100 home remedies

February 15, 2026

I love home remedies and tend to collect them. A home remedy gives you a valuable tool to deal with colds and other ailments at home. It’s empowerment. But it’s also a reminder of our inherited wisdom, passed down from generation to generation. Here are 100 home remedies that I would use (the list is being built continuously, so feel free to contribute!).

The person I ask for home remedies the most is my Italian aunt. We are both equally interested in herbs and cooking. I can always count on a new, creative recipe popping up. I will write down the tips and recipes I come up with here in this blog post. I hope you find them useful and inspiring! Often when we are sick, we have to use what we have at home, and a list like this can help you on your way.

In the world of herbs, we use different steps/herbs depending on where we are in the illness process. Here, I don't consider whether you have the first symptoms of a cold or a full-blown sinus infection.

Decoction: This is how I make a decoction. I let the herbs simmer in a liter of water for at least 30 minutes. It's important to keep the lid on the entire time so that essential oils and other compounds don't evaporate. Strain the decoction and drink it throughout the day.

Decoction of onion and garlic to drink throughout the day.
Decoction of antibacterial herbs such as oregano, thyme, and rosemary.
Squeeze a lemon and an orange. Add a little chili. Plenty of honey. Add some boiling hot water.
Boil 1 lemon, squeeze the juice into a jar, add 2 tablespoons of glycerin, and top up with honey.
Make your Fire Cider, here is Örtfabriken's recipe.
Ginger, juice and shoot. Here is Örtfabriken's recipe.
Take baking soda. Start with a very small dose, 1-2 pinch in a glass of water. Here I have written about baking soda.
Rakija - do a cure with rakija as in the Balkans. See Örtfabriken's recipe here.
Heat red wine (1/2 L), 3 cloves, juice of half a lemon, 2 tsp honey. Drink as hot as possible. You can do something similar with other strong drinks.
Drink homemade broths to strengthen your organism. Here is my recipe.
Gargle and swish with silver water.
Drink pine needle tea in winter. That's when the needles contain the most vitamin C.
My favorite is elecampane. Make a decoction of elecampane. When it has simmered, turn off the heat and add elderflowers, peppermint, and meadowsweet.
Take drops of Echinacea as soon as you feel something coming on.
Use Örtfabriken's Happy Immunity. Of course, I'm going to highlight it. Below you can see Johanna's beautiful watercolor illustrating it.
Oregano oil in small doses with the greatest respect. Take one drop in a liter of water. Strong! Good for colds and stomach flu.
Garlic in all its forms, chopped, crushed, or raw.
Garlic preserved in honey according to this recipe.
High doses of zinc throughout the day.
Put onion in your sock overnight for coughing. Place slices of onion, then plastic wrap, and then put on your sock.
Place a bowl of onion and hot water by the bed at night for coughing.
Put onion in your ear for ear infections.
Grate a yellow onion and inhale the fumes until tears come (for nasal congestion).
Probiotics and fermented foods to strengthen the stomach = strengthen the immune system.
Gargle with diluted Grapefruit Seed Extract. Note: strong! Good for colds and stomach flu.
Gargle your throat with salt. 1 tsp salt dissolved in a glass of lukewarm water.
Take Kan Jang which you can find in the store.
Raw honey is fantastic! Take spoonfuls throughout the day.
Be proactive and make Stephen Buhner's cough elixir. Here is the recipe. You make this before you get sick. Here you can see several important herbs for colds.
Nasal rinse with lukewarm water and salt. Use 1/2 tsp salt to a glass of lukewarm water.
Inhale warm vapors. Use antibacterial herbs like oregano and thyme. Or drop one drop of oregano oil into the boiling water. Place a towel over your head and inhale the vapors.
Parsley decoction.
Rub your chest with tiger balm.
Drink lots of water throughout the day.
Half a garlic clove in a compress in each nostril.
Spray KS into your eyes, drop it into your nose, and spray it into your mouth.
Chamomile tea on cotton balls to dab your eyes with.
Gargle your throat with chamomile tea.
Rub your chest with some kind of alcohol.
Drops of berberine. Internally, for example Mahonia, Golden seal or other plants containing berberine.
Chew on whole cloves several times a day.
Lugol's iodine solution, rub on the soles of your feet.
Lugol's iodine solution, use a cotton swab and draw several vertical and horizontal lines across your throat. Be careful with clothes.
Raw potato slices in your socks overnight.
High doses of Vitamin C, preferably liposomal Vitamin C.
If you crave warmth, use a hot water bottle close to your body.
Mustard foot bath, 1-2 tbsp Coleman's mustard powder in a large basin of hot water. Wrap a blanket around your legs and over the basin, sit for 20 minutes.
Horseradish that you grate and place in a handkerchief that you hold over your sinuses.
Grated horseradish in honey that you take by the spoonful internally.
Rub a feverish body with St. John's wort oil.
Use castor oil to open the sinuses. Put castor oil on your fingertips and gently massage the lymphatic system.
Castor oil in the navel. I haven't tried this one, but it's very popular right now.
Mash 2-3 tablespoons of frozen blackcurrants in a large teacup and pour steaming hot water over them. Add honey and drink as hot as possible.
Cold-pressed hot blackcurrant juice.
Elderflowers to induce sweating. If you don't have dried elderflowers to make an infusion, take elderberry juice and add hot water.
Sleep as much as you can.
Don't eat too much and avoid heavy foods.
Keep your feet warm.
Gargle your throat with sage and drink sage and thyme tea.
"Chest juice": 2 egg yolks, 2 tbsp butter, 1 tbsp honey. Take 1-2 tbsp / day.
Hot beer with ginger is an old folk remedy.