The Perfect Cure for the Winter Chills: Ginger Tea

It is winter. No doubt about it. Snow, scarves and sniffles are the name of the game.

To me feeling cold and having a cold are two of my least favourite things about winter. Don’t get me wrong, I love the cold when I’m wrapped up, stomping around the countryside with the promise of a pub and a roaring fire at the end; just not when I’m waiting for the bus or when I’ve got to go to a really important meeting and have to navigate the journey in my best suit and deal with hat hair at the end of my journey.

Sniffles on the other hand are unsexy, annoying and down right rude. Chapped nose, no sir-ree. I will do my damndest to avoid avoid avoid. For those of you who agree, I have a little secret recipe that I’m going to share with all of you to kill a cold in its tracks. Ginger Tea.

Fresh ginger tea is just divine; I first came across it whilst trekking in Thailand. The root was finely chopped and simmered in water a kettle over an open fire while we were waiting for breakfast. The drink was sweetened with sugar and served in bamboo cups. It was love at first slurp for me. I’ve always had an intense dislike of ‘normal’ tea and will only drink coffee if it is horrendously expensive, made with a gaggia machine and ideally, Bon Soy soya milk, so when travelling, I usually get the choice of water, water or water.

The best thing about ginger tea is that the spice has a warming action on the body and for me, brings an instant smile to my face and nice rosy cheeks. A cousin of both turmeric and cardamon, ginger is omnipresent in most kitchens these days due to the explosion of Asian and Indian cooking over the past couple of decades, but few realise how powerful the root is for our bodies.

Ginger is anti-viral and anti-inflammatory which makes it a fabulous natural remedy for a myriad of things including sore throats, stomach pains, diarrhoea, nausea/morning sickness and colds. There is also some anecdotal evidence of fresh ginger helping reduce migraine intensity. The best thing about ginger is that it lasts and as it ages, the strength increases. So don’t throw away the dried up roots, they are still useable, albeit in smaller quantities. When making ginger tea you can re-boil the root a number of times before the replacing which also increases the taste and potency of the root.

When combined with garlic and lemon, ginger tea moves from being a stomach super-hero to cold-buster extraordinaire. I discovered this concoction on the run-up to a big deadline when the cold I’d been nursing decided to try and come out in force. It being late at night and no cold pharmaceuticals in the house I had no choice but to go for the natural stuff. After plying myself with copious amounts of my special ginger tea, and with threats of divorce from my boyfriend due to the amount of garlic I’d consumed, I woke up the next morning to a clear head, blow-able nose, very little cough and lung gunk. I was cured.

For just general warming-of-the-cockles this winter, try out the plain ginger tea. It’ll also help you with your water intake that is de-rigeur in detoxing. If you don’t have a stove top kettle, use a saucepan; if you get really addicted to the stuff and want it at work then grate some ginger into a cup and pour with boiling water although you may need to bash the ginger a little in order for it to release its fantastic chemicals.

For those of you suffering from colds and are up for the garlic challenge, here’s the recipe:

Double G Cold-Slinger

1. Thinly slice a thumb sized piece of ginger and place into a stove-top kettle or saucepan.

2. Bring the water to the boil and simmer for 10-15 mins

3. Meanwhile, peel and crush two garlic cloves and add to mug

4. Squeeze, half a lemon into the mug, adding lemon if organic (phyto-chemicals in the rind are released in hot water)