There are a handful of go-to herbal remedies that my wife Michelle and I keep around the house at all times. Plants are super powerful and our ancestors knew it — thankfully they’ve handed many of them down to us.
Today I want to share 3 of these recipes with you!
With these medicines on hand, you’ll be well-prepared year-round…
#1 Sage Tincture for Sore Throats
We’ve all been there. The sickness starts as a scratchy feeling in your throat and develops into a cough… then into a fever… and then you’re down for the count.
This sage tincture will nip that first symptom in the bud while offering other wholesome benefits.
Sage is well-known as an antioxidant-rich seasoning — it’s piney and savory flavor makes it a common culinary addition to soups and sauces. Because of its popularity in cooking, people often overlook sage as a form of medicine… but the truth is that sage is probably your most potent throat healing remedy!
This antibacterial and anti-inflammatory herb is a natural painkiller that soothes both congestion and “runny” symptoms like post-nasal drainage when sprayed at the back of the throat.
Here’s how you can make your own sage tincture at home:
Ingredients
- 1 small glass jar
- Sage (dried or fresh)
- 90-proof alcohol (usually vodka, rum or brandy)
Instructions
- Pack the jar with sage
- Fill the jar with the alcohol all the way to the top
- Seal with an air-tight lid
- Shake
- Place in a cool dark place for at least a month
- Shake every other day
- After a month, strain and pour liquid into a spray bottle
Use the tincture as needed for sore throats and congestion.
#2 Pickled Garlic
Garlic is another healing food that typically falls below the medicinal radar. But did you know that garlic can significantly reduce your risk of getting sick and cut your recovery time in half if you do?
Garlic is so powerfully antiviral and antibacterial that even the aroma of cooking garlic filling a house can purify bacteria in the air.
One of my favorite ways to get my daily dose is with pickled garlic. It’s such a simple and delicious way to support your immune system – all you have to do is pop one clove in your mouth daily.
Here’s the recipe we make at home — instead of buying it at the store.
Ingredients
- 1 pint jar
- Apple cider vinegar
- 5 to 6 bulbs of garlic, broken into cloves and peeled
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
- 1 tsp dill (optional)
- One heat-proof sealable glass jar
Instructions
- In the 1-pint jar, place the garlic cloves (and other ingredients if you chose to use them). Leave an inch of space on the top.
- Pour the apple cider vinegar over the garlic until the cloves are covered.
- Fasten the lid and leave the jar in a dark place at room temperature for 2 weeks.
- After 2 weeks, transfer to your refrigerator or a cool cellar.
- Try to wait 2 to 3 weeks before eating.
- Enjoy!
This recipe is easy enough that you can keep pickled garlic on hand all season long. And as an added bonus, the pickling helps to feed your healthy gut bacteria!
#3 Aloe Vera
This last remedy comes from a plant so powerful, you don’t even need a recipe for it. Just put in the minimal effort needed to grow one in your home (really, it’s one of the easiest plants to keep around)!
Aloe vera, AKA the “wonder plant,” is a hardy plant known for its outstanding health benefits for a wide range of ailments. Its long, thick leaves are filled with a gel that is packed with vitamins, minerals and healing enzymes, which make aloe vera gel one of the best topical remedies the earth has to offer.
Loaded with fatty acids that help with pain relief, the gelatinous leaves are commonly used to soothe burns, heal wounds and repair skin. Just cut off a leaf as close to the stem as possible, trim away the green skin and you’re left with a translucent gel that you can rub anywhere that is hurting.
Aloe vera is also healing when ingested! Juice from the leaves is very refreshing and supports your digestive system by regulating the number of bacteria in your gut flora and soothing inflamed gastrointestinal tissue.
*Make sure to do your homework before ingesting this potent plant. Some parts near the rind — particularly the yellow juice called “aloe latex” — are so powerful they should not be taken in high doses.
This no-fuss superplant should be in every home. All aloe needs to thrive is sunshine, consistent temperatures and water every 3 months — that’s it!
These 3 all-natural home medicines are easy and fun to prepare. We highly recommend having them all on hand.
Stay curious,
Nick Polizzi
Founder, The Sacred Science
Awesome article. I plan to try these. Thanks
I wonder if pickling the garlic in Kombucha would work? I make kombucha and it tend to be like mild vinegar beverage. It could be kept in the fridge and you could even add the red pepper.
I’ve come across another version for sore throats that works very well for me…
I use my ‘Whirley’ 32 oz drink cup for this one:
32 oz warm water
2 oz Honey (local, unfiltered raw)
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
pinch to taste Cayenne Pepper
Mix it all together and sip it thru out the day, make sure you give it a swirl to prevent the Cinnamon and Cayenne staying at the bottom.
Thank you so much for sharing things like this with us for free. I, for one, really appreciate it. I am also curious about boiling the garlic. Keep it up, and thanks again.
Need a few more details re aloe: how much, and how to ingest. I know smoothies are a good way, but what if you’re not having one? Thanks
Thanks for the article. I have never made pickled garlic before but look forward to the experiment!
Another good recipe, for a sore throat is an old standard that granny used to use: 1 cup hot water, 1 teaspoon salt (sea or himalayan) 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, and 6 drops of Iodine. Bring the water to a boil and add the other ingredients, put into a container and gargle a few times a day. It’s also a good mouth rinse after brushing your teeth – swish around for about 30 seconds.
Hi Nick I like reading your informative articles and enjoy them .. What a nice name sacred science.. I am going to use all three autumn recipes.. thanks for sharing your knowledge.. love..Krishna
One of my favorite herbalists😊. Thank you so much!
Traducir al español
What size jars are you recommending?
Thank you Nick for this fascinating timely piece of magical helpful news
I have a number of aloe plants growing outside in the ground in full the Arizona sun. This is its preferred exposure in its native habitat in Africa – which alows it to reach its peak medicinal value. If your growing it in a pot, keep it out in the sun as much of the year as possibile. Yes, the leaves will turn dark yellow or brown, but thats the color they’re supposed to be. Plants grown indoors will be a sickly green.
I help a neighbor grow about 20 tons of garlic per years – 22 varieties. When properly grown it should keep for up to a year. I like to mince my garlic and let it sit for a few minutes. This allows the allicins to greatly increase. Then I toss it into a savory smoothie, raw – with all the good enzymes still intact.
I heard crushing the garlic and letting them sit it for 15 min in darkness under a lid or cover helps the allicin to withstand the heat. This goes for onions as well
Hi Nick -I have cancer of the Bladder the second time I 18 months on the old BCG treatment any comments?
Kind regards,
David J Carson
Thank you for your work. Can you say more about how you personally use aloe at your house? How much, do you use it topically, do you ingest it, do you scrape it out, how do you scrape it out, do you add it to something or something to it, how often do you use it, do you keep it in the refrigerator, anything at all- (with the usual medical disclaimers of course). That would be very very helpful. Thank you.
Hi
I love tinctures, but cannot get high proof alcohol in the UK. What is the lowest you think I could get away with? Love the idea of the sage tincture 🙂
Nick Polizi!! I know your intention are true but you are missing soemthing very, very, very important. No one is talking about this but for a few and it makes me very upset. You see I have tried for 20 years to heal – and nothing worked because everyone’s remedies are geared to people with A or B blood types not O types. Now I know many of you do not believe this and sadly you are all WRONG. I have the worlds most sensitive system and I can only eat the foods on the beneficial list for O types and that includes all the remedies. Not only did they not help but they were hurting me. So all these remedies you say everyone should have – well if I listened to you – you would have hurt me. If you truly care please reach out as I would to share what took me 20 years of trial and error to discover. And finally finding a common leaf that helped me that no one is talking about. Thank you for all your efforts.
Hi Nick.. Thanks’ for the recipes. I have them down to try.. Tell me the Aloe plant does the liquid have any relation to Latex? I’m very Allergic to Latex and I’ve always wondered about the plant.. I also like to tell you folks that since I started making the Turmeric tea I also add , Garlic Rosemary. and Curry, my inflammation in my hands is practically gone, I stop the sugar and dairy and Gluten and feel so much better.. I have Rheumatoid Arthritis, and my hands have been red and inflamed for years. when I look at them now they are white.. So I have learned a few things. so thanks to the team for explaining it…
I purchase a 16 oz. of Liquid Chlorophyll from a health store and keep it in my refrigerator so that when my stomach is bothering me I take a tablespoon of Chlorophyll in a glass of water or juice and sip it down over 20 or 30 minutes. This will coat you stomach walls and bring healing. It’s best to do this on an empty or semi empty stomach so that the food doesn’t absorb all of it and not concentrate on the stomach walls. You may do this once or twice a day. The next day you will feel much better.
Another stomach healer is to juice (1) one Washington Delicious apple, (2) a piece of green cabbage the size of your dubbled up fist, (3) three or four carrots in a large glass and sip over a short period of time. Its very healing with all of the vitamins and minerals.
Nick, I was at webinar yesterday, signed up for Sandras class and paid yet I have received no confirmation or information. Please help. Loved the webinar
Someone asked about how to have Aloe besides in smoothies. Water, you take a bit of the Aloe and put it in water. Let it sit for a bit and drink. If you’re using fresh Aloe make a small batch. If crystallised Aloe you can make a bigger batch. Store in the fridge for a few days for the fresh Aloe and the crystallised Aloe can be stored at room temperature for months. It does taste bitter but you get used to the taste also make sure you dilute it sufficiently that helps with the bitterness. Half a cup should be enough and you don’t need to take it daily.
I tried making the pickled garlic and it has turned green. Is that what it is supposed to do?
Love the artivles
These are ingredients i always have on hand, esp garlic i use daily in large amounts. We have a huge aloe vera plant, which i shall make better use of , thank you
Thank you Nick, love the excellent tips on your blog. Here’s another great tip for that potential niggly onset of a cold. Eat nasturtian flowers and or the leaves. Nasturtians are a natural antibiotic and grow like weeds, but you get the added benefit of them being a pretty addition to any garden or vegetable patch. They are a GREAT addition to your green garden salads as well. (Mandy de Chassart, nutrition coach) . PS. I LOVE the benefits of aloe vera and yes it grows in my garden too.
The pickled garlic recipe? Can that just be placed in frig for 3 weeks? Why leave out? I did a fair amount of pickling last summer with okra and peppers as well
As ginger and did it in frig. I know fermentation with salt/ brine sits out on your counter for days to weeks
Nick, Bless you for giving such wonderful advice for free!! I sauté garlic and onion in EVOO and a little water to help make steam. Then inhale the vapors alternating through my nose and mouth while it cooks, feeling the heat. Then drink the soup. Miracles!
Also for aloe; scrape out a tablespoon of the jell and mix vigorously with a teaspoon of honey. Drink it down. You don’t have to wait until your sick though. You know the old saying, the cure is also the prevention.
Where do you find 90 proof alcohol? At the liquor store, they are all 40 proof, Thanks
By the way I sure enjoy getting your emails, I am learning so much, God bless you for sharing your wisdom
You are a truly generous kindred spirit Nick, thank you! – I am almost finished reading Entangled life, by Merlin Sheldrake, which would be a nice gift for you(a thought as i write). Eszter