Q. My sister had always poo-pooed my use of alternative medicine and when I told her about gin-soaked raisins for arthritis, she determined that was the height of idiocy. She decided to try it just to prove me wrong. She took these raisins for two months, looking for negative effects, until the positive effects were so strong that she finally felt compelled to tell me.
On the basis of her experience, I started on them too. After years of hips too painful to sleep on, I was finally able to sleep on my sides again.
This does not cure arthritis, but puts it into remission. Stop the raisins and the good effects will wane. (An inadvertent experiment.) People are different, and some may get no help from this treatment. My sister and I are among the lucky ones.
A. We first started writing about gin-soaked raisins in 1994. Since then we have heard from hundreds of readers who find this remedy helpful for easing joint pain. Some think it is the juniper in gin that works the magic. Others believe there is something special about golden raisins.
We offer this food-based recipe and dozens of others in our 174-page book, Recipes and Remedies from The People’s Pharmacy.
Not everyone benefits from gin-soaked raisins or remedies like pineapple-cherry cocktail, vinegar and honey or Certo and pomegranate juice. Such food-based approaches are safer than traditional anti-inflammatory drugs, however.
