Killer Garlic

(NOTE: call me lazy, but I think this remedy is important enough to post it on all three of my blogsites today...)


At the first sign of a sneaking-up-on-me cold (sniffles, scratchy throat, sneezing, itchy or runny eyes...), I reach for my mug and the bulb of garlic that is usually in the countertop basket of fruits and veggies I use daily.
Garlic is one of the more popular home cures for colds. Many cultures have a home remedy for the cold using garlic, whether it’s chicken soup with lots of garlic, a drink made with raw crushed garlic, or it may just involve eating cloves raw garlic.

Here's a simple Garlic Tea, that does the job: crush anywhere from one to six fat cloves of garlic, put in the bottom of a mug. Set the timer for 10 minutes, the amount of time it seems auspicious for the "good stuff" to be activated. Then fill the mug with boiling water, add some honey and fresh lemon juice to taste, and sip away. When you get to the bottom, where the garlic resides, get a spoon and scoop those jewels of health up, and EAT THEM!! Yeah, you'll have some garlic breath for a bit, but no worse than with a garlic-laden spaghetti sauce. Brush your teeth and gargle, if it really bothers you.

I'm a believer - and I don't mind garlicky breath for a few days if it means not dealing with cold symptoms. Take your choice...

FYI: here's a fast and efficient way to peel and mash a clove of garlic in one fell swoop (or is that swell foop...): with the garlic on your cutting board, lay the flat side of your chef knife on the clove...

and give it a smack with your hand. It loosens the clove right out of the papery skin, and effectively crushes it too! Doncha just love kitchen tips...

And for your further edification:

"The cold-fighting compound in garlic is thought to be allicin, which has demonstrated antibacterial and antifungal properties. Allicin is what gives garlic its distinctive hot flavor. To maximize the amount of allicin, fresh garlic should be chopped or crushed and it should be raw.

In a study involving 146 people, participants received either a garlic supplement or a placebo for 12 weeks between November and February. People who took garlic reduced the risk of catching a cold by more than half. The study also found that garlic reduced the recovery time in people who caught a cold. More research is needed to corroborate these results.n is what gives garlic its distinctive hot flavor.

Garlic does have some possible side effects and safety concerns. Bad breath and body odor are perhaps the most common side effects, however, dizziness, sweating, headache, fever, chills and runny nose have also been reported. Large amounts may irritate the mouth or result in indigestion. Garlic supplements should avoided by people with bleeding disorders, two weeks before or after surgery, or by those taking "blood-thinning" medications such as warfarin (Coumadin) or supplements believed to affect blood clotting such as vitamin E, garlic or ginkgo. "

Personally, I've never had a reaction to garlic, other than some heat on the tongue from a big clove. But I don't eat the cloves all at once, I spread them out over a period of time, just grabbing one up in passing and munching it as I go about whatever I'm doing.

Go forth and find garlic. Better yet, get some planted in your garden - it's almost past time. You'll have garlic for next season!

Good mornin', sunshine!

Here's how I start my day: about 10 oz. warm water, juice from 1/2 a lovely ripe lemon, a pinch of cayenne, a small drizzle of natural maple syrup.

When I don't have lemons in the fruit basket, I substitute with 2 tablespoons of raw apple cider (Braggs).

Why, you ask, would I want to pucker up so early in the day?

Here are some reasons (beyond that I like it and it "cleans house" very effectively to start my day):

"Lemon:
*Helps to alkaline the body and disease is less able to develop in an alkaline environment
*On an empty stomach it helps flush the liver and gallbladder (releasing bile- the body’s natural laxative)
*Stimulates the body to produce digestive juices that gets the system ready for food digestion
*Can assist with weight reduction by cleansing the liver as a toxic liver can not efficiently metabolize fat.
*Excellent source of Vitamin C to keep the immune system strong, the adrenal glands functioning, and increases the absorption of iron into the body
*High in potassium and vitamin B1 too.
*The calcium in lemon supplies bones, teeth and the nervous system
with basic nourishment.
*Lemon also phosphorus and helps to digest proteins.

Cayenne
*Cayenne can rebuild the tissue in the stomach and increase the peristaltic action in the intestines- this means it helps you go.
*Aids in assimilation, meaning it helps us to absorb the nutrients from our food (or in this case the goodness from lemons)
*Helps the body to create hydrochloric acid, which is so necessary for good digestion and assimilation, especially of proteins.
*Said to be unequal for its ability to boost circulation and increase heart action
*Can increase peripheral circulation and stimulates organ secretion, helping to increase the rate of delivery and action of nutrients in the body.
*Can enhance cardiovascular performance while actually lowering blood pressure
*Cayenne is a counter-irritant; it brings blood to the surface and allows the toxins to be taken away.

Convinced yet? See… totally worth the wincing.

Lemon/Cayenne Wake-Up Call

1 quart/litre of warm water (I use regular water with just enough boiling water to make it warm)1/2 lemon juiced1/8 up to as much cayenne as you can handlepinch of stevia (optional- will help cut the spicyness without affecting blood sugar level)

Mix and chug that goodness back!"

Information compiled by Meghan Telpner (http://meghantelpnerblog.com/)

Bottoms up!

The fancy-top bottles (http://www.ezcap.net/) have made it to the brewing site - my kitchen. After a lesson from friend Laurie (see what she gets me into??) on how to put the wire and cap on correctly (and how to get it UN-capped so I can actually get the beverage OUT of the bottle - sheesh), I embarked on the bottling phase of this experiment.

The first to be honored with the new bottles was the batch of ginger-lemon-honey kombucha. Love those bits of ginger! After straining them out of the brew, I nibbled on them all afternoon - yum.

A few pieces of equipment - funnel, small sieve - and now for the big finale - into the bottle!

I was flabbergasted at the flavor of this, my very first bottled booch batch (say that three times fast). It was almost perfect, better than my beloved ginger ale because it's actually good for me. Weehaw!

See those bubbles? That's the buzz, baby!

Just kidding, it's just fizzy and yummy and gingery - honest.

Boochie koochie!

OK,OK, it looks suspicious, but it's all legal - honest. That's BOOCH, not HOOCH on the label.

It's all Laurie's fault. Or at least her friend's fault. She had some SCOBY to share. What? Yeah, that was my thought, too. I had run across kombucha here and there, bottled in the health food sections I like to browse. But it was too pricey to spring for a taste test. Had heard good things about it, though. So, I was willing to experiment.

"Kombucha is an all natural health beverage made with a nutrient solution of tea and sugar to which a SCOBY is added. SCOBY is an acronym for Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast. It is then fermented for 7-14 days.
Kombucha is naturally carbonated and has a host of healing properties including probiotics, alkalinizing the blood, detoxifying the liver, increased metabolism, improved digestion, rebuilding connective tissue and many others." - Kombucha Kamp


The SCOBY is also called the "mushroom". That's the strange floating stack-of-pancakes-looking thing in the jar. Those are layers of SCOBY from various brew cycles. Following some nebulous instruction and lots of reading online, I filled a gallon jar about 3/4 with some brewed green tea. Added the mushroom along with it's attendant liquid as a starter. Put some cheese cloth over the top secured with a rubber band, set it in a warmish corner and tried not to look at it too often. It's weird stuff.

Now you can use the brew at whatever stage it suits your taste - literally. One suggestion was, after about a week, to stick a straw below the mushroom and take a sip to test-taste the 'booch. I just couldn't do it. It was scary. But it did smell good. I gave it a sniff every couple of days, to see how it was doing. Like I knew what it was supposed to be doing...

It didn't help that Laurie had described the mushroom as sort of smelling like old socks. I just couldn't get past that mental connection...

Finally, it's been two weeks. The kombucha will turn to vinegar if it goes too long. I like vinegar, but I wanted to do this right, give it a chance to do it's healthy thing for me. So this morning I bit the bullet, and got out some jars. The slippery, rubbery mushroom was stashed along with some of it's liquid in another jar, and refrigerated - which will keep it inactive until I decide if I can handle this stuff.

I poured a small glass - and set it aside. Got out some more ingredients. Washed the jars. Delay, delay. OK, gutless, get it over with. A tiny sip. Another sip. HEY! IT'S FIZZY! Just like the instructions said! Wow! And, it is tasty! A sort of sweet/tangy flavor, very refreshing and fun.

Then I poured the rest of the brew into quart jars, for further experimenting. One jar has some fresh ginger, a slice of lemon, and some honey - I'm hoping for ginger ale. The other jar has slices of fresh juicy peaches. The idea is, the shot of new sugar will get the yeasties going again, for more fizz.

Laurie has some fancy bale-top bottles for me, to put the finished product in. We're going to enjoy our kombucha just like the big kids, now!

(if you are curious, there's a ton of info online; here's a good site for further exploration: http://kombuchakamp.blogspot.com/ )