How to Use Ginger to Treat a Cold

Drinking tea is one of the oldest home remedies for treating colds. If you want to prevent a cold or relieve the symptoms of an existing cold, ginger tea may provide an effective solution.

Things You'll Need

• Medium-sized piece of ginger root

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Instructions

• 1

  Boil about 4 cups of water in a medium-sized saucepan or teakettle on your stove top. Make sure the teakettle has a large opening so you can add ginger to the water while it boils.

• 2

  Place a medium-sized piece of ginger root on your cutting board. Peel the ginger's skin with regular vegetable peeler. You also can use a paring to peel the ginger.

• 3

  Use the blade of the knife to scrape the surface of the ginger, peeling away the skin. The blade should be sharp enough to remove the skin with a gentle motion. Do not worry about using enough pressure, as the skin should come off easily.

• 4

  Slice the peeled ginger into small pieces. You will be straining the tea before you drink it, so pieces the size of small coins should be fine.

• 5

  Add the ginger pieces to the boiling water. Cover the container and lower the heat to between low and medium. Allow the water to simmer for about 15 minutes.

• 6

  Turn off the heat on the stove and pour the tea through a strainer into individual cups. The strainer will catch any of the remaining pieces of ginger, which you may want to eat after they have cooled. Use honey or lemon as a natural sweetener for your ginger tea.