Fire Cider Immunity Booster

I made my first vinegar tonic just in time for the winter season.  Fire Cider is potent, hence its healthiness.  It is used as an immunity boost.  Taking a teaspoon a day can spare you annoying colds and coughs, and possibly lessen the intensity of the flu.  Depending on how often you take it, you could boost your immunity enough to ease the sicknesses of the winter season.  This easy-peasy tonic is fun to make and only takes 5 ingredients plus raw, unpasteurized apple cider vinegar:

                          ·        Onion

·        Garlic

·        Horseradish

·        Gingerroot

·        Cayenne

For one pint of Fire Cider, I followed Rosemary Gladstar’s recipe from her book Medicinal Herbs.   Combine 1 medium onion, 4-5 garlic cloves, 3-4, tablespoons gingerroot, and 3-4 tablespoons horseradish in a blender.  If you have whole dried or fresh cayenne peppers, add 2-3 to the blender.  Otherwise, add 1-3 teaspoons of powdered or flaked cayenne.  ( I added flaked cayenne almost two weeks after I made mine, as Rosemary’s recipe instructs; but it really doesn’t matter all that much when you add the cayenne.  It mixes quickly and effectively!)  

  A word of warning: DO NOT STICK YOUR NOSE OVER THE BLENDED HERBS FOR A WHIFF!  BE CAREFUL!

Once your ingredients are in the blender, pour 1 pint of apple cider vinegar over the “hot stuff”.  Blend.  Pour into a half-gallon jar, as the herbs take up too much room for a quart jar.  Either put a plastic lid on the jar or line the metal lid with plastic wrap.  The acid in the vinegar will eat away at the metal on Mason jar lids.  Let the Fire Cider sit somewhere warm (on top of the refrigerator is where mine sat) for two weeks.  Strain.  You can strain it right back into the apple cider vinegar jar.  I added about a tablespoon of raw honey to my batch.  Raw honey has its own medicinal properties that pasteurized honey does not have.  It also gives the tonic a sweetness.

Take a teaspoon daily as maintenance.  If you feel something coming on or you are sick already, this tonic can be taken hourly by the teaspoon.  Besides being used for an immunity boost, Fire Cider can be made into salad dressings.  This stuff is delicious, but I must say, it certainly gives a kick!