Cornavirus, COVID-19, social distancing… How many people are left in the world that haven’t heard these words? Frequent hand-washing and keeping a physical distance from each other are obviously the best ways to protect ourselves (stop touching your face!) I don’t know about you, but at times I have a sense of helplessness on what else I can do to protect myself.

We were on the road full-time for 7 months before being ready to slowly head back towards California. Our plan had been to take 3-4 weeks to drive back from Alabama, leaving March 1st. However, as soon as we started heading back West, things went from bad to worse. Our federal government went from saying this was no worse than the flu, to hearing warning of dire things to come.

What began as a desire to head back towards California to get Simple Apothecary booming in a new direction, turned into wanting to be in familiar territory for a pandemic.

It is truly mindboggling how much life and its corresponding priorities have changed in the past 30 days. I haven’t seen my family since returning as my mom is 70 and we had been traveling through several hot-spots. I haven’t seen my friends as many are in social services serving at-risk populations and again, our traveling put us at risk of having it. So the fear of not ever seeing some of them again is real and tangible.

In all this madness and lack of control I have tried to find productive things to do. Giving myself tasks to complete has helped while being quarantined in an RV. One of those tasks has been to get a batch of Fire Cider fermenting and damn, that felt good to complete…

What is Fire Cider?

Fire Cider is a tonic that combines a variety of beneficial fruits, roots and herbs fermented in raw apple cider vinegar. The term “fire cider” originated in the herbalist community in the late 70’s, but the tradition of fermenting health conscious plants is ancient. Fire cider has many different forms as it is often made with what is on hand and to the taste of the person preparing it. The base however, is generally standard with fresh garlic, onions, ginger, horseradish and chile peppers that sit in vinegar for the desired amount of time, before being strained and having honey added.  

There was an uproar in recent years as a corporation trademarked the generic term, before sending out stop-orders to herbalists who had used the name for years. A group of herbalists launched a legal campaign against this trademark however, and was recently successful in having it reversed! This is significant as it is an openly shared term. Rosemary Gladstar, the woman who originally came up with the recipe and included it in her copyrighted books, deliberately did NOT trademark it as she felt it was a community tool.

So why use Fire Cider?

Because #NatureIsMyMedicine. Plants have been nature’s medicine to humans for much of our history. Herbalists used to be the doctors in our village, providing preventatives and cures long before Bayer was in business. In this day and age of things like antibiotic resistant bacteria, science is finding old-school plant based medicine may be the answer. There are more and more peer-reviewed studies showing the efficacy of a variety of plants on bacteria, viruses, infection and more, including some that are antibiotic resistant.

Now I am not claiming Fire Cider will do any of this because that would be against the rules of the FDA. What I am saying is that in this current pandemic, anything we can do to boost our immune system and give it a healthy fighting chance against a deadly and easily communicable virus, is a good thing. If you look up the health benefits of any of these ingredients, I think that you will agree Fire Cider is worth the efforts to make and consume.

How do I do this?

I want to strongly encourage you to use organic ingredients as much as possible and insist on using raw apple cider vinegar to give you the maximum amount of health benefits. If I had to choose between organic store bought or no-spray ingredients from a backyard or local farmer’s market, I would go with the backyard or farmer’s market ingredients. As a whole, the less time off the plant, the better! The only exception to this rule are onions and garlic, as they are just as potent cured.   

Jar selection should ONLY be glass or glazed crock-wear with a well-fitting lid. Please remember that the vinegar can NOT be in contact with metal or you will NEVER get the jar open again!! I like to either use the plastic Mason jar lids or place a piece of plastic wrap in between the liquid and metal. I like to avoid using plastic at all costs, but this is one of the few times it is necessary. Eventually when I’m in a house again (as opposed to our RV), I will have a crock for fermenting with a wooden lid so I can avoid plastic completely. But for now, use what you have available!

Once you have gathered all (or at least most) of these ingredients, it’s time to start chopping and grating. Chop into small, bite-sized pieces as you want to maximize the amount of plant surfaces being exposed to the vinegar. I like to grate the turmeric, garlic and ginger. How much you need to chop depends on how much jar space you have available. Plan on filling each jar about 2/3 full of plant material before filling with apple cider vinegar and putting the lid on.

Fermentation

Once your jars or crocks are filled, it’s time to… wait. Place them in a dark, somewhat cool location for about a month. Shake the jars daily, or stir the crock with a wooden spoon daily. You’ll see the color begin to change and the liquid take on a cloudy appearance with the plant material. This is normal! If you see mold however, this is NOT and the entire thing should be thrown out immediately. I’ve never had this happen myself, but have heard of it happening to others. Don’t try and save it as it would compromise your health!

After about 30 days, place cheesecloth or a tea towel inside a colander and strain the material over a non-metal bowl. Once most of the liquid has passed through, gather up the fabric and squeeze any extra liquid out. At this point you can mix raw honey in if desired. Raw honey adds to the medicinal benefits, acts as a natural preservative, and lets be honest, it makes the finished product a little more palatable! Seal in a glass jar with the same kind of lid setup as mentioned before. Store in a cool, dark place tightly sealed for up to 24 months! Vinegar and raw honey are natural preservatives, so you’re good to go for quite some time. I would suggest labeling the “born-on” date of your Fire Cider to help keep track.

As for the plant material, don’t toss it just yet!! I love to cook chicken in my trusty Instant Pot with some of the leftover plant material, with some added salt and pepper. Most recently I started some chicken thighs this way, then finished them on the BBQ with a honey, lemon and soy sauce glaze- can you say YUM?!?  With the rest of the plant material, I dried it in my dehydrator then ground it up in the blender for future use as an all-purpose spice blend. I can’t wait to add it to my next rice dish!

Using Fire Cider

Once you have your finished product sealed up, it’s ready to be used! As a preventative and immune booster, you can take 1/2-1 tablespoon per day. If I begin to feel under the weather at all, I begin taking my Fire Cider 4-6 times a day, one tablespoon at a time, until I begin feeling better. When you’re taking it this often, you may find you need to eat a little food with it as the vinegar can be rough on your stomach as the day passes. I’ve found a couple of crackers or a little bread fixes that problem almost immediately if you aren’t ready for a whole meal.

Now some may say to just drink the Fire Cider straight up, but I would respectfully disagree. Vinegar is not only hard on your tooth enamel, its hard on your esophagus as well. Show your body some love and mix it with 4-6 ounces of cold water first, followed by another 8 ounces of plain water. I like to swish the plain water it in my mouth a little before swallowing to get any remaining vinegar off my teeth. If you really want to drink it straight, I would still strongly suggest following up with the swishing and drinking of plain water. Another option is to add the vinegar to salad dressings or drizzled on top of veggies. Be creative, but keep it raw! Heating up the vinegar could damage the medicinal qualities of the plant material.

Let me know how it goes!

I’m excited to have shared this with you as I’m a BIG believer in not just Fire Cider, but also in utilizing the gifts of Mother Nature for our health! If you try this out, PLEASE let me know in the comments or on Facebook!