When cold and flu settle in, ginger is the herb I turn to most in my household. Its many hidden talents have kicked symptoms of nausea, sore throat, digestive upset, cold hands and feet, cough, and menstrual cramps better than any OTC medicines I've used making it a staple not only in my kitchen but also my medicine cabinet!
Ginger is an herb that everyone should befriend and keep on hand in their kitchens. It's truly one of the best natural cold remedies out there, and I can't recommend its use enough!
Natural Cold Remedies - Using Ginger for Natural Cold Care
Ginger has so many amazing applications and uses when it comes to cold and flu symptoms. Its broad range of positive influence makes it a must-have in every medicine cabinet.
Here are a few of my favorite ways to use ginger as an all-natural cold remedy:
Ginger for Digestion and Other Digestive Ills
Ginger has been used as medicine for millennia and has a long tradition of being quite effective in the treatment of gastrointestinal distress. This includes symptoms of gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, IBS, and nausea to name a few.
Simply making a strong tea and drinking it before troublesome meals or after you're already experiencing some discomfort will help ease any digestive upset you are experiencing.
In herbal medicine, ginger is regarded as an excellent carminative (relieves flatulence) and is very soothing to the intestinal lining as it is a powerful anti-inflammatory.
Pickled ginger is great to have at the table and should be eaten before meals for the best enzymatic effect. Doing this regularly will aid in the digestion of your meals and reduce gas before it happens! If you have digestive discomfort, look to ginger for fast relief.
Here is a recipe for my Digestive Distress Tea
• 1 inch thinly sliced fresh ginger root
• 2 bruised cardamom pods or a small pinch of ground cardamom
• ⅛ teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• ⅛ ground coriander
• Steep for 10 minutes, covered in 8-10oz of boiling water
• Drink hot
Drink this tea when you are feeling under the weather with cramping, diarrhea, or flatulence.
Ginger for Nausea, Motion Sickness, and Morning Sickness
Ginger is also great for keeping nausea at bay, which is why it is the most widely used herb in pregnancy. However, you don’t have to be pregnant or sick to utilize its anti-nausea benefits; it's also effective for motion sickness and nausea associated with chemo/radiation therapy.
Brew up a strong tea from fresh ginger and sip slowly when you feel a bit green, you’ll feel better in no time, and it's a great way to stay hydrated when you're not feeling well.
Nausea Be Gone Ginger Tea Recipe
• 1 inch thinly sliced fresh ginger (smashing it in a mortar and pestle is even better!), ¼ teaspoon powdered ginger, or about 9 pieces of crystallized ginger
• 1 TBS of raw honey (optional but helps with flavor if you're not a fan of ginger)
• A few thin slices of fresh lemon
• Bring 2 cups of water to a rolling boil.
• Add the ginger and boil, covered, for 15 minutes
• Add the lemon and boil for another 5 minutes
• Strain the tea into a mug, add honey once the tea is cool enough to drink
This remedy works best at the first signs of nausea. If you are pregnant and experience nausea upon waking, I recommend making this tea before bed and keeping it in a thermos for quick and easy use. You could also keep crystallized ginger or ginger chews on hand as well. My favorite brand is The Ginger People…I can seriously eat the whole bag!
Natural Cold Remedies - Ginger for Cold and Flu
Whenever I feel a cold coming on I always make my ginger brew to ward it off, warm me up, and boost immunity. It works every time!
Use this brew when your throat starts feeling scratchy, when a fever is creeping up, or when the sniffles, runny nose, or sinus congestion try to take root. The elderberry in the blend helps fight against eight strains of flu virus while the echinacea increases your white blood cell activity. Fresh lemon juice gives you a nice Vitamin C boost, and the cayenne and fresh ginger go to work cutting mucus, breaking fevers, and keeping you warm enough.
“ Tash’s Cold and Flu Brew”
• Like always, you will need 1 inch of freshly sliced ginger (fresh is best in this recipe)
• Juice from half a lemon
• A sprinkle of Cayenne pepper
• Elderberry syrup or tincture
• Echinacea tincture
In a pinch for fast relief, I will usually just steep all of the ingredients together in my mug of choice covered for 10 minutes.
However, if you have the time, I recommend boiling the ginger over the stove, covered, for a good 15-20 minutes or longer. This will really bring out the medicinal qualities of the ginger and get those volatile oils into the tea. That's where the medicine is, so make sure it's covered!
Strain the ginger tea into your mug and add the other ingredients. Add honey to taste because this can be a bit strong for some people. I usually don’t strain out the ginger because I like to eat it afterwards to make sure I get all that goodness into my body.
This tea works best when consumed as hot as is comfortable for you. Drink it up and prepare to sweat out the virus that’s trying to bring you down.
When I drink this tea at the onset of a cold of flu, I rarely ever catch the full brunt of it. I hope you give it a try!
For more great ginger tea recipes look below:
The Easiest Ginger Tea Recipe
The Best Ginger Tea I Ever Did Make
Natural Cold Remedies - Ginger for Sore Throat and Coughs
This remedy is so easy to make because it only requires TWO ingredients. I like to use it for that persistent cough or lingering sore throat for some much needed soothing relief.
Ginger Honey Recipe
• Fill a glass jar of any size with freshly sliced or chopped ginger. The idea is to have as much surface area as possible.
• Pour raw organic honey over the ginger until completely covered.
• Use a chopstick or skewer to stir the ginger around so that all parts are covered with honey and there are no bubbles.
• Place the jar where you can see it, like on the kitchen counter.
• Flip the jar over every couple of days.
• The honey will become more syrupy in consistency when this happens, your honey is ready!
Use this ginger-infused honey as a sweetener for your teas or take it by the spoonful for coughs and sore throats. The raw honey will help the ginger adhere to swollen red tissues which will allow it to bring down inflammation and alleviate pain.
Ginger for Menstrual Cramps
Although it doesn't have to do with colds and flu, Menstrual cramps definitely suck. This remedy uses the same two ingredients as the ginger honey recipe above.
Ginger Tea for Cramps
• 1 inch freshly sliced ginger
• 1 TBS raw honey
All you need to do is boil the ginger, covered, for 20 minutes and add honey to taste. Crush up the ginger if you can to really get those volatile oils out.
Ginger is a great anti-spasmodic and will sooth painful menstrual cramping. This tea works best when consumed as hot as is comfortable.
I drink this tea as soon as I feel my period coming on and continue to drink it through the first day of cramps. If you have cramps throughout your period, you can definitely keep drinking this tea daily as needed for relief.
I hope that you find these simple remedies useful! Thanks for stopping by!
Please, tell me, what are your favorite ways to use ginger? Leave your suggestions in the comments below!
If you liked my ginger remedies, check out my remedies using elderberry!
For more cold and flu article look below:
Natural Cold Remedies- Part 1
Natural Cold Remedies- Part 3- The Healing Power of Garlic
The Best Remedies You can Buy for Cold and Flu
My Top 5 Preventative Cold and Flu Remedies
Natural Remedies for Menstrual Cramps
Lorna says
I want to make a paste..for my grandson he is 7..I was going to take ginger and honey and lemon to make a paste any subject
meenal deshpande says
If drinking ginger tea after a meal works better for you then feel free to stick with that.
The intention behind drinking it before is to allow the volatile oils to calm the digestive tract before digesting food can irritate it but different timings will work better for different people so I’d suggest trying different times and noticing when you get the best results.