Grandma's Remedies: A Guide to Traditional Cures and Treatments from Mustard Poultices to Rosehip Syrup

by Cherry Chappell (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2009

  $4.19

  Long before modern medicines became so widely available, families treated everyday illnesses with home-made remedies. Reused and refined year after year, they were handed down through the generations then lovingly copied into personal 'receipt' books. Grandma's Remedies brings together a beguiling collection of them, gathered from dusty medicine chests found in attics, recalled from childhoods long past, or discovered in family archives and libraries. Many of them are surprisingly effective. Did you know, for example, that drinking two cups of strong black coffee will alleviate an asthma attack? Or that chewing toasted fennel seeds will help combat indigestion? Or that rosehip syrup is a terrific source of vitamin C? But Grandma's Remedies is more than a guide to these traditional treatments, it also paints a vivid portrait of the world of our grandparents and great-grandparents. It shows how inventive and resourceful they were with the materials near to hand, how they made the most of everything in the store-cupboard, from bread through to vinegar, and how it was the women of the household who, despite being barred from the medical profession, were relied on to safeguard family health. In these days of antibiotics and painkillers, it's easy to forget how people survived when all they had to rely on was a garden, a larder and a healthy dose of common sense.

• Used

  Paperback
  2010

  $11.82

  To treat a cold sore: As soon as the first symptoms are detected, put honey on the affected part of the lip. To cure toothache: Make a plug of cotton wool, soak it in whisky and apply it to the troublesome tooth. For fainting: Chop an onion and persuade the patient to inhale the fumes until tears come. Grandma's Remedies is an endlessly fascinating collection of traditional cures and treatments for everything from acne to wasp stings. Many are surprisingly effective, and all of them paint a vivid picture of the world of our grandparents and great-grandparents, where resourceful and inventive women were the guardians of family health. If you're intrigued by the traditional and natural approach to healthcare, if you've ever wondered how to make a poultice or a tincture, or even if you just want to find out about the more domestic side of history, Grandma's Remedies is interesting - and enlightening - reading.