Cold remedies you won’t find at the grocery store

We’re right at the cusp of cold and flu season — and normally you’d be stocking up on chicken soup and orange juice. But you might consider shelving your grocery staples in favor of something that seems like it came straight out of the apothecary — electuaries.

Alison Stein Wellner, a writer for The Atlantic, decided to look into the 16th century cold remedy and has a fascinating recap of the history. She talks to history professor and author Paul Freedman, who explains that these were the standard end-of-meal offerings for banquets: 

Electuaries were a sugary, spicy, gummy-like affair, and were actually the first candies. In the Middle Ages, the line between food and medicine was blurry — apothecaries and confectionaries were roughly synonymous, and a properly lavish banquet would end with a course of electuaries.

It seems like the candy/medicine was likely somewhere between a paste and a gumdrop, with regard to consistency. Wellner decides to resurrect the forgotten cold remedy for a dinner party, using herbs and flavors that are thought to be homeopathic cold remedies. While rosewater and licorish sound appealing, horehound sounds like it would taste like, well, like medicine.

While it doesn’t appear that you can buy electuaries on the Internet — anybody know a good electuary dealer? — there are guides and books to help you make them. The most comprehensive of these might be the Herbal Medicine Maker’s Handbook — which tells you not only how to make them but the different properties of herbs.

Then when you feel a cold coming on, you can reach for the electuary, because sometimes the best medicine is the one your great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother would make.

[Image via Flickr: jasonrodgersfoodogiraffebee]