It’s that time of year again folks when the leaves fall from the trees and frost settles in. As we all know, with the snow preparing to settle in we’ve got another things to prepare for – cold and flu season.

Fire cider is a popular herbal folk remedy that helps to ward off illness and keep you feeling your best all winter long. Packed full of nourishing foods and spicy bits for circulation, fire cider is a hot, vinegary remedy that is sure to warm you up on a cold day, boost your health, and should be a staple for you home kitchen.

Because this is a traditional folk recipe, the ingredients can be changed depending upon what is in season or what you may have already around your house. The staple ingredients are vinegar, garlic, onion, ginger and horseradish but we’ve added a few more ingredients to really take the immunity-boosting power over the top. For this rendition I left out the horseradish because my local store didn’t have any fresh and added in lemon, some herbs and jalapenos.

Once you’ve let it steep for a month, all of the essential immunity boosting properties will have infused themselves into our concoction. You can take a teaspoon each morning to help warm your body and keep yourself healthy, or increase to 3 spoonfuls or a small shot glass when you feel the sniffles coming on.

Let’s make some fire cider!

Ingredients:

1 medium chopped onion
10 cloves garlic, smashed
3 jalapeno peppers, chopped
1/2 cup grated fresh ginger
1 lemon – Juice & zest
2 tsp rosemary
1 tbs turmeric
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 cup raw honey
apple cider vinegar to fill

*You can also add other immune-boosting ingredients such as 1/2 cup fresh grated horseradish, other citrus juice and peels, thyme, star anise, rose hips, parsley, oregano, peppercorns, or chili powder.*

Directions:

Chops and prepare all ingredients except the apple cider vinegar and place into a quart sized mason jar. Then, fill remaining jar space with the apple cider vinegar.
Place a piece of parchment paper or butcher paper on the top of the jar (under the lid) so that the vinegar doesn’t touch the metal of the lid.
Shake mixture and store in a cool, dark place for a month.
Shake daily.

After a month, strain the mixture with a piece of cheesecloth. You can take the fire cider straight, mix into organic juice, or even cook with it -stir fry is the perfect pairing!
You can even reuse the solid pieces you strained out to cook with. Again, stir fry or Asian cuisine is a the perfect pairing for the hot vinegar goodness.

 

Enjoy your fire cider!

*I’m of course, not a doctor and this post isn’t meant to serve as medical advice. If you find yourself seriously ill, please consult a medical professional. *

 

You can see my past tutorials and recipes HERE. 🙂