Craft Your Own Fire Cider!
Mmm…mmm…how I love this hot and sweet, zesty, vinegary recipe!
Fire Cider is a traditional cold remedy with deep roots in folk medicine. The tasty combination of vinegar infused with powerful immune-boosting, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-viral, decongestant, and spicy circulatory movers makes this recipe especially pleasant and easy to incorporate into your daily diet to help boost the immune system, stimulate digestion, and get you nice and warmed up on cold days.
Because this is a folk preparation, the ingredients can change from year to year depending on when you make it and what’s growing around you. The standard base ingredients are apple cider vinegar, garlic, onion, ginger, horseradish, and hot peppers, but there are plenty of other herbs that can be thrown in for added kick. This year I had lots of spicy jalapenos and vibrant rosemary in the garden, so I used those along with some organic turmeric powder in the cupboard and fresh lemon peel. Some people like to bury their fire cider jar in the ground for a month while it extracts and then dig it up during a great feast to celebrate the changing of the seasons.
Fire Cider can be taken straight by the spoonful, added to organic veggie juice (throw in some olives and pickles and think non-alcoholic, health boosting bloody mary!), splashed in fried rice, or drizzled on a salad with good olive oil. You can also save the strained pulp and mix it with shredded veggies like carrots, cabbage, broccoli, and fresh herbs to make delicious and aromatic stir-fries and spring rolls! I like to take 1 tbsp each morning to help warm me up and rev the immune system, or 3 tbsp at the first sign of a cold.
Time to make the Fire Cider!
Ingredients
1/2 cup fresh grated organic ginger root
1/2 cup fresh grated organic horseradish root
1 medium organic onion, chopped
10 cloves of organic garlic, crushed or chopped
2 organic jalapeno peppers, chopped
Zest and juice from 1 organic lemon
Several sprigs of fresh organic rosemary or 2 tbsp of dried rosemary leaves
1 tbsp organic turmeric powder
organic apple cider vinegar
raw local honey to taste
Directions
Prepare all of your cold-fighting roots, fruits, and herbs and place them in a quart sized jar. If you’ve never grated fresh horseradish, be prepared for a powerful sinus opening experience! Use a piece of natural parchment paper or wax paper under the lid to keep the vinegar from touching the metal. Shake well! Store in a dark, cool place for one month and remember to shake daily.
After one month, use cheesecloth to strain out the pulp, pouring the vinegar into a clean jar. Be sure to squeeze as much of the liquid goodness as you can from the pulp while straining. Next, comes the honey! Add 1/4 cup of honey and stir until incorporated. Taste your cider and add another 1/4 cup until you reach the desired sweetness.
Ingredient Variations
These herbs and spices would make a wonderful addition to your Fire Cider creations: Thyme, Cayenne, Rosehips, Ginseng, Orange, Grapefruit, Schizandra berries, Astragalus, Parsley, Burdock, Oregano, Peppercorns
Here’s another version of Fire Cider by the always inspiring Rosemary Gladstar…
For educational purposes only. This information has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Not intended as a substitute for advice from your physician or other health care professional.
We Are A Zero
Thank you so much for this recipe and also for Rosemary’s great video. I was inspired to make the Fire Cider today, and it is sitting in a quart jar, happily extracting!!! Can’t wait til it is done!!!
That’s so exciting, Mobius! You are going to love having it around this winter. Wonderful medicine. Enjoy and many thanks! ~Erin
[...] How To Make Your Own Fire Cider [...]
I made one of Rosemary’s versions of this 3 years ago.
It is similar to this version, but has habanero in it.
Is it still good? I’ve never used it.
Thanks!
[...] for treating colds and what used to be called “the ague” (chills and fever). Fire Cider asks you to grate fresh gingerroot, horseradish, garlic and jalapeno and add it to lemon, herbs and [...]
Okay, time for an update!!! after (impatiently) waiting the requisite four weeks, I decanted the Fire Cider, pressed the veggies in a ricer to get every last drop of the goodness, and added 1/2 cup honey. It fit perfectly in an old sherry wine bottle (now relabeled)!
But here is the amazing part: It tastes FANTASTIC!!! I can’t even believe it. Spicy, warm, sweet, a tiny kick…it is yummy. I am blown away. And it looks like Autumn: a beautiful gold/orange color.
Awesome!!! Isn’t it surprisingly delicious? Love, love, love it! So happy you are enjoying it and may it keep you warm during these chilly months. Many cheers!
[...] the cold and flu series with this lovely immune boosting fire cider recipe that I found on Mountain Rose Herbs‘ blog! I’d never heard of fire cider before, but apparently it’s an old folk [...]
When I first visited this site a month ago, the YouTube link was correct to the video of Rosemary making fire cider. But now it’s linking to an interview about United Plant Savers.
Hi there,
The link for the Fire Cider is working on my end. It may be due to your computer’s cache settings. Perhaps another browser will work for you (try Explorer or Firefox). Hope that helps!
[...] …to name but a few of these versatile ingredients’ qualities! If you are interested in herbal remedies, I can highly recommend Rosemary Gladstar’s “Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health”. A ton of recipes and tips for daily use, not only in case of sickness, but to stay healthy, energetic and beautiful. Here is another cold remedy, inspired by Rosemary Gladstar (and a little more work than the Magic Potion), the Fire Cider. [...]
[...] have a few herbal tinctures I am in the process of making, but I read about this fire cider, and decided to try it! Basically, this is a tonic that uses cold fighting foods that you cover [...]
Hi! Just found your recipe after making a version a month ago. My son and I went to a convention and he got the “con crud”. Gave him some of our fire cider a few times and he got better in two days! Everyone else is still sick and wants the recipe so Im sending them to your blog since I really like both your recipe (the one I used didnt include turmeric or honey or lemon which all sounds yummy!) and your presentation. Heres my question though. We are really enjoying the pulp on our food. If you strain the liquid wont the pulp go bad quickly? I’d like to keep it to eat.
I save the pulp and if not using immediately I freeze it. Then I make a big stir-fry, and use it that way. I have also made the most yummy eggrolls this way…baked in the oven, not deep-fried. Add some cabbage and carrot and protein of your choice if you want, and anything else you like…but use the goodness left over in the pulp!!!!!It tastes wonderful and tangy.
I just finished filtering this after a month of brewing…and I love it!! I totally forgot to add the honey, but I kind of like it strong and pungent. It’s my wake up call first thing in the morning before my coffee
Thanks for the recipe!!
And guess who DIDN’T have the cold or flu during this really bad cold/flu season. When everyone else I know was down for the count. Yes indeed. Fire Cider rocks!!! Tiniest sign of a sniffle or sneezing and it gets used!!!!
I saw this at a local herb workshop I attended that was taught by one of Rosemary’s students. But, since time ran out in the workshop, we didn’t get the exact recipe. So, I tried this one & l just decanted my first batch. WOW. I strained mine a week or so early since hubby was complaining of sniffles. I have some sinus issues from allergies, and even a little taste– while I was adding honey to taste– helped clear up my head. I have 2 other batches waiting to be decanted. One I tried using kombucha in– I had a batch of my homebrewed kombucha that turned very vinegary. I didn’t want to waste it and since the kombucha that was on par with the organic apple cider vinegar I tried it. Can’t wait to see how that turned out. THANKS GUYS!
[...] As an added plus, garlic helps to open clogged sinuses. Lately, I’m really digging Fire Cider made with fresh garlic, onion, ginger, horseradish, habanero peppers and apple cider vinegar. [...]