This is an amazing immune boosting, cold zapping tonic! A small shot glass daily serves as an excellent tonic for your immune system. You may also take a few more teaspoons for a hangover cure or if you feel a cold coming on. Original recipe by Rosemary Gladstar.
Fire Cider Recipe:
2 – 4 inch fresh horseradish roots
1 or more fresh chopped onions
12 cloves or more chopped garlic
4 inches more grated ginger root
1 Tablespoon powdered Tumeric (I couldn’t find any fresh in Montana at the time I made my tonic).
1/4 cup dried thyme
1 lemon sliced
2 small sliced oranges
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2-5 Chopped fresh or dried peppers, should be hot, but not so hot you can’t tolerate it. Better to make it a little milder than to hot; you can always add more pepper later if necessary.
Optional ingredients: Echinacea, goldenseal, cinnamon, schizandra, lemon, orange, rosemary, peppercorns, elder berries, astragalus, oregano, ginseng, ginkgo, cat’s claw, reishi, rhodiola, tulsi, licorice, cordyceps, ashwagandha, chamomile, Japanese honeysuckle, bee balm, calendula, clove, etc…… whatever your body loves!
Place herbs in a half-gallon canning jar and cover with enough raw unpasteurized apple cider vinegar to cover the herbs by at least three to four inches. Cover tightly with a tight fitting lid.
Place jar in a warm place and let for three to four weeks. Best to shake every day to help in the maceration process.
After three to four weeks, strain out the herbs, and reserve the liquid.
Add honey ‘to taste’. Warm the honey first so it mixes in well. “To Taste’ means your Fire Cider should taste hot, spicy, and sweet. “A little bit of honey helps the medicine go down……”
Rebottle and enjoy! Fire Cider will keep for several months unrefrigerated if stored in a cool pantry. But it’s better to store in the refrigerator if you’ve room.
Many people take 1-2 tablespoons throughout the fall/winter months as a preventative measure, or every three to four hours if symptoms are present.
Here are some more ways to use it:
🔥As a “wellness shot” – I actually love the taste, so I put about 1 oz. in a shot glass to drink straight up
🔥As a tea – Breathe in the steam as you sip to relieve congestion
🔥In juice – For little ones, it’s best to serve a small amount mixed in freshly-pressed orange juice or lemonade 🍋
🔥 Use as a marinade or salad dressing
Fresh horseradish is known to be effective against the flu and common cold, tonsilitis, respiratory disorders, urinary tract infections, and pathenogenic fungus.
Ginger is used to treat arthritis, muscle pain, upset stomach (motion and morning sickness and general nausea), gas, upper respiratory tract infections, and cough.
Onions are used to boost cardiovascular health, bone and connective tissue benefits, and as an anti-inflammatory agent.
Garlic is used to treat high blood pressure, high cholesterol, coronary heart disease, heart attack, atherosclerosis, asthma, building the immune system, help level blood sugar, and is used topically to treat fungal infections.
Hot peppers boost your metabolism, and offer headache, sinus, and arthritis relief as well as releasing endorphins.
Oranges are great for heart health, as part of a best-case-scenario-anti-cancer-diet, fighting cholesterol, to help in weight loss, and to break up or prevent kidney stones.
Lemons are known to aid in digestion, alleviate Meniere’s Disease, kidney stones, and ringing of the ears, cure scurvy (chronic lack of Vitamin C), treat colds and flu, improve the function of blood vessels, and reduce inflammation and retention of water.
Turmeric is pretty much the be-all and end-all of health foods. It’s known to delay liver damage, reduce carcinogenic compounds in other foods, make cancer cells more vulnerable to chemo and radiation, inhibit the growth of malignant melanoma and breast cancer, alleviate arthritis symptoms and skin conditions. Heck, maybe I should let the experts describe what the main compound in turmeric -cucurmin- does. Advanced Experimental Medical Biology in 2007 states that, “Curcumin has been shown to exhibit antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, and anticancer activities and thus has a potential against various malignant diseases, diabetes, allergies, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease and other chronic illnesses.”
Thyme contains some of the same components as oregano and is especially high in thymol, which gives thyme its antimicrobial properties against bacteria and fungi, which is why it’s a first rate immune boosting food. Also an antioxidant, thyme has been shown to prevent oxidative damage to DNA in human lymphocytes. In other words, it protects genes. It also contains quercetin, found in onions, which inhibits histamine.
Cinnamon helps prevent infection and may stimulate immune activity, making it a welcome and tasty addition to this fire cider recipe. There’s considerable research indicating that cinnamon can prevent clumping of blood platelets by blocking the release of inflammatory fatty acids from cell membranes. It also inhibits the formation of other inflammatory substances. It also helps regulate blood sugar (a factor in inflammation), has antioxidant activity, and may reduce pain.
Raw apple cider vinegar (not plain old cider vinegar!) is known to be a good source of acetic and ascorbic acid (Vitamin C), mineral salts, amino acids, and other key components of good nutrition, but it is also a well-loved folk remedy thought to ease digestion, fight obesity and diabetes, wash toxins from the body, kill lice, and reverse aging. How cool is that?!?!
Raw honey (locally produced) is a fantastic, all-natural fighter of seasonal allergies. Because bees collect pollen from flowers in your area and then convert it to honey to feed their hives, eating raw, local honey is like a tasty allergy shot. It’s also full of vitamins and minerals, anti-fungal, anti-viral, and makes a great, non-narcotic cough suppressant and throat soother.
I hope you all make your own batch of Traditional Fire Cider using local produce for your winter wellness.
“Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world.
Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has” ~ Margaret Mead.
Blessings,
Michelle
Michelle Berry 