The Blue Bottle

A Dose in the Morning and you’re on your Way!!!

            It was usually on a Saturday morning that my Mom would wake you early with a tall thin blue bottle and a spoon in her hands.   It was Castor Oil time!   You would dive under the blankets to no avail.   “Open your mouth and swallow this and if you spit it out you will get a hiding and a double dose”.   This was the most vile, bloody stuff ever made, but it would rid children of worms and any other parasites living in them.

It was dreadful, but you just learned that it was no use squirming so swallow you did and you got a sweet for being a good boy or girl.   It produced painful cramps and explosive diarrhea and you walked around feeling hollow bellied for the rest of the day.   I cannot remember how often this ritual was performed but we survived and grew up to be healthy adults.

From the Internet :- “Castor oil is a vegetable oil obtained from the castor bean (technically castor seed as the castor plant, Ricinus communis,([Euphorbiaceae]) is not a member of the bean family).   It came in a lovely old blue castor oil bottle from Grandmas days, and a dose of castor oil was the cure and answer to most household ailments.”
They say that it is a colourless to very pale yellow liquid with mild or no odor or taste.   But believe me, that is not true.