Ok, I know this isn’t a recipe and rum isn’t food, but a cure is a cure if it works, eh??
During one of my winter trips to Jamaica in the early 90s I caught a flu bug. Nothing serious, just enough discomfort to delay my travel plans for a few days…
I was complaining to the day bartender at the old Hurricane Bar (on the beach, before they moved up to the West End) and he said:
“Here in Jamaica we have the cure for the flu, mon.�?
He placed a glass in front of me, poured in two fingers of overproof Jamaican rum, squeezed the juice from two lime wedges into the liquid, dropped the wedges into the glass and stirred it several times with a swizzle stick.
“Do this, mon: Sip the rum slow…go lay in the sun maybe twenty minutes, then go swim in the ocean maybe same (amount of) time. Then sun, then swim, then sun, then swim. Have maybe a bowl of soup for lunch or no lunch. Do the whole ‘ting over again this afternoon…you feel much better. If that don’ work, take two Tylenol an’ go to bed.
THE THEORY:
A little vitamin C in the citrus, the alcohol opens up the pores of your skin, being in the sun makes you sweat and the warmth brings the virus closer to the surface of your body. Swimming in the salt water leaches the virus and any accumulated toxins out of your body.
Who knows? It worked for me, I didn’t need the Tylenol and went out into the bush the next day.
THE RECIPE:
2 fingers of overproof Jamaican rum (about 3 ounces)
2 lime wedges
Pour the rum into the glass and squeeze the lime wedges into the rum. Drop the wedges into the glass and swirl several times. Sip slowly. Call your travel agent and book your flight to Montego Bay, ‘mon!
laurennnnnnnnnnnnnnn