Homemade Fire Cider Recipe: A Traditional Health Tonic
Begin your journey with Fire Cider by crafting this time-honored tonic at home. Fire Cider, renowned for its ability to fuel the immune system, enhance digestion, and invigorate the circulatory system, is a blend of raw apple cider vinegar and warming herbs, sweetened with raw mountain honey.
Ingredients:
- 1 part fresh ginger, grated
- 1 part fresh garlic, minced
- 1 part fresh onion, chopped
- 1 part fresh horseradish, grated
- 1 part fresh rosemary leaves
- 1 part fresh thyme leaves
- Cayenne pepper to taste
- Raw apple cider vinegar
- Raw mountain honey
Instructions:
- Prepare the Herbs: Grate and chop the ginger, garlic, onion, and horseradish. Pluck rosemary and thyme leaves.
- Layer in a Jar: In a large glass jar, layer the grated and chopped herbs.
- Add Cayenne: Sprinkle cayenne pepper over the herbs.
- Cover with Vinegar: Pour raw apple cider vinegar over the herbs until they are completely submerged.
- Seal and Store: Close the jar with a non-metallic lid and store in a cool, dark place for about 4 weeks. Shake the jar daily.
- Strain and Sweeten: After 4 weeks, strain the mixture, pressing the herbs to extract all the liquid. Sweeten with raw mountain honey to taste.
Enjoy this homemade Fire Cider as a daily tonic to keep your body warm and well throughout the colder months or shop ours
Our Fire Cider is a traditional extract of some of our favorite warming herbs in raw apple cider vinegar lovingly sweetened with raw mountain honey.
Raw apple cider vinegar can be traced back to ancient Babylonia where people used it as a health-giving condiment and preservative. The healthful bacteria present in this ferment are kicked up a notch with the addition of some of our favorite healing plants.
Our Fire Cider is buzzing with beneficial nutrients that fuel the immune system, kindle digestion, and spark the circulatory system. Warming roots, fruits, and leaves including ginger, garlic, onion, horseradish, rosemary, thyme, and cayenne pepper deliver a spicy kick.
7 WarmingHerbs in Our Fire Cider
1. Ginger chases cold from the body by helping to move blood out from the center of your body to warm you from head to toe.
2. Garlic is beneficial to the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, helping to support circulation and respiratory health.
3. Onion is a nutrient-dense vegetable that promotes cardiovascular health.
4. Horseradish delivers the nutrients your immune system needs to stay ready for whatever comes its way.
5. Rosemary is a gentle immune system and cerebral stimulant.
6. Thyme works to help keep your respiratory system free and clear, so you can breathe easy.
7. Cayenne packs a lot of punch as a tiny pepper that helps to protect the digestive system and increase circulation.
Fire Cider History
The brilliance of Fire Cider comes from one of our beloved herbal elders, Rosemary Gladstar. In the 1970s while teaching at the California School of Herbal Studies (which she also founded), Gladstar worked with her students to develop an immune tonic: something that could be taken daily to help fight the chill off the damp winters of Northern California.
They settled on a combination of affordable, accessible medicinal kitchen plants like ginger, garlic, horseradish, and onion that support the immune system. They extracted the healing foods in apple cider vinegar and sweetened the alcohol-free tincture with honey. They called it “fire cider” and it became a traditional remedy loved by many because it was easy to replicate and adjust according to taste preferences and access to healing plants.
How to Take Fire Cider
We love taking Fire Cider daily to prepare for the damp and cold that descends during the winter months. Seasonally speaking, things slow down, including the systems in our own bodies. It can make a big difference to gently light an internal fire every day. Boosting the body’s natural health-processes should be tasty and full of ease!
We love to take a spoonful straight from the bottle. We also add it to a bowl full of bone broth, mix it with olive oil and a touch of dijon mustard, to use as salad dressing, or add it to tomato juice to make a zesty virgin Bloody Mary or spike your sparkling water! This remedy is full of common medicinal food herbs and is meant to be taken as a daily tonic to support balance across multiple systems in your body. When the days get damp and dark,Fire Cider gently ignites and fuels the immune, digestive, and circulatory system.
FAQs
Much of Shire City's lifespan was consumed by a yearslong trademark dispute over the company's ownership of the term “Fire Cider.” Shire City filed for the trademark in 2012, inadvertently stoking the ire of the herbalist community, which claimed that the term was a generic descriptor for a traditional folk remedy and ...
Should you drink fire cider everyday? ›
Nothing Fancy – Just Take it as a Shot!
Sometimes there's no need to mess with a good thing. Fire Cider is recommended to be taken straight up, about ½ to 1 tablespoon straight up every day to really reap the benefits. If you've got a shot glass kicking around, use the photo above to get an idea for scale.
Can fire cider help you lose weight? ›
But these days, many people turn to fire cider because they believe it will help them lose weight — mostly because of the belief that apple cider vinegar can curb your appetite and help your body burn fat. But there's just not enough evidence to show that it can do that.
Does fire cider have side effects? ›
Unfortunately, if you're not careful you can experience some nasty side effects from fire cider. Vinegar can erode your teeth, especially if you drink it straight. That's why it's best to dilute fire cider or other vinegars in water before drinking — we recommend about 8 ounces of water for every tablespoon of ACV.
What is the shelf life of homemade fire cider? ›
What is the shelf life of fire cider? The Herbal Academy's fire cider recipe uses fresh herbs, so we recommend refrigerating the final preparation and using it within 6 months. If you are using dried herbs, your fire cider can be stored in a cool, dark pantry for up to 1 year.
Who sued over fire cider? ›
The next year, Shire City fired back with a trademark infringement lawsuit against Blue, Langlier, and Wildflower School of Botanical Medicine director Nicole Telkes and sought a declaratory judgment to validate its ownership of the Fire Cider name.
Should fire cider be refrigerated? ›
Does Fire Cider Need to Be Refrigerated? The short answer is no. Your fire cider is well preserved in apple cider vinegar, and shelf stable. If you prefer to take the shots cold, refrigeration is an option, but not at all necessary.
Is fire cider anti-inflammatory? ›
Fire Cider is anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal, and it's a great decongestant. Fire Cider also supports digestion and is anti-inflammatory.
Is fire cider good for lungs? ›
Allicin has an affinity for the lungs and digestive tract so it is useful in the prevention and treatment of respiratory infections like colds, flus, sinusitis, and bronchitis and digestive infections that involve unwanted microorganisms.
Does Fire Cider clear mucus? ›
Not only does Fire Cider act as an immune boosting super tonic, it also works as a decongestant. With potent ingredients, Fire Cider helps move mucus in both the upper and lower respiratory tract. It can also be used as a gargle to soothe a sore throat.
Each of the basic ingredients in Fire Cider have health benefits: Onions and Garlic have similar health benefits like helping to fight infections, working as expectorants, they're diuretics to flush out toxins and blood pressure regulators.
Does Fire Cider go bad? ›
It can be stored either at room temperature (just make sure it's in a cool, dark place away from the sun) or in the refrigerator. Fire cider should last about 6 months at room temperature and up to 1 year in the fridge. Before each use, give the fire cider a good shake.
Why is it called fire cider? ›
Although the preparation has been used for hundreds of years, the name Fire Cider can be credited to Rosemary Gladstar , a well-known herbalist and educator. Gladstar coined the term back in the late 1970's because of the pungent plants in the recipe.
How much fire cider do you take per day? ›
Fire Cider Dosage
Take a shot of fire cider or 1-2 tablespoons daily for a potent punch of immune system support and increase that dosage to 3 times a day to use it as a natural remedy to help fight off common cold symptoms.
What medications cannot be taken with apple cider vinegar? ›
A few medications may interact with apple cider vinegar:
- Diabetes medication. People who take insulin or insulin-stimulating medications and consume vinegar may experience dangerously low blood sugar or potassium levels.
- Digoxin (Lanoxin). This medication lowers your blood potassium levels. ...
- Certain diuretic drugs.
Amid downturns in sales, Molson Coors Beverage Company discontinued two of its nationally distributed hard cider brands, Crispin and Smith & Forge, a company spokesperson confirmed.
Is it legal to sell fire cider? ›
After a five year battle, “fire cider” is free from trademark restrictions and is officially considered a generic term, which means no one can own it — it belongs to all of us, and all are free to make and sell fire cider as they chose.
Why did Shire City Herbals close? ›
The company, which made vinegar-based tonics, closed Friday. PITTSFIELD — Shire City Herbals, a manufacturer of vinegar-based tonics that lost a well-publicized federal court case over exclusive use of the phrase “fire cider,” closed Friday, according to its acting CEO.
What is another name for fire cider? ›
Oxymel, Four Thieves Vinegar, Honeygar, and Fire Cider are all variations of a base vinegar tincture that has been with us for over 2500 years, and we reckon our modern take Hilbilby Fire Tonic™, has mastered the "Master Tonic".
