Fire Cider

A powerful Kitchen Ally

Fire cider is an old time kitchen remedy that many home herbalists have learned to prepare generation to generation. Every family recipe is a little different and vary by region and season depending on the plants available and the conditions needing to be treated.

A general recipe will contain as it's base or menstrual ( the liquid ) Apple cider with the mother in it, which is the sediment found at the bottom of the jar. The mother is essential in this recipe as it is a digestive aid.

Next each recipe usually contains an onion, an entire head of garlic, lemons, ginger and a spice pepper (thus the fire).

I personally look at what herbs are really growing in abundance around me. This is usually mother natures tip off of what is yet to come. I find a slice of ashwaganda, dandelion root, echinacea root, and a tiny bit of elecampane root rounds out most seasonal versions of my fire cider.

How I use my fire cider

After the fire cider sits for about 4 weeks I strain it out and use a little in the kitchen almost daily for my family. A lot of herbalists will say a tablespoon in a little water or juice is the way to take it but I could never get my kids on board with that, so instead I'd use a little of the herbal vinegar in salad dressing. Occasionally I've been known to add it to meat marinades and barbecue mops.

When it comes down to the fundamentals of fire cider it's herbal infused vinegar so, how delicious and creative can you be with infusing vinegar?