If you’re a fan of taking a shot of apple cider vinegar before meals or at other times during the day, you might want to kick it up a notch (or four) with Fire Cider. Because regular shots of apple cider vinegar are for wusses.
Kidding! But, seriously…
This is not a cider that pairs well with apple picking or the pumpkin patch and it won’t get you drunk like a hard cider, but that isn’t to say it doesn’t have its benefits.
What is Fire Cider?
Fire Cider, trademarked by the brand Shire City Herbals, is based on a medicinal herb preparation called an oxymel, which uses a blend of honey and vinegar.
Fire Cider is a tonic made by steeping citrus, ginger, garlic, onions, horseradish, turmeric and habanero peppers in apple cider vinegar for a minimum of six weeks. Yum.
Annaliese Griffin at Well and Good described the flavor as “somewhere between pickle juice and kombucha—but when you take a straight shot of it, the peculiar fire of horseradish shoots up your nose while, at the same time, the capsicum heat from the habaneros spreads down your throat. I know it sounds terrible (and terrifying), but the burn is quick—you’re not going to walk around with your mouth on fire all day.”
You can take your shot straight or mix it with another of Shire City’s elixirs, a green juice or bone broth.
Fire Cider benefits
Griffin first tried the tonic after moving to Vermont in the winter with a son starting daycare. “I avoided most of the itinerant bugs my son caught last winter,” Griffin wrote. “I don’t think ‘miraculous’ is too strong a word for this feat.”
“It was a recipe I developed over the years for myself, based on stuff my grandmother used to feed me,” Dana St. Pierre, co-founder of Shire City Herbals, told Well and Good. “I started making early versions of Fire Cider because I’m prone to getting allergies and getting sick a lot in the winter. So my grandmother used to force-feed me spoonfuls of grated horseradish and honey-onion-garlic-syrup as remedies.”
Dorene Petersen, president of the American College of Healthcare Sciences in Portland, Oregon, said the horseradish is really the star.
“It’s an incredibly powerful botanical,” she told Well and Good. “It has antibacterial potential; it’s great for things like the bacteria that cause things like acute sinusitis.”
The other ingredients have benefits, too:
– Garlic is an antioxidant, helps regulate blood pressure and is said to stave off bladder and kidney infections, yeast infections, strep throat and ear infections;
– Onion is also an antibacterial and helps fight yeast infections;
– Turmeric is an anti-inflammatory;
– Ginger is warming, helps relieve nausea, lowers cholesterol and wards off cold and coughs;
– Cayenne aids in digestion and revs up metabolism.
Peterson also said Fire Cider can help with post-meal belly bloat or heartburn, but with basically every ingredient in it being something that causes heartburn, we aren’t going to endorse that use until we try it.
Fire Cider recipe
Want to make your own fiery cider? Try this recipe from Healing Spirits Herb Farm and Education Center:
Ingredients
– 1-quart organic apple cider vinegar
– 1/2 cup horseradish root, grated
– 1/8 cup garlic chopped
– 1/2 cup onion chopped
– 1/2 cup of ginger, grated
– 1 teaspoon cayenne
– honey to taste, if desired
Directions
Place all ingredients, except for the apple cider vinegar, in a quart jar. Cover the ingredients with apple cider vinegar. Cover the jar tightly and let it steep for eight weeks.
After eight weeks, strain into a clean jar.
This recipe comes from Stay Fit & Yung:
Ingredients
– horseradish root
– ginger root
– onion
– garlic head
– turmeric root or 1 tablespoon of ground turmeric
– 2-4 habanero peppers
– Apple cider vinegar
– Honey (added after the fermentation process is done and fire cider is strained to balance the spicy taste)
Directions
Grate the ginger and horseradish roots and chop garlic, onions and hot peppers. Place in a jar. Add apple cider vinegar to the jar and make sure everything is submerged and shake well. Screw the lid tightly in place.
Put the jar in a dark, cool place and let it sit for two to four weeks, shaking it every day.
After two or four weeks, strain the fire cider and transfer the liquid part into a tightly lidded container and discard the herbs and vegetables.
According to this recipe, the tonic will be good for a year if refrigerated.
As always, consult your doctor before starting any new regimen as some of the ingredients of the potent mix can have adverse effects, especially for those pregnant, nursing or who are prone to ulcers.
