Soups and drinks for colds

No soup or tea will cure a cold – according to the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), people usually feel better within one to two weeks. But when you have a runny nose and a sore throat, warm food that is easy to eat and plenty of fluids are welcome. For a cold, the NHS recommends rest, drinking plenty of fluids and eating a varied diet, and for a sore throat a warm lemon and honey drink: squeeze half a lemon into a mug of boiled water, add 1–2 teaspoons of honey and drink it while it is warm.

We have picked grandma’s chicken soup, beef broth, ginger broth, garlic soup and caraway soup, warm drinks such as hot apple cider, and folk recipes that families make out of tradition – onion and garlic syrup with honey or horseradish with ginger and honey. They are not medicines and do not replace them.