It’s never fun getting sick, especially this year! Today, I’m sharing my tried and true, all-natural home remedies for cough. I recommend making these remedies in advance, so that they’re ready for cold and flu season. This ginger lemon honey tea actually works, and not just as a home remedy for a sore throat.
Designed to soothe + heal, these ingredients will actually shorten the life of your cold.
Table of Contents
Ginger Lemon Honey Tea Recipe
I made this concoction of fresh lemon, ginger, and raw local honey (best purchased seasonally) to prepare for when the germs start spreading. Now, I keep it in the fridge. At the first sign of a cold or flu, I just scoop out a few tablespoons, add hot water, and enjoy this delicious home remedy for cough.
This is hands down the best way I’ve ever found to treat a cold, cough or flu naturally. No joke. It tastes amazing, makes me feel great instantly and I quickly recover. Why is that?
Home Remedy Ingredients
Lemons are high in vitamin C (especially the pith, aka the white part we all usually avoid!). Vitamin C helps boost the immune system and neutralize the free radicals in the body. This reduces the inflammation and swelling in the body when fighting off a common cold. Lemon also has natural acidity that helps break down mucous as well as alleviate congestion
Ginger contains a bioactive compound called gingerol, which is known to be the strong medicinal part of ginger. Helps you sweat out the toxins in your body, which is helpful when you have a cold or flu. Ginger is also a helpful home remedy for cough, settling upset stomachs, dizziness, nausea, vomiting and cold sweats. First found in Southeast Asia, this powerful root not only helps fight the common cold, but also free radicals and inflammation, according to research by the US National Library of Medicine.
Interested in adding more ginger power to your diet? Check out all of our recipes featuring this amazing and powerful root in our member’s only meal planner. We have 50+ recipes in Rawk the Year that contain ginger – everything from smoothies to soups to cookies and more!
Honey is a natural cough suppressant (Which explains why the most effective cough drops use honey). It also improves the body’s ability to fight infection and decreases the risk of fevers. The natural sweetness of honey also balances the tartness of the lemon + ginger, giving this ginger lemon honey tea its soothing flavor. Raw honey is used to treat a whole host of ailments, including cancer.
Why I Believe in Natural Remedies
As the weather gets windier and colder, flu and cold season kicks into gear. I get a little obsessive; wiping down the shopping cart like crazy, washing my hands numerous times a day, as well as gulping down my immune boosting green smoothies.
Yet no matter what I do, I get one cold every year. That’s why I’ve come to rely on my home remedies for cough. I’ve used them for years, so I know that they work for me. Many store-bought treatments contain harmful food dyes, processed sugar, along with other chemicals.
If I’m not willing to eat those on the regular, then why would I turn to them when my immune system is down?! The whole food, plant-based ingredients used in these home remedies for sore throat and cough are often cheaper, and are definitely healthier than over the counter meds. They also have natural healing properties.
Home Remedies for Cold and Flu
In winters past, I hit the drugstore to load up on medicine and cough drops when my annual cold hit… yet I never felt better using them. They tasted gross and I woke up feeling even worse. That’s when I decided there had to be a better way—something that was natural and made to heal the body.
Seven years ago, I went on my own wellness warrior journey to discover the best home remedies for cough. Since I learned about so many incredible remedies, I created a whole medicine cabinet of plant based cures. Read on for a few of my tried and true favs:
- Elderberry syrup: can be taken daily, and taken multiple times a day when experiencing cold or flue symptoms. And when you can make a medicinal syrup into popsicles for sore throats, I’m 100% here for it.
- Rawkstar fire cider: while this tonic is not for the faint of heart, it does wonders in limiting the life of a cold or the flu, and helps to strengthen the immune system along the way. This is one home remedy that’ll scare the cough right out of ya!
- Homemade vapor rub: this is a perfect natural remedy for cough + decongestant. Use it on the chest, as well as the feet to soothe.
- Ginger lemon honey tea: The recipe below has a whole host of benefits, just like the others on this list. I love this recipe for allergies, when I feel any kind of sickness coming on, or if I’m in the middle of a full blown cold.
Practical Uses for Home Remedies
Typically, when I start to feel a tickle in my throat, a stuffy nose, or the body aches, I grab a shot of fire cider. My kids and I take homemade elderberry syrup on the daily throughout the winter.
I use the vapor rub if congestion is keeping me from sleeping, and my son Jackson also uses it to help with seasonal allergies. This ginger lemon honey tea recipe can be sipped throughout the day as a home remedy for cough, sore throat, or the flu.
Tried and True Storage Tips
Have you noticed I use an awful lot of mason jars? There’s a reason why Mr. John Mason’s jars have been a popular storage favorite for over a century! I love them not just for serving green smoothies, but for storing this healthful home remedy for cough recipe. These days you can find them anywhere from antique shops to grocery stores. I often buy mine at a local feed supply store.
Please let me know in the comments below if you’ve tried this natural remedies for cough recipe for ginger lemon honey tea, or any of the other home remedies for sore throats (and a whole host of other ailments!) I’ve created. I’d love to know how they work for your family.
Ginger Lemon Honey Tea
Ingredients
- 2 lemons organic
- 2 inch ginger root
- 1 cup honey
- 12-oz mason jar
Instructions
- Slice lemons and ginger.
- Place the lemon and ginger slices in the mason jar, alternating layers of each.
- Slowly, pour honey over the lemon and ginger. Allow the honey to sink down and around the lemon and ginger slices. Fill jar to the top with honey and seal tightly.
- Store in the refrigerator. Over time, the mixture will start to turn into a loose jelly.
- When you are in need of some soothing tea, scoop 2-3 tablespoons into a mug full of hot water—be sure to scoop whole pieces of ginger and lemon. Allow to steep for 3-4 minutes and sip away.
Video
Notes
- Since lemons are going into this concentrate, make sure to wash them well before slicing.
- Use a jar with a tight-fitting lid to ensure this mixture stays protected.
- For best personal results, use raw, local honey that was made within the season you are using it.
We have had ours in the fridge for several weeks and it still has not jellied, other than about a half inch on the bottom. The rest is still liquid. Is it okay to use this way? Any ideas as to what might cause it to be this way (so we can try something different next time)?
Hey Angie.
Thanks for the comment. Is your mixture in a sealed container?
Greetings! Ty for this awesome recipe! I’m just curious, what makes you say it’s shelf life is 2 months? 😀
Hey ChiquitA.
Thanks for reaching out to us and for the question. The shelf-life in the fridge, if stored in a glass jar with a tightly fitting lid, is 2+ months. Some people say honey can last years. But honestly our doesn’t stick around very long once we make it, couple weeks, tops. 🙂 If you don’t feel like it is edible, then just throw it out, better safe than sorry. Hope that helps.
And honey has antibacterial qualities!
Can I Ninja blend all the ingredients together then refrigerate? Thank you so much for the great information!
Hey Laura.
Great question. We haven’t tried that method, but if that is something you would like to try, go for it! 🙂
I tried that and it wasn’t as good. It turns mushy and I couldn’t take it. But I have been chopping ginger and lemon in small pieces and taking 2-3 spoonful of it every morning with the water. Never tried with hot water as tea – but will now!
Hope you enjoy it better as a tea. 🙂
I love these ingredients, especially to bust up your cold symptoms. The Vitamin C in the lemons is fantastic and the ginger not only has health benefits, but the spice helps cut through nasty post-nasal drip. My boyfriend is not a huge fan of ginger, so I put mine in a squeezable honey bear so he can squeeze out the flavored honey, and I can open the top and scoop out the lemons and ginger.
Great thinking, Leigh! 🙂 You are so right, the ingredients are great immunity boosters.
Do you peel the ginger?
Hey Janene. Great question. Yes, please peel your ginger. 🙂
You say to peel it but in the photos it’s unpeeled?
Hey Marie.
Either way will work, it’s personal preference. 🙂
How much raw honey to use for your recipe? (Lemon, Honey, Ginger for
Cold and Flu Remedy).
Hey Julie.
Once the lemon and ginger are inside, fill the rest of your 12oz. cup up with Raw Honey. 🙂 (Possible 6-8 ounces, depending on the size of your lemons and ginger) Hope that helps.
Can I take this if not sick? Then if I get sick it won’t work? Is it a preventative mix? Thanks
Hey Kathleen.
Yes, here is a link to one of our favorite natural immunity boosters. 🙂
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/immune-system-booster
The photograph shows clear honey, but the raw honey is not clear and does not pour. Should I warm the raw honey so that it pours?
Hey Marcia.
If you need to warm your raw honey to pour it, go for it. 🙂
Thanks for this idea. It worked a treat for me while pregnant as being so limited to medication etc. Im making it for my family as little gifts too! X
Great idea to make it for family! 🙂 Hope they enjoy it too. 🙂
Does this need to be in a glass jar? I don’t have a mason jar and want to start it asap!!
Good question. We have only made this in glass, maybe someone from our community can answer this question. I would suggest a sealed container, if you don’t have a mason jar. 🙂
I have bought individual mason jars at Dollar Tree so you don’t have to spend a fortune on a ton of them. If you don’t have a Dollar Tree, other dollar stores should have some sort of glass containers with lids. 🙂
After you add all 3 ingredients to the water do you use a sieve to remove the ginger and Lemon or do they soften up enough to eat?
Hey Elaine. Great question. You can keep them in there and it will turn into more of a jelly form. 🙂
Can you give this a waterbath and can for a longer shelf life?
Hey Lee Lee.
I don’t think anyone on our team has giving this a waterbath before, but here is a helpful article I have enjoyed reading:
How long will this keep in the fridge?
Hey Jeanne.
You can store it in the fridge for 2 months. 🙂
How long does it take to turn into a jelly?
Thank you.
Good morning Megan.
You don’t have to wait for it to turn into jelly to use it, you can use it immediately and can store for up to two months. Hope this helps. 🙂
Thank you!!! I was wondering the same thing as my 5 year old woke up with a NASTY cold.
Can I Crush the Ginger & Lemon in Mixer grinder & then use paste with honey.
Hey Atly.
Thanks for your comment. The Ginger and Lemon mixed with the honey make paste. Hope that helps. You can always try it by blending first and see if it works. 🙂
I wana know wak al r d benifits of havin dis syrup plz sae n how to use as per
Hey Shajman.
Lemon: High in vitamin C, which is an antioxidant vital to a strong immune system and neutralize the activity of free radicals in the body, reducing the inflammation and swelling caused by free radicals in the body.
Ginger: Promotes a healthy sweating that aids in the detoxification of the body, which is often helpful when you have a cold or flu. Ginger is also helpful for settling upset stomachs, dizziness, nausea, vomiting and cold sweating.
Honey: Soothes a sore throats, making it an effective and natural cough suppressant. Honey may also boost the body’s immune system by aiding in the production of white blood cells. This improves the body’s ability to fight infection and decreases the risk of fevers. The natural sweetness of honey also balances the tartness of the lemon and the ginger’s spice, giving honey, lemon and ginger tea its soothing flavor.