Homemade remedy

I’ve been under the weather ever since coming home from the Berjaya Penang Hotel on the 11th of this month. The body aches started creeping in, along with some chills. Looks like I might be coming down with a cold of sorts. I haven’t felt like this in ages! And the coughing—relentless and annoying—kept me half-awake through the night. So, it was time to reach for a homemade remedy. I went across the road today to ask my neighbour for some papaya leaves. “What’s it for?” he asked. “For my cough and phlegm,” I said. He was intrigued. “How do you prepare it?” Well, I suppose it’s time I revealed my homemade cure for coughs and phlegm. It’s something of an open secret—except that few people are willing to try it because of how bitter it tastes. Here’s how I do it.

Take a whole papaya leaf, including the stalk, chop it roughly into pieces, and dump the lot into a fruit blender with a cup of water. Salt and honey are optional, depending on how brave one is. Blend it thoroughly, then pour the mixture into a cloth sieve and squeeze the juice into a cup. Discard the pulp. The resulting juice should be a deep green. Now, a warning: it’s bitter. I assure you that it is Very Bitter. So drink it immediately and quickly without hesitation unless one enjoys self-torture. The taste will linger, so it’s best to have something sweet on standby to chase the bitterness away. Personal verdict: my cough's  reduced considerably but I may need to have a second dose of that awful concoction again.

A brief update (18 July 2025): Amidst all the coughing and phlegm-clearing yesterday, I ended up losing my voice. It started off sounding a bit rough, but as the day wore on, it grew harsher until I could barely speak above a whisper. On the bright side, after taking that dose of papaya leaf juice, the phlegm output dropped significantly and the coughing subsided. This morning, I woke up free from both phlegm and cough, which is a relief, but my voice hasn’t returned yet. Still, one step at a time.