Julia Altshuler wrote on 17 Feb 2007 in rec.food.cooking

> Michael Horowitz wrote:
> > GOOGLING, I see homemade cough remedies made of honey, lemon and
> > whiskey.
> >
> > I can see that drinking enough will make me not care about the cough,
> > but will this actually calm a cough? - Mike <cough, cough>
>
>
> What an interesting question. I remember that many years ago some
> researchers got around to testing chicken soup against other hot liquids
> (tomato soup) and concluded that chicken soup actually worked as an
> expectorant though no one knows why.
>
>
> But hot lemonade sweetened with honey? I've always used it for a cold
> remedy, but come to think of it, I'm not sure it makes a difference.
> The doctors will tell you to rest, stay warm and drink plenty of
> liquids, but plain water qualifies as a liquid when it comes to
> preventing someone from drying out due to fever, and anything hot feels
> soothing to the throat. Maybe hot lemonade is suggested since coffee
> and tea can have a drying effect? I don't know.
>
>
> As for the whiskey, be careful it doesn't clash with commercial cold
> medications. I know that alcohol and antihistamines don't mix, and
> there are probably others that they tell you not to mix with alcohol.
> I'd guess that the whiskey harkens back to the day when no one ever
> drank except medicinally, and there wasn't a lot of effective medicine
> around. In that case, a little whiskey would help the patient sleep.
> (I mean, harkens back to the day when no one on that one, quaint,
> country farm, where no one ever drank. I don't mean to suggest that
> there haven't been problem drinkers throughout history.)
>
>
> --Lia
>
>

Also the whiskey helped relieve the aches that are common with a cold.