MNN - Mother Nature Network

It may not actually cure the flu, but Influenza RX Sorbet from small-batch ice cream maker Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams might certainly cure the flu-related blues.

 

Made with honey, ginger, orange and lemon juices, bourbon and cayenne pepper, the sorbet flavor was inspired by owner Jeni Britton Bauer’s grandmother who made the drink, whiskey included, to soothe the young Jeni. Jeni notes that along with the other wellness-boosting ingredients, the sorbet with a kick also contains pectin, which helps coat and lubricate the throat. The whole sorbet shebang is “proven to clear nasal passages, ease a sore throat, and soothe the body,” says the website.

 

“My mother and grandmother made something very similar to that as a drink when I was a kid, even with the whiskey,” Bauer said. “Whiskey, honey and lemon juice and that was our cough medicine and they would thin it out and make it into a hot drink.”

 

“It is really delicious,” she said. “The cayenne doesn’t have flavor, it just has the kick, the physical property of the heat, and then all of the other ingredients are just so perfect together. You can just imagine it as a cocktail. A whiskey sour plus ginger.”

 

Jeni’s Influenza Sorbet will be available into March. It sells for $12 per pint and is sold at Jeni’s shops as well as on the company’s website.

 

It sounds almost worth getting the flu.