Growing up, whenever I had the flu, sore throat, or a cough, my mom always made this honey and lime home remedy with a little salt. There were sweet, salty, and acidic tart flavors in it and was supposed to be taken as a shot.
In my personal experience, this little shot always soothed my throat and made me feel better. But, this isn’t medical advice, so if you are suffering from any flu like symptoms, consult your doctor.
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Ingredients for this honey and lime shot
For this recipe, I used:
- lime juice: I had limes from my garden and used freshly squeezed juice. The fresh juice with a little pulp always works better than store bought juice.
- honey: wherever possible, try to use locally produced honey.
- salt: Celtic or Himalayan salt are better options over regular table salt, but use what you have.
- warm water: this is optional but I always include it in because it makes mixing the honey and lime together a lot easier. Plus the warmth is always soothing for the throat and mucus membranes.
How to make honey and lime for sore throat
Step 1: Wash, cut and squeeze fresh limes.
Step 2: Add freshly squeezed lime juice, honey, and salt to a small glass or cup. Mix together. Adding a little warm water will make the mixing easier, so I did that here.
Step 3: Drink immediately to soothe your sore throat, ease cough, and relieve respiratory symptoms. You can keep it in the fridge as well, it’ll last for about 3 days in there.
Benefits of honey, lime and salt
Honey is well known to have antibacterial, antioxidant and wound healing benefits. It is also helpful in reducing night time coughs in young children according to this 2022 study and showed better results than the drug, diphenhydramine (found in Benadryl, etc).
In fact, the Center of Disease Control (CDC) recommends honey as a safe and cheap treatment for coughs and sore throats for adults and children at least 1 year of age or older.
Lime juice is rich in antioxidants and Vitamin C, which are essential for the immune system.
Salt is dehydrating and so can affect the cell membranes of bacteria, viruses, and more. Therefore, it may be able to destroy microbes in the mouth and throat. It also has pain relieving and healing benefits.
More sore throat remedies
Honey and lime remedy recipe
Honey and lime for sore throat
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- ½ tbsp honey
- pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp warm water (optional)
Instructions
- Wash the lime. Cut and squeeze for fresh lime juice.
- Add lime juice, honey, salt and warm water to a small glass.
- Mix.
- Serve immediately as a shot. Or refrigerate for later.
This was pretty good and helped my throat so much.