Fire Cider

Thank you for all the thoughts and emails in the last couple days with the blog problems I was having!  I think I got everything resolved, but if you see anything that is not working, please let me know!

This winter has been a little rough on me, sickness wise.  About once a month, some sort of sickness will re-occur.  Just in the last week I came down with the sniffles, which has turned into a full-blown cold.  Ever since I was a kid, I always have had problems with a weak immune system.  I just seem to pick up germs easier, and it takes me longer to get over it!  I really do think losing weight helped my immune system immensely, but I still do get sick pretty easy.

This flu season, I really have been trying to focus on healing myself naturally (eating healthy, supplements, plenty of rest), and by using herbs.  And I have not had to go to the doctors once!

I 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 with apple cider vinegar, and let all the goodness of the ingredients extract into the vinegar.  After about 4 weeks, you stain out the food, so only the vinegar remains, but now it is super charged vinegar!  I love so much about this recipe, but mainly I love that it doesn’t have any fancy expensive ingredients – you are just using the natural power of foods that you may already have in your kitchen!  The result is a hot and spicy, yet immune boosting, vinegar combination.

Fire Cider

1/2 cup fresh grated ginger root

1/2 cup fresh grated horseradish root

1 onion, diced

10-20 cloves garlic, crushed (the more garlic, the better!)

2-4 jalapeno peppers, chopped (or any other hot pepper you would like)

2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary

1 tbsp tumeric powder

1 lemon, juice and zest

apple cider vinegar to cover

Combine all ingredients and place in a quart sized glass jar.  Once all the ingredients are in the jar, add in apple cider vinegar to cover.

Place a piece of parchment paper on top of the jar, and then over with a lid.  (You don’t want the acidity of the vinegar to touch anything metal so the parchment paper acts as a barrier).

Let the mixture sit for 4-6 weeks, shaking every other day or so.

After a month has passed, it should look like this:

Strain out all the pulp, and you will just be left with the vinegary liquid.

How to use your fire cider:  You can use this in any way you want!  If you want to take it by the spoonful, it is a powerful tonic!  You can add it to juice, anything you are cooking, but I really love adding it to hot tea.

You can also add some honey to the finished fire cider for a sweet/hot kind of taste, but I really love it just the way it is!  It definitely has a kick to it – with the hot peppers, horseradish, and ginger, but I think it adds a little something to a hot drink!

And it really does make me feel better.  All of the ingredients give a boost to your immune system, and are anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, and anti-viral.  Not to mention the little “kick” it gives to your digestive system!  And if it keeps me from the doctors office, I will definitely have some of this everyday!

This post is linked to Simply Natural Saturday’s.