecture here, if you are having chest pains and the doctor's can't find the reason, ask to see someone who is trained exclusively at looking at x-rays, a radiologist.  Sometimes pneumonia can hide in a way that a general practitioner cannot see.  You are all too important for us to lose you and your wisdom.

Okay, so my neighbor lady once again called me up and said, "guess what..." 

I didn't have to guess.  I just started up some onion syrup for her to take.  Onion syrup is a great medicine to loosen up the phlegm in the chest.  It is often called a cough medicine but it's more of a lung medicine as it can actually make you cough more once all that mucus in your chest is broke free and you start coughing it up.  Yes, I know this sound gross, but if you have gunk in your lungs, you want it out. 

I make my onion syrup with honey, just because I have bees and plenty of honey.  But it can be just as easily made with sugar.  In fact some people say you get more medicine out of the onion if you use sugar.

To make it with honey just slice the onion, break the slices apart in a bowl and pour honey over it enough to cover.  Then take something and mush down on the onions.  I usually use the bottom of a clean canning jar.  Let this sit for about eight hours (overnight if you can spare the time), mushing down on the onions every now and again.  Strain out the onions and bottle the syrup in a sterile jar.  Take two Tablespoons three times a day, or more if you want, it won't do any harm besides give you onion breath.

If you want to make it with sugar, put a layer of broke apart onion slices down at the bottom of your bowl.  Cover with sugar, then another layer of onions, then another layer of sugar, and so forth until you have covered all your onions with sugar.  Again, mush the onions to start them releasing their juices.  Let set for eight hours, again, mushing the onions ever now and again to keep their juices coming out.  This way of doing it though allows you to decant the juices as soon as they come out.  So if in a half and hour you have a tablespoon of syrup, you can carefully drain this off, take it and let the rest sit longer.  You may need to add a bit more sugar after you have done this, but you can get that medicine in right away.

Cathy (the neighbor lady) has been taking onion syrup for years and she says it works better than the antibiotics.  I won't say that myself, but you can use it with the antibiotics because they won't interact and it will help speed up the loosening of the mucus in your chest.

The other thing I make for her is garlic salve.  Again, pretty easy to make and you can use it right away.  The main problem with garlic salve is that it will make your breath and sweat smell like garlic.  But to be able to breath without hurting most people don't mind that little inconvenience.

I make my garlic salve with coconut oil for the most part now, but for a long time I made it with simple Crisco.  If you can't get coconut oil, use Crisco, it works fine too.

Take 1/3 cup of coconut oil (or Crisco), 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 10 cloves of raw garlic, and if you want to keep it awhile 5 drops of lavender oil.  You don't need the lavender oil for the medicine, it just makes it last longer.  Put all this into a blender and blend on high until it is all liquid.  Pour it into a wide mouth jar.  Some people strain it, but I never have.  This must be stored in the refrigerator, so don't whip it up until you need it.

This works on many things but for pneumonia you rub it on the chest, the back, and the soles of the feet.  Yep, put it on your feet and put on some cotton socks to keep yourself from smearing it all over the bed covers.  Within an hour you should be able to start tasting the garlic and those around you should be able to smell it on your breath.  Your body will absorb it and you'll start sweating garlic in a few hours.  Apply often, once an hour if things are bad, once every three hours in the beginning of a not so bad pneumonia episode and then you can slow it down gradually to 4 times a day.

Garlic salve is one of those things you have to try to believe how well it works.  It's amazing stuff.

I'm not saying don't go to a doctor, if you suspect you have pneumonia, getting on antibiotics can save your life.  Jim Henson, the guy who created Kermit the Frog, died from walking pneumonia that he didn't even know he had until it was too late.  If you think you have it, get help.  Still these are two things that can help speed your recovery or get you through until you can see your doctor.  I live in the middle of an Amish community, and these are two cures that they "doctor" themselves with all the time.  Onions and garlic are great healers for all of us English as well.