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==News About Chasteberry== | ==News About Chasteberry== | ||
'''Lagundi juice — the tried and tested cough remedy in my family''' | |||
*Source:http://behealthyandwell.com/2015/01/lagundi-juice-the-tried-and-tested-cough-remedy-in-my-family/ | |||
:(Be Healthy and Well) | |||
Lagundi — scientific name Vitex Negundo — is one of the herbal plants that my husband bought for my garden. It has been growing for more than a year before I finally got around to using it in treating those nasty bouts of cough and sniffles that seem to afflict my family whenever typhoon season or cold weather is around. | |||
Lagundi is one of the herbal folk remedies that the Philippine Department of Health has documented to be effective in treating respiratory ailments. I will be writing on the evidence for Lagundi soon (Update: here’s the clinical evidence for lagundi) but for now, I will just be showing you how I transformed bitter lagundi into a quite-delicious juice that my 3-year-old enjoyed drinking to the point of ridding his cough. | |||
Disclaimer: I am not, in any way, dispensing medical advice as I am not a medical doctor (though I almost got to be one). I have seen how this lagundi juice of mine has stopped the first signs of coughing right on its track but I have not experienced its effectiveness for late or serious stages of cough. Based on my family’s experience, lagundi is effective when used to treat the very early states of cough. | |||
The sites I have seen recommend drinking the bitter lagundi decoction straight up. I could not imagine how in the world my kids would do that without gagging or throwing up. And so I decided to take matters into my hands and brew something more kid-friendly. | |||
Put the lagundi leaves in a non-reactive pot (I used stainless steel). For every cup of lagundi leaves, add in 4 cups of water. Bring the pot to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. This is your lagundi decoction or tea. Let it cool down a bit, about 10 minutes. Cooling it down makes handling so much easier during the next steps of the process. | |||
Run the decoction through a metal strainer (not plastic, please), catching the liquid at the bottom with a glass jar (again, not plastic). | |||
The proportions I gave you will yield about 3 ½ cups of lagundi tea which can then be turned into juice. | |||
Sweeten the tea using a ratio of 1 tablespoon sugar for every cup. In this case, I measured 4 tablespoonsof muscovado sugar. You can use other healthier sweeteners such as coco sugar, molasses (this strangely gives a bitter aftertaste in lemonades though) or honey. | |||
The key to making bitter lagundi delicious is lemons. Use the ratio of 3 lemons for every cup. In this case, since we have 4 cups, I used the juice of 12 lemons. Take note that by lemons I mean the small, dark green ones that are common in the Philippines. Western lemons may need a different ratio per cup. | |||
Pour in the lemon juice to the lagundi tea and then add in the muscovado sugar. Stir the juice well with a non-reactive stirrer. I used a wooden stirrer made of bamboo. | |||
Chill the juice in the ref for at least an hour. You will be amazed at how refreshing and so non-medicine this tastes. I then let my coughing, barking child drink it. The DOH advisory is to drink half a cup of this juice 3 times a day but I asssure you, my 3-year-old Jacob drank way more than that without any untoward effects. | |||
Here’s the punchline: Lagundi juice really cures cough. I’ve seen it with my 3-year-old’s cough, with my 7-year-old’s colds, with my 13-year-old’s sniffles, with my own cough, and with my husband’s cough. | |||
Do try this the next time you have a bout with respiratory maladies. Just don’t wait for it to worsen, though. Drink lagundi juice at the first signs of respiratory ailments. | |||
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'''The Differences Between Chaste Trees & Butterfly Bushes''' | '''The Differences Between Chaste Trees & Butterfly Bushes''' | ||
*Source: http://homeguides.sfgate.com/differences-between-chaste-trees-butterfly-bushes-70067.html | *Source: http://homeguides.sfgate.com/differences-between-chaste-trees-butterfly-bushes-70067.html | ||