lot of spring tonic

Yup it was about this time ever year when my Grandpa was alive; he would start making that awful stuff. He called it spring tonic. Now I never wrote down his recipe and thank the good lord that no one did. What I can remember is that he gathered up a number of leaves, bark and roots, one of which was dandelions. There was licorice, or black root, wild onions and a number of other plants.  Then there was coal oil and black strap molasses, sulfur and home made corn whiskey, he said it would make you fill your lungs. Grandpa would say if it tasted good it was not good for you. He would start cooking that stuff up and the smell, well the barn yard and out house smelt better.   

He would fill a pint whiskey bottle with the stuff, it was thick and black, kind of like pine tar, and it may have had some of that in it as well.

When you got your spoon full of it, it would make you sweat and run for the outhouse. It made you feel like you were on fire and that your insides would explode. When it finished  running its coercion on you, you felt pretty good. Believe me it would clean you out.The last time I remember him making it was in 1958, and my dad said he was not going to take any of it. It took a week but grandpa got him down on the front lawn and grandpa gave him a double dose. Grandma would make it better for us kids with a tablespoon of honey. You could run and hide, but grandpa would get you when you thought you were safe. It was fun playing the game of hide and seek with grandpa and he always won.

There is a lot to be said about the old time spring tonic most of it is how awful it tasted and how it make you go for three days. But in the end you felt better for it. Today if grandpa was around I would be in line to partake in the game maybe not the first, a little hide and seek makes it fun.

If you would like to try a spring tonic that is not so hard to take but is pretty good; go out and pull up some of the dandelions form your lawn, get some fresh onions, some new potatoes, and some good sage sausage.  Cut the flower and stem out of the dandelions and wash the root and leaves good in cold water. Then cut them up in 1 and ½ inch pieces boil till tender like spinach. Caramelizes the onions in a frying pan, brown the sausage, then put it all together. Mix up two table spoons of wild honey and a ¼ cup of apple or balsamic vinegar pour over the dandelions and onions. Sever with the new potatoes and sausage; this all taste good and who knows it may be good for you.

Fix some of this up and enjoy the old days. If you have memories of spring tonic I would like to here about them. Thank you for coming by and God bless