Despite diligently taking a vitamin C tablet each morning, a sneaky winter cold dared make its presence known in my body yesterday. So after spotting a stall that sold hot lemon, ginger and honey drinks at the farmer's market near my work, I decided to give my immune system an extra boost during my lunch break.
Picturing a steaming cup of the healing ingredients in their purest form, I lined up and put in my order. Imagine my disappointment when I noticed the stallholder concocting a drink out of a suspicious combination of purees and concentrates. Apprehensive about the additives he was sneaking into my drink, I questioned the man about the sugar content - he admitted there was "just a liiiiitttle sugar in the lemon concentrate, madam."
Fibber.
The first swig of my potion was overwhelmingly sweet. So sickeningly sweet that the tanginess of the lemon and the spiciness of the ginger was completely overridden by the sugar.
Don't ask me why he bothered with the honey.
So tonight, partly just to spite the stallholder, partly because I was still feeling under the weather, and partly because today was Brisbane's coldest day so far this year, I made my own additive-free version of the steaming immune booster.
Lemon, ginger and honey immune booster
Makes one mugful
Fresh juice of one small lemon
1 heaped tbsp grated fresh ginger
2 cloves
2 cups water
2 tsp honey
In a small saucepan over a high heat, bring the water, lemon juice, cloves and ginger to boil.
Reduce to a low heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
Pour into a mug, using a strainer.
Stir in the honey.
Sip and enjoy under a blanket with socks and warm pajamas.
See? It's easier to just make most things yourself - at least you can control what goes into it and avoid compromising the integrity of what can be powerful, healing ingredients.
No comments:
Post a Comment