When I was a kid, my mother worked as a nurse at Women and Infants Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island. A modern western medical establishment seems a curious place to pick up old wives’ remedies, but a few of her fellow nurses were full of alternative remedy tips. One that stuck in our house was taking a daily dose of raisins that had been soaked in gin. According to the lore as my mother had heard it, this was to ward off the common cold. I recently did an online search into the remedy, and it seems like the rest of the cyber-world uses raisins in gin to treat arthritis. Whatever your health motives are, I will testify that raisins in gin make a lovely nightcap. The recipe, as I learned it is as follows:
Put 2 cups of golden raisins (organic, unsulphured if you can find them) in a jar, add gin until the raisins are covered. Let them soak for 7 days, then they are ready. Eat 7 raisins each day.
Enjoy! Unless you are alcoholic or severely allergic to alcohol, I wouldn’t worry about the alcohol content: The gin is strong, but you are drink-eating a scant teaspoon.
Brooklyn Alewife 