Fire Cider 101
Fire cider is a tonic, more specifically, an oxymel, that is an apple cider vinegar based health booster!
Herbal remedies, like tinctures, shrubs, oxymels, and salves have been used by humans for centuries because pharmaceutical companies didn’t exist!!! All our ancestors had was what they could find and create from the natural world.
I love fire cider because its literally everything a family would have in a small garden (“everything but the kitchen sink!”), thrown into apple cider vinegar and left to ‘marinate’ for 4-6 weeks. The vinegar pulls out micronutrients from whatever you add it to. So you’re left with a supremely nutrient-rich liquid after you strain everything out. Because it is still a “whole food”, the natural enzymes needed for digestion still exist and your body can easily ABSORB and USE the nutrients.
Common ingredients for fire cider are:
- horseradish
- onion
- garlic
- ginger
- turmeric
- lemon/citrus
- jalapenos or other peppers
- any and all herbs
- raw honey or pure maple syrup
Reasons to consume fire cider
There are innumerable benefits to fire cider because of the variety of ingredients! You’re getting enzymes, minerals, and vitamins that are:
- anti-viral, anti-bacterial
- anti-inflammatory
- immune boosting
- gut healing
- hydrating
- energizing
Using fire cider is easy!
You can take a 1oz shot per day or 2oz if you’re starting to feel the sniffles.
Add your shot to water if you want it more diluted.
Add it to some oil for a salad/veggie dressing.
Hot water, fire cider, more honey, and maybe a little whiskey make a hot toddy!
Coming soon, we’ll have ingredient kits to mail to your door so all you need to add are a few fresh ingredients and apple cider vinegar to a sealable jar!
Locally, Colleen will be leading fire cider classes in a variety of ways, especially on the homestead in the months when raw materials are available from the gardens!
Below is a picture of a new herb garden being created in Fall 2023. Plan is to expand perennial herbs from their galvanized tub to the earth Spring 2024 and add more plant varieties!
