Forget coffee or syrupy medicines - try dousing your socks in vinegar if you have a fever.

Or for a cough, try onions boiled in milk, a new book claims.

In Vinegar Socks, Austrian-born Karin Berndl and art director Nici Hofer, a photographer and an art director, reveal traditional home remedies for common illnesses.

Paired with beautiful photography, their recipes range from the sensible to the bizarre.

For example, garlic, pepper, parsley and chive tea can cure fatigue, while apple curd can ease constipation, they claim.

Below, the authors share five of their favourite recipes with MailOnline...

Applying vinegar to socks to help lower a fever is a well-known home remedy most Austrians learn as children, say the authors of a new book about natural cures used in ther own country.

TO FIGHT A FEVER: VINEGAR SOCKS

This home remedy is one most of us in Austria would have come across as children.

As we lay sick in bed, our mothers would have applied these socks to our feet – no questions asked – to lower the fever.

It might sound strange, but this is the first thing we would think of if someone was sweating and suffering from a high temperature.

We recommend using unpasteurised, organic cider vinegar.

Important: If the patient is shivering this recipe is not appropriate, and you should seek medical advice.

THINGS YOU’LL NEED

500 ml (17 fl oz/2 cups) cool water

1–2 tablespoons vinegar

1 pair of long, woolly socks

1 or 2 towels