Q. You must be tired of questions about gin-soaked raisins to ease arthritis pain, but I have a question regarding the dose of nine raisins.
I bought a national brand of raisins and discovered they were different sizes. Some raisins are large, while others are very small. This may seem like a silly question, but how can I be sure I am getting the proper amount if the raisins vary so much?
A. We expected you were going to ask “Why nine?” Our answer may cover both questions.
If you check a teaspoon of gin-soaked raisins, it will come out to between 8 and 10 raisins most of the time. In fact, some people take a teaspoonful rather than counting out 9 raisins. You might want to follow suit.
Here is what Chris had to say:
“I tend to be skeptical of unproven folk-cures like this, but I was starting to get some pain and stiffness in my fingers, which, being a guitarist, was worrisome to say the least. A guitarist friend of mine mentioned the gin/raisin thing, and I thought, what the hell: let’s try it.
“After about a week my stiffness and pain actually did start improve… but then again, it does wax and wane anyway. However, what really got my attention was that fact that three times now I’ve stopped taking them, usually because I ran out of one or the other ingredient, and would then have to get some more and wait until a new batch was ready to consume. All three times, my symptoms got worse again. I make no categorical judgments here; it could be coincidence, it could be a subconscious placebo effect, or it could actually be some medicinal effect in the raisins. Who knows? I’m just putting it out there as an interesting anecdote.
“By the way, I don’t think there’s any relevance to specifically taking NINE raisins daily. I typically just take a spoonful, a dozen more or less, without counting. Nor do I think there’s any need to wait for the liquid to evaporate completely. Just so long as the raisins plump up, say, 24-48 hours.”
Some readers have asked whether the quality of the gin makes a difference. You want gin that is actually flavored with juniper berries, which is not the cheapest gin available.
You will find a page of Frequently Asked Questions (along with the answers) about gin and raisins in our Guide to Alternatives for Arthritis.
