Hot toddy with ginger and lemon to fight the cold
Originally uploaded by Manne.
In this weather knowing the recipe of a good hot toddy is worth gold.
If you do a quick search online you will find a lot of recipes for hot toddy, clearly the inventiveness in this area is immense!
While I do not know where the claims to cure colds come from, the word toddy is said to be derived from the Hindu word "tari" which is a sweet alcoholic drink.
Somehow that word made its way to Scotland, was lovingly distorted to "toddy" and made immortal by Robert Burns using it in the poem "The Holy Fair" as long ago as 1785... In the poem it means an alcoholic drink, plain and simple, but today I think most people would associate it with something warm and spicy.
My own favourite originates from Ireland and was handed down to me from a colleague well versed in the arts of toddy making. His advice was to drink a really nice and piping hot toddy if:
- you have a cold,
- have a friend who has a cold,
- think you might be coming down with a cold, or
- you feel a need to practice the recipe for when the cold comes aknockin'.
Dead simple. Pour two (hard working man's) fingers of Irish whiskey in a highball glass. I prefer something simple and smooth like Tullamore Dew or Black Bush. Take a lemon and cut a big slice from the middle. Stuff it with cloves. Push it into the glass, wedging it good half way down. Add two teaspoons of (brown) sugar or honey and then fill up with boiling water. Use a long spoon to stir around the lemon until the sugar is dissolved.
Drink and feel the cold cower, faced with the force of the almighty toddy!
Another excellent hot toddy recipe was supplied by @garlicconfit yesterday as I was moaning about my man flu on Twitter. His favoured version uses brandy and ginger that first is boiled with the water to make the toddy really pack a punch! Try it out, it helped me.
If you want to cut out the alcohol, but still enjoy a quick and simple yet strong toddy, the ginger is really the way to go:
Chop up a thumb's worth of fresh ginger in pepper corn sized bits. Put them in a cup with a dollop of honey. Squeeze the juice of one lemon on top (I like to also scoop out some of the lemon flesh and add to the potion), and fill up with boiling water. Leave to infuse for a few minutes and then enjoy.
There you go. Three really nice toddies to chase the cold away. Who needs Lemsip, when there are lemons and ginger in the world?
Do you have a favourite toddy recipe? Please share it in the comments, so I have a few varieties to try should my battle against the cold require reinforcements!
