Mother's remedies

[Daisy]

Elsewhere several people have commented that their mothers gave them sugar and butter for a sore throat (mine did that, too) and there seem to have been lots of us walking round smelling like a hospital ward with all the dettol and TCP.

What were your mother's favourite remedies?

[Gemini]

I wish I had been given butter and sugar, it sounds quite nice!

TCP, Germolene, something called Acriflavine (I think!) This came in a green glass bottle with a cork stopper. It contained a yellow liquid which you dabbed onto burns.
Vicks to rub on your chest for a cold!

[Daisy]

I quite liked butter and sugar, too.

Considering my mum was so protective she very rarely gave me any odd medications, but she did smother me in Vicks which I hated.

In our shop we sold something called Indian Brandy - I've no idea what it was for and I can't remember ever tasting it but it looked disgusting. There was some equally hideous cough mixture, too, but I can't remember what it was called. I refused point blank to take it.

[Plantaholic]

I can remember being given syrup of figs, I quite liked it and also something that contained malt, I liked that too. My fondest memory was a day in bed with the bedroom fire lit and a saucer of butter balls rolled in sugar and trying not to eat them all in a few minutes.

[Daisy]

Plant - you've prompted a memory of being in bed with whooping cough and some kind of vapour thing burning. No cosy fire, though.

[Gemini]

Yellow Mixture! I have just remembered that, but not what it was meant to cure!

[Daisy]

I've just googled Indian Brandy -

Indian Brandy is a traditional herbal remedy for the relief of flatulence, colic and heartburn. It was dispensed by corner shops in the North and Midlands of industrial England until the early 2010s. Mildly alcoholic.

[Gemini]

I Googled Yellow Mixture and it brought up this post from a FB page called Memories of York. So I'm wondering if this was just a local thing and none of you may have ever heard of it?!

"Does anyone remember Yellow Mixture? Well that's what my mam called it! It was a panacea for everything when I was a kid, it was made up down a lane off Micklegate ."

[WeeGranny]

A cloth dipped in vinegar on my brow for a sore head; Aspirin/tablets crushed into a teaspoon of jam;a spoonful of malt extract;hot water bottles on a sore tummy;syrup of figs.

When DD had whooping cough, FiL wanted to give her a drink made of nettles. I didn't give her any!

Never heard of butter balls and sugar.......but I don't fancy them!

[Mimi]

Gem I hated the ‘butter and sugar ‘ cure for a cough , I can’t abide the taste of butter even now.

I remember mum covering me in calamine lotion when I had chicken pox for the second time. First when I was about 4 and had only a few spots and then when I was 13 and covered from head to toe with the horrible things .

I seem to remember saying about another cough/sore throat cure, not sure exactly what the ingredients were but she said you layer onions and sugar in a bowl and let it ‘stew’ in a basin on a low heat in the oven and drink the juice from it

These cures our mums/grans came up with must have worked ..... after all...we’re still here.

[Daisy]

Mimi - that's true - we're still here. I'm not sure whether it's because of these remedies or in spite of them. I've never heard of onions and sugar, and can't imagine how it tasted after it had stewed.

My mother used to put butter on bumps on the head. Goodness knows why!

Did any other mum's make beef tea? I only remember having it once and didn't like it. I don't know how it was made.

[Daisy]

WeeGranny - the vinegar for a sore head is interesting. In the nursery rhyme, Jack's bumped head was covered in vinegar and brown paper, wasn't it.

[Gemini]

I had an awful lots of sore throats and tonsilitis as a teenager. One of my mum's friends told me I should wrap one of my dad's socks around my neck!!

[Mimi]

Daisy I remember the butter on the head, you couldn’t do that now, what with the price of it , it’s almost too expensive to spread on bread !

[Daisy]

Gem - did you follow that advice?

Mimi - you're right there! But when I was very little it was still on ration and even more precious.