{"id":584,"date":"2014-01-06T11:00:16","date_gmt":"2014-01-06T16:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nybg.org\/science-talk\/?p=584"},"modified":"2013-12-31T12:47:38","modified_gmt":"2013-12-31T17:47:38","slug":"a-dominican-tea-for-cold-winter-evenings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/01\/a-dominican-tea-for-cold-winter-evenings\/","title":{"rendered":"A Dominican Tea for Cold Winter Evenings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ina Vandebroek, Ph.D.<\/a>, is an ethnomedical research specialist at The New York Botanical Garden<\/a>‘s Institute of Economic Botany. One of her research projects is studying the medicinal use of plants among New York City’s Dominican community.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Simmering<\/a>People often ask me if I try the home remedies that I document in\u00a0my research as an ethnobotanist. My standard answer is that I do not.<\/p>\n

Plants, after all,\u00a0are not always innocuous. Some, like food-grade castor oil from Ricinus communis<\/em>, require extensive processing\u00a0to remove\u00a0toxic substances. Others, like Aloe vera<\/em>, can provoke unintended side-effects when taken\u00a0with over-the-counter or prescription medicines. Still others, like rue (Ruta chalepensis<\/em> and Ruta graveolens<\/em>), are so toxic they should never be taken internally.\u00a0Therefore, it is advisable\u00a0to\u00a0never take a plant remedy if you do not know it well.<\/p>\n

But here’s\u00a0a recipe that consists solely of food plants and spices that are commonly consumed by many people and are widely available in local supermarkets. I learned this recipe during my research among\u00a0the Dominican community in New York City and have prepared it\u00a0several times.
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\nDominicans use it as a tea to treat\u00a0the\u00a0common cold and its associated symptoms such as sore throat. In the Dominican Republic, people who live in the countryside have long\u00a0praised the benefits of drinking a cup of morning tea made of local plants to warm up the body and maintain good health. I tried it and liked it so much that I now drink it regularly\u00a0as a warm beverage on\u00a0cold winter evenings.<\/p>\n

One of the main ingredients is onion.\u00a0Although I dislike onion with a passion in cooking, I do not mind it\u00a0in this recipe at all:<\/p>\n