Folk Medicine – Mexico

To cure a cold sore on one’s lip:

  • Take a green tomato and slice it in half
  • Place baking soda on the opened half of the tomato
  • Then place the tomato directly on the cold sore and hold it for one minute
  • Remove the tomato, and the cold sore should be gone

Daniel, who lived in Mexico for fourteen years of his life, learned this remedy there from his maid, who was also Mexican.  He said that when he first got a cold sore at a young age she followed the above instructions and Daniel’s cold sore was gone.  He said that it is certainly a Mexican remedy, because he had seen other adults show this remedy to their children, while going to school for most of his life in Mexico.  When he came to the United States at the age of fourteen, no one else had ever heard of this remedy.

Being an American, I had never heard of this remedy at all.  I was always told to put Vaseline on a cold sore, but that never instantly cured it.  The fact that a green tomato is used, supports the idea that this originated south of the Untied States, since we don’t use green tomatoes nearly as much as Mexico or South America.  There is most likely a scientific explanation to the baking soda killing the cold sore, but what makes this folk medicine and not actual official medicine is the fact that it has not been scientifically proven yet.