Cowboy Cures – Natural Remedies and Immune Boosters
Your best defense is a good offense! So we’re sharing some cowboy cures with y’all today that are old time natural remedies and immune boosters. A lot of these were passed down from the old cook going down the trail or from the Depression Era.
Sometimes Mother Nature has the best medicine and let’s turn to her for some of our ailments!
To start off, the old cook going down the trail in the 1800’s was more than just a cook feeding cowboys. He was also a dentist, doctor, barber, therapist and more. He had many hats. Although Shan and I aren’t feeding cowboys pushing cattle up a trail, we still feed cowboys on working ranches, and we have to improvise and use some of the same natural methods to fix up cowboys since we can be hundreds of miles to the nearest town and doctor.
So let’s saddle up and share some of Mother Nature’s tricks…
Hot Toddy
1 tablespoon honey (locally harvested is best)
Juice of ½ lemon
¼ cup whiskey (give or take)
Cowboy coffee, to taste
You got a bad cough? Mix these all up and sip on this. You can also get our smooth cowboy coffee recipe HERE.
Garlic Cloves
This is Mother Nature’s natural antibiotic! This will fight off a lot of illness and keep you healthy! Shan gets Strep throat badly and we were on a ranch a couple hundred miles from the doctor’s. She ate 3 cloves/day and the Strep was gone!
For preventative measures, eat 1 garlic clove a day. If you’re feeling sick try 2 to 3 a day. Be sure you have something on your stomach and you also eat these with food, because they can upset your stomach.
Get More Cowboy Cures in our Cookbook: A Taste of Cowboy
Jalapeno, Honey, Garlic Mash
We know the great benefits honey and garlic have- but let’s add in some jalapeno! It’s one of my favorite cooking ingredients but jalapenos have a lot of great vitamins in them including A and B6 to help sickness.
Finely mince or mash 1 garlic clove and ¼ jalapeno. Mix with 1 tablespoon of honey. Eat this with toast or on a cracker to ward off feeling bad!
Mushrooms
These veggies are great antioxidants and can inhibit tumor growth- but don’t go grabbing these from the backyard those ain’t the kind you want! However, to get the most antioxidants from these you can’t fry them or boil them- the best way is to grill them.
Check out our stuffed grilled mushroom recipe HERE!
Onions
Along with garlic, onions are some of the best natural weapons we have!
Growing up when we were feeling sick Mama would put a cut onion in our sock and we’d wear it to bed. That would draw the poison out. I’ve also used it as a poultice to draw out infection from a thorn stuck in the skin by boiling the onion until soft, mashing it then spreading it on the skin and covering to help draw out impurities.
Have a Bad Cough?
Boil 1 white onion in a saucepan with 2 cloves of garlic and ½ tablespoon cinnamon. Boil until that onion gets very tender. Turn off the heat, let it cool slightly and put a towel over your head and breath in the vapor for about 5 to 10 minutes to help clear the cough and congestion.
Baking Soda
Great for heartburn mix ½ to 1 teaspoon of baking soda with a cup of water and drink. Be careful not to take too much baking soda or it can act as a laxative!
Make your own hand sanitizer
Updated: Mix rubbing alcohol (70% alcohol) with an essential oil for a scent. Can also be mixed with 2 parts alcohol with 1 part aloe vera.
