Nourishing Drinks for Invalids and Convalescents
In the 1800s, people often lived far from a doctor or couldn’t afford to pay one. So they treated illnesses by following advice from neighbors and family members, or by reading cookbooks or medical books. If a patient didn’t feel like eating, it was important to offer a variety of nourishing drinks.
INFORMATION BELOW COMPILED FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS:
The preparation of food and drink for the sick and convalescent person is even more important than the preparation for the strong and well. For invalids, never make a large quantity of one thing, as they seldom require much at a time, and it is desirable that variety be provided for them.
APPLE WATER
1 large juicy apple
2 cups water
sugar
Wash, pare, core, and cut the apple into pieces. Add water and simmer until tender, and strain. Add sugar to the water, cook five minutes, chill, and serve. If the apple is not tart, a small amount of lemon juice may be added to give a more agreeable flavor. Pears, peaches, plums, figs, prunes, raisins, and rhubarb may be used in the same way.
BARLEY WATER
2 cups boiling water
1⁄2 tablespoon prepared barley
salt
sugar
Mix barley with a small amount of cold water, add to the boiling water and simmer twenty minutes. Season with salt and sugar. Lemon juice may be added if desired.
CINNAMON WATER
1⁄2 ounce stick cinnamon
2 cups boiling water
Break the cinnamon in small pieces, add water and boil twenty minutes. Strain and serve hot or cold.
FILTERED WATER
Put a quart of clear water over the fire, and just bring it to a boil. Remove it, and strain it three or four times through flannel. Then cool it in a covered jar or pitcher, and give it to the patient in small quantities as the condition requires.
FLAXSEED TEA
1⁄2 cup flaxseed
4 cups boiling water
salt
sugar
lemon juice
Boil the flaxseed and water one hour, strain, sweeten, and flavor. Serve hot or cold.
LEMONADE
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons sugar syrup
1 cup cold water
Mix ingredients, add crushed ice, and serve ice-cold.
OATMEAL WATER
4 tablespoons fine oatmeal
4 cups boiling water
salt
Boil all ingredients twenty minutes. Strain, cool, and add water to make of a pleasant consistency.
TAMARIND WATER
1 tablespoon tamarinds
1 cup boiling water
Let tamarinds stand in the water one half hour, strain, chill, and serve.
TOAST WATER
Toast a piece of bread thoroughly browned to its center without being burnt. Put it into a jug, pour boiling water upon it, cover over and allow it to stand and steep until it has cooled. It will then be fit to drink.
FEVER DRINK
1 tablespoon sage tea
2 springs lemon balm
a small quantity of wood sorrel
a little lemon peel (clear from the white)
3 pints boiling water
Put all ingredients into a stone jug, then pour in the boiling water, sweeten, and cover it close.
DANDELION TEA
Infuse one ounce of dandelion in a jug with a pint of boiling water for fifteen minutes. Sweeten with brown sugar or honey, and drink several tea-cupfuls during the day. The use of this tea is recommended as a safe remedy in all bilious affections. It is also an excellent beverage for persons afflicted with dropsy.*
*dropsy – edema (swelling caused by fluid in your body’s tissues) that affects the lower body, such as the feet, ankles and legs.
TREACLE POSSET
Sweeten a pint of milk with four tablespoons of treacle [molasses]. Boil this for ten minutes, then strain it through a rag. Drink it while hot and go to bed well covered with blankets. Your cold will be all the less and you the better for it.
RICE WATER
6 ounces of rice
2 quarts of water
2 ounces of raisons
Boil these very gently for about half an hour, or rather more. Strain off the water into a jug, and add about two tablespoons of brandy. Rice water, prepared as above, is recommended in cases of dysentery* and diarrhea.
CHICKEN WATER
1 small chicken
1 quart water
a little salt
1 slice toasted bread
If you have a small chicken, it will take half of it to make a pint of chicken water. Cut it up and put it to boil in a covered skillet with a quart of water. When it has boiled down to a pint, take it up, and put in a little salt and slice of toasted bread. This is valuable in cases of dysentery and cholera morbus,* particularly when made of old fowls.
*cholera morbus – an infectious disease of the lower intestine usually causing diarrhea, vomiting, and muscle cramps.
A REFRESHING DRINK
Boil two ounces of barberries with half an ounce of violets in a quart of water for ten minutes. Sweeten with honey, strain off into a jug, and drink several glasses during the day. Helpful for a sore throat attended with fever.
EGG AND MILK PUNCH
1 egg
3⁄4 cup fresh milk
1 tablespoon whiskey or brandy
2 teaspoons sugar
Beat the egg yolk, add milk, liquor, and sugar. Pour into a glass, add the well-beaten white of the egg, stir lightly, and serve.
KOUMISS
4 cups milk
1/4 yeast cake
1/3 cup lukewarm water
2 tablespoons sugar
Heat the milk and cool. When lukewarm, add the yeast cake dissolved in lukewarm water, and the sugar. Pour into bottles with patent stoppers, fill two-thirds full, and cork tightly. Shake, and let stand in the kitchen six hours, then on ice for twenty-four hours. Serve ice cold.
WINE WHEY
2 cups milk
1⁄2 cup wine
Scald the milk, then add the wine. Let stand until curds separate from the whey. Strain and serve hot or cold. Lemon or vinegar whey may be prepared in the same way. Allow one tablespoon vinegar or two tablespoons lemon juice.
HOP TEA
1/2 ounce of hops
1 quart of boiling water
Pour the boiling water upon the hops. Cover this over, and allow the infusion to stand for fifteen minutes, The tea must then be strained into another jug. A teacup of this may be drunk fasting in the morning, which will create an appetite, and also strengthen the digestive organs.
A COOLING DRINK
1/2 ounce cream of tartar
1 ounce of loaf sugar*
a bit of orange or lemon peel
1 quart of boiling water
Put the ingredients into a jug and pour the boiling water upon them. Stir all together and allow the beverage to become cold.
*loaf sugar – sugar sold in a hard block, which has to be broken and then pounded into sugar granules.
LIME-FLOWER TEA
Place one-half ounce of lime-flowers in a tea-pot or jug and pour in a pint of boiling water. When the infusion has stood for ten minutes, sweeten with honey or sugar, and drink the tea hot. This will assuage the pains in the stomach and chest, arising from indigestion. This beverage may also be successfully administered in attacks of hysteria.
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What Do You Drink When You Don’t Feel Well? Please Leave a Comment Below.
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3 thoughts on “Nourishing Drinks for Invalids and Convalescents”
Growing up in Englans you used to be able to buy bottles of Lemon Barley cordial that had to be diluted. You can probably still get them.
One of my favorite refreshing drinks is Iced Green Tea with a whole Lime squeezed into it. It’s really refreshing and cleansing on a hot day, especially after exercise (like gardening or a long walk).
I’ve often put a bit of lemon juice in green tea but not an entire lemon’s worth of juice. I’ll have to buy limes the next time I shop and try it.
Interesting! I’ve done some infused waters but nothing like most of these. I’m intrigued by grape water and oatmeal water but think I’ll pass on toast water.