Many people resort to antibiotics when their throat is sore, but these can dehydrate the body, induce lethargy, and cause children to lose their appetite at an age when they need to eat lots of food for energy and nutrition.

Instead of artificial antibiotics, there are simple remedies to relieve a sore throat.

Huyền sâm, mạch đông, cam thảo and cát cánh

To make this remedy, wash 10g of huyền sâm (scrophularia root, medical name: radix scrophulariae), 12g of mạch đông (ophiopogon root, medical name: radix ophiopogonis), 6g of cam thảo (liquorice) and 6g of cát cánh (platycodon root, medical name: radix platycodi) with water, place in a wok, and pour in just enough water to cover the contents. Bring rapidly to the boil then lower the flame and let simmer for 30 minutes. Strain the liquid, stir in 15g of white sugar, and drink five times daily.

Red ginseng and mạch đông

First obtain 10g of hồng sâm (red ginseng), 15g of mạch đông (ophiopogon root, medical name: radix ophiopogonis), and 15g of white sugar. Wash the ginseng and ophiopogon root with water, slice thinly, put them in a wok and cover with water. Boil for three minutes over a string flame, then stir in sugar steadily. This natural remedy can be drunk regularly.

Porridge of a different kind

For this remedy you’ll need 100g of gạo tẻ (plain rice), 15g of kha tử (medical name: frutus chebulae, scientific name: terminalia chebula retz), 15g of đảng sâm (medical name: radix codonopsis pilosulae), 6g of ngũ vị (medical name: fructus schisandrae), 25g of bách hợp (medical name: bulbus lili), and 30g of white sugar. Wash the kha tử, đảng sâm and ngũ vị with water, then wrap the lot in a small cloth pack and tie off. Put the pack along with the rice and bách hợp in a pan, cover with water and bring to the boil over a hot flame. Then turn down the heat and let the liquid reduce to something resembling porridge. Now take the pack out and season with sugar. You can eat the porridge twice a day.

Soft-shelled turtle soup

A tasty soup can soothe a raw throat too. Here the ingredients are 300g of soft-shelled turtle meat, 15g of kha tử (medical name: frutus chebulae, scientific name: terminalia chebula retz) and 15g of bách hợp (medical name: bulbus lili). Start off by cleaning the meat, kha tử and bách hợp with water, then put them in a pan, and cover with water. Bring quickly to the boil then turn down the heat and let the soup simmer until the turtle meat is well cooked. Scoop out the meat and put in a bowl, strain the liquid into the same bowl, throw the residue away, and enjoy.

Lemon, honey, garlic, beet make useful throat lozenges

- Put thin slices of lemon in the mouth and suck them, after which nothing should be eaten for one hour so that the attar of lemon and citric acid can soothe the inflamed mucous membrane of the throat. Another way is to heat a glass of juice of lemon for five minutes, and either drink it in gulps or gargle for five minutes every half an hour. You can extract the juice of an onion and an apple and drink two spoons of the stuff every two hours.

- A sore-throat remedy that should be avoided by people with kidney problems can be made by keeping a juice of lemon in a silver glass in a shaded area for one day. Drink a small spoonful every hour.

- Dissolve two spoons of honey in a glass of carrot juice and mix with an equal quantity of warm water. This should be gargled for five minutes, five times a day.

- With beet, start out by rubbing it and squeezing the juice into a glass, add a spoon of standard or apple-wine vinegar, and stir well. The mixture can be gargled several times a day until the throat is no longer sore.

- A good alternative is to crush three cloves of garlic, stir into a glass of hot milk, and let the liquid stand for fifteen minutes. Then strain to get rid of the bits and drink the garlic milk within 30 minutes.

By herbalist Hoai Vu - pharmacist Kim Chung