I am recovering from a weeks-long illness that has left me with a lingering cough. A friend shared her grandmother’s Southern home remedy, an onion simmered in water with a wide variety spices and aromatics. I felt inspired by this Dominican recipe: https://loisa.com/blogs/comida-real/dominicans-are-boosting-their-immune-systems-with-this-traditional-onion-tea, which I modified by adding the wide variety of spices and aromatics my friend recommended.
We used two medium red onions and 2 sweet apples (Fuji and Honeycrisp), trimmed and quartered with skin on, as a base. Following my friend’s family recipe, we then layered in a 5” thumb of fresh turmeric (skin on, cut into 1” penny slices), a 5” thumb of ginger (cut into 1” penny slices), 4-5 whole cloves, 2 cinnamon sticks, 2 bay leaves, and a lemon (peel on, sliced into 2” wide penny slices). We poured in 10 cups water (the next time, we may increase to 12 or 14 cups), brought to a boil, and let simmer uncovered until apple and onion looked fully cooked. We strained out the solids and seeds.
We served the tea with honey (about 2 tsp per serving). We hope this home remedy mitigates our cough and replenishes our immune system. (June 2025)
Note: We later learned that if leaving the skin on a fruit or vegetable for this tea, it’s best to use an organic ingredient (otherwise, you may want to omit the skin).
Cooking Adventures 