The older generation in my family swear by this old cough tincture

Cut a large spanish onion in half

Leave on a clean plate

Cover both halves of the onion with sugar and wait a day for the sugar to dissolve

The syrup left at the bottom of the onion on the plate is the tincture

Take a table spoon every couple of hours

Apparently it works for flu too

I have tried this when I've felt really ill and it worked for me, the cold was gone in a day...

I can't discount the placebo effect though as I really felt bad and I really wanted it to work!

In the old days sugar was rationed (during and after the world war 2), so you had to feel REALLY bad to do this