A strange flu-like disease has stricken the place where I lived (It’s call SARS here) and my mother is taking every precaution she knew off to keep us safe.
Following an advice off the newspaper, she is now stuffing onion (chopped up, of course) into bottles of coke and pepsi.
Is that of any medicial worth? More importantly, is that harmless?
Onions are good for you; they contain antibacterial components (but that won’t help if the primary infection is viral) and the pungent chemicals in them stimulate the production of mucous (which can be a good thing).
I’ve never heard of mixing it wth coke (wine, vinegar honey, yes) sounds like a bit of CokeLore
Sounds like a recipe for horrendous gas to me, but aside from that (and the awful taste) I don’t see how it would do you any more harm than having a soda with a meal that includes onions.
In our household (my parents were Polish), we used to make something along similar lines, except slightly more palatable. You chop up an onion or two, and then sprinkly it with a good bunch of sugar. In a little while, a sweet onion syrup forms, and you drink a teaspoon or a tablespoon of the stuff to help fight your affliction. Another similar recipe involved substituting fresh new pine needles (you know, the real light green ones that sprout every season) for the onion.
IIRC Pine needles contain quite a considerable amount of vitamin C and are quite edible (so I am reliably informed by my edible plant books, the usual disclaimers apply), but not to be confused with the needle-like leaves of the yew tree, which are rather poisonous.
Quite frankly, if my parents started doing that, I’d run away from home. (Well, at this stage I guess it would be called “moving out” rather than… anyhow.)
May I ask how this… concoction is applied? Orally, dermally, *ally, they all sound really disgusting. And the paper, it didn’t have the words “Inquirer” or “Weekly” in the title, did it?
Sequence of smileys who accidentally imbibed --> :dubious: :eek: :o
You have edible plant books? Make sure you read them before you eat them, OK?
what are the pages made out of?
I believe that a good dose of hot Chinese mustard will clear your respiratory passages including sinuses of any life form.
crepe paper?
It probably would be really good on baked ham, though.
Addenum - the thing is meant to be drunk.
Well, I just have to humour her, moving out is not an option (property prices here are cutthroat)
Sounds like a birth control product…swig a couple of Onion Cokes and your breath will guarantee that you aren’t getting some tonight. 
Maybe I should try that sometime.
I come from a Polish home, and ditto on the onion/sugar concoction. I make it to this day, more to freak out my husband than anything else.
I also had to drink hot milk with chopped-up garlic, honey and butter mixed into it. I still make that too.
I think the important thing is to have the onions, but since raw onions are non too palatable, especially to kids, they started putting sugar over them to disguise the taste.
You aren’t talking about that ‘superflu’ thing in south-eastish Asia, are you? People are all wearing these paper masks and whatnot. That’s some heavy shit. Ever read “The Stand”? Whoa.