Cold Remedy Drink

I left work early today because I was feeling sick. Really just more of a cold, so I thought perhaps I could make a Cold Remedy Drink and sell it for lots of money. Ok, maybe not the selling part seeing as how I just heard that Airborne was sued for claiming to cure the common cold. But perhaps a remedy that may cure me at least.

This is based on a Japanese home remedy fed to me by my host family when I lived there many years ago. At the time I thought it was the most disgusting thing I had ever eaten. No, scratch that. I ate a lot of bizarre disgusting things while living in Japan. See natto if you don't believe me. I can't really be sure if it helped my cold at the time because I immediately went upstairs and took like five Sudafed.

This time I'm going without the over-the-counter medication. Not only because I don't have any but also because I believe this will work.

Ingredients:
Bancha (Untoasted green tea)
An umeboshi plum*
1/2 teaspoon tamari soy sauce

*Umeboshi is a pickled plum that's salty and sour at the same time. Sometimes you'll see ume listed as an ingredient in sushi. It's very tasty though very strong (can corrode aluminum lunch boxes according to Wikipedia). You can find them at natural foods stores but they're kind of expensive. A cheaper option is the ume paste, which is the plum already mashed down. I have never been a huge fan of them even in sushi but some people love them and swear they cure everything. I do however really enjoy Japanese ume candy which is sweet and tart, like those old school sour cherry candies.

Step 1: Remove pit from the ume plum. Like a real plum umeboshi have pits inside, so don't bite down into them unless you happen to know it's been removed already. For this drink you'll need to remove the pit and mash the plum in your tea cup.
Step 2: Add 1/2 teaspoon tamari soy sauce. I just made everything in my tea cup since this essentially makes one serving.
Step 3: Boil water for tea. Pour the water into a tea pot with the green tea leaves. Let the tea steep a few minutes before...
Step 4: Adding it to your tea cup.
Step 5: Mix well. Brave the sour salty smell and drink.

Conclusion: Did this get rid of my cold? Hard to say. I do feel more energized now (I know, NOT an energy drink! I swear that's not the point of it!) Apparently this remedy is also supposed to be good for curing hangovers. I'll have to report back after the weekend for that one. It does feel like medicine, especially as I got to the bottom where all the mashed up ume bits had collected. But I do feel like the congestion in my head is gone and I can breathe better. I've also stopped sneezing (at least for the moment). It will be interesting to see how long these effects last. All in all, not a bad Cold Remedy Drink.