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Fire cider is a popular herbal remedy that has been used for centuries for its health benefits. This spicy, tangy tonic is made by infusing apple cider vinegar with a variety of herbs and spices, including ginger, onion, horseradish, and cayenne pepper.
A powerful immune booster, fire cider helps to alleviate symptoms of colds and flu. Fire cider is also believed to aid digestion, improve circulation, and reduce inflammation.
It’s something that we, most herbalists and natural medicine enthusiasts make sure to brew up and have on hand all cold and flu season long. Especially if you have children, this herbal tonic is a must-have for year-round immune-boosting benefits.
While those children probably won’t enjoy the flavor of it (it’s an odd, spicy, tangy concoction) but you can add some honey to the mixture or put it in some apple cider to help make it more tolerable for little ones.
Another great herbal remedy for kids, and adults, is homemade elderberry syrup. This is a fantastic cold-fighting, immune-boosting remedy as well.
What is fire cider?
Fire cider is a traditional folk remedy popularized by renowned herbalist Rosemary Gladstar. The original recipe is a combination of raw apple cider vinegar infused with numerous immune-boosting plant ingredients.
It is called fire cider, or fire tonic because it is quite spicy with the addition of chili peppers and cayenne pepper. The name actually had some controversy several years ago when a company tried to trademark the name.
Thankfully the name Fire Cider was given free, public domain, and can be used freely by herbalists everywhere.
Fire Cider Ingredients and their Benefits
This herbal oxymel can boost your immune system, warm you up, soothe sore throats, clear nasal passages, help stimulate digestion, and even improve circulation and decrease inflammation.
In the original recipe, featured in the book “Medicinal Herbs, a Beginner’s Guide” combined only seven ingredients, apple cider vinegar, horseradish, ginger, onion, cayenne, garlic, and honey.
Today those ingredients have morphed into a personalized list based on what is available, personal tastes, and any medicinal properties you may want to add.
I do suggest that when making fire cider, you always use organic ingredients. The list is completely customizable to your tastes and what you have available, but this is what we use.
Raw Apple Cider Vinegar, with the Mother– a must-have ingredient, full of probiotics, the health benefits of apple cider vinegar are numerous, as are the uses of apple cider vinegar. While we often purchase organic apple cider vinegar, you can also make your own.
Fresh Horseradish Root – A pungent root, horseradish can help you flush out a cold bug by increasing your temperature, digestion, and blood flow making you sweat and urinate more.
It has numerous beneficial properties to help you keep coughs productive, clear out sinuses, and more.
Note: if pregnant or breastfeeding, it is recommended to avoid the consumption of horseradish. While beneficial, it can absolutely be omitted!!
Fresh Ginger Root – known to help reduce inflammation, calm nausea, and even soothe a sore throat ginger root, has a lot of medicinal properties.
Onion – onions have several health benefits. This pungent vegetable contains allicin and quercetin which can help support the immune system as well as reduce inflammation and even histamine response in the body.
Garlic – Onion’s close cousin, garlic also contains allicin to support the immune system as well as helping stimulate the production of white blood cells and has antibiotic properties.
Hot Peppers – Cayenne pepper, chili, or jalapeno peppers can be added to this recipe. However many you care for, depending on the spice level you want. Cayenne pepper in particular is known to reduce inflammation, but they all contain capsaicin that clears you up and warms you.
If you have fresh cayenne peppers, you can add them to the recipe, if you have cayenne pepper, you’ll add it after the herbal remedy has been infused.
Honey – added after the herbal infusion has been made and strained, this not only helps the fire cider go down more easily but also coats your throat helps reduce cough, and has other medicinal benefits.
Optional Fire Cider Ingredients
While you can definitely use the original recipe, as is and get tons of benefits, we prefer to add a few extras to get even more immune-boosting benefits.
Use what you have, and be creative. You could even add dried elderberries (never fresh, they’re toxic until cooked or dried), cinnamon sticks, fresh pine sprigs… the sky is the limit.
Turmeric – fresh turmeric root helps fight inflammation and has a lot of antioxidants. If you can’t get your hands on fresh turmeric, you can use turmeric powder… added after the infusion.
Black Peppercorns – especially if you’re adding turmeric to the blend, add some black peppercorns to help improve the bioavailability of all that inflammation-fighting goodness.
Fresh Citrus – citrus contains tons of vitamin C! Lemons are also full of antioxidants. Add lemons, oranges, grapefruit, and/or limes to the mix.
Fresh Medicinal Herbs – Sage, rosemary, lemon balm, and/or oregano are some great choices. We just add a handful to each jar.
Best Fire Cider Recipe
Homemade fire cider is a simple recipe that is super easy to make, but note that it will take a minimum of four weeks to infuse, so plan accordingly.
Chop Ingredients: slice up any hot peppers, dice a medium onion, mince four cloves of garlic, slice up a lemon and orange, and grate ginger, horseradish, and turmeric, if using, and grab the herbs you plan to use.
If you have a food processor, this is a great time to use one. Just slice up the citrus and then put everything else in a food processor.
Fill the Jar: Fill a glass jar 2/3rds full with the prepared ingredients. Don’t fill it too full or there won’t be much fire cider at the end.
Pour In Apple Cider Vinegar: after you’ve filled the jar, pour in enough ACV to cover the vegetables and herbs in the clean jar and it is full.
Cover: It’s best to cover the jar with BPA-free plastic lids. But, if you’re using a regular mason jar lid, be sure to put a piece of parchment paper or wax paper between the metal lid and the jar as the acidic nature of the vinegar will corrode the lid without a barrier.
Shake & Infuse: Give the jar a shake daily to incorporate the vinegar among all of the vegetables and herbs. Store it in a cool place where you can see it so you remember to shake it daily.
The shaking helps to infuse all of the medicinal properties into the apple cider vinegar, but it also helps ensure the ingredients stay covered with the vinegar, which reduces the risk of mold.
You do not need to burp fire cider, as it isn’t a ferment, but you should shake it once a day.
Strain: After four weeks, use a fine mesh strainer, or cheesecloth fitted over a colander fitted over a large bowl or another jar and pour the contents out, squeezing it to get as much liquid as you can.
Reserve the solids! You can make a chutney or mix them into a stir fry!
Add Honey and Cayenne: Add raw, local honey to taste. You want it to be spicy, but tolerable. Stir it up to incorporate.
Storing Fire Cider
Pour the finished cider into clean jars. You can use mason jars, or swing-top bottles or repurpose some other type of glass jar.
The finished product can be stored at room temperature for quite a while, as long as it doesn’t get too hot. If you have a root cellar, that’s a fantastic place to store it. If you don’t, you can also refrigerate it.
Fire cider will keep for well over a year, in fact many people drink fire cider that was made years previously. It is essential vinegar, so it keeps very well for a long time. Just make sure it doesn’t grow mold or have an off-putting smell or flavor and it’s fine.
How to Use Fire Cider
For adults, take one tablespoon daily to boost immunity. Children can take one teaspoon.
At the first sign of illness, you can increase it to two tablespoons for adults, and two teaspoons for children.
- Spice up a co*cktail. Add a little into a bloody mary (virgin or alcoholic) and it will add just a touch of spice.
- Use it at a marinade. This is great with beef or venison but even chicken, fish, or pork. Just add it to your marinade mix to spice it up.
- Add it to soup. Add it to venison chili, chicken tortilla soup, or another spicy soup to add a little zest.
- Cook with fire cider. Add it to some veggies or rice when you’re cooking to spice things up.
- Cure a hangover. The original Rosemary Gladstar fire cider recipe was meant to cure everyday ills from colds to even leg crams and hangovers. Take a shot of fire cider to help if you indulged a little too much.
More Herbal Vinegars and Natural Remedies to Try:
- Four Thieves Vinegar Recipe and Uses
- How to Make Homemade Elderberry Syrup
- Homemade Cough Syrup – Natural Remedy for Cough
If you try this fire cider recipe, I’d love to hear about it in the comment section below! Also, I’d love if you would leave me a recipe review on the recipe card below and tag me on Instagram with your creations@therusticelk!
Yield: 1 Quart
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Brew Time: 28 days
Total Time: 28 days 15 minutes
An immune-boosting oxymel this simple fire cider recipe is great to use during cold and flu season.
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp Fresh Ginger Root, grated
- 4 Tbsp Fresh Horseradish Root, grated
- 1 Medium Onion, diced
- 5 Cloves Garlic, minced
- 1 Jalapeño Pepper, sliced
- 1 Lemon, sliced
- 1 Orange, Sliced
- 3 Tbsp Fresh Turmeric, grated (can sub turmeric powder after infusion)
- Handful Fresh Herbs of Choice
- 1/2 Tbsp Black Peppercorns
- Apple Cider Vinegar, enough to cover all of the contents in the jar
- 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
- Honey, to taste
Instructions
- Grate and slice vegetables and herbs. Place them in a clean quart jar, filling 2/3rds full.
- Pour apple cider vinegar over the mixture, being sure to cover everything. Cover with a plastic lid or place a piece of natural parchment paper under the lid so it doesn't come in contact with the vinegar.
- Shake the mixture well daily over the next 4 to 6 weeks, storing in a visible, cool place.
- After infusing, strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer or a piece of cheesecloth, and reserve the solids for another use.
- Add honey and cayenne pepper powder to taste, and store in a cool place or in the refrigerator.
- Take one tablespoon daily for adults, and one teaspoon for children. Increase to two tablespoons for adults or two teaspoons for children if needed.
Notes
The herbs and amounts in this recipe can be varied to meet your individual needs and availability.
