🔥 Fire cider! 🔥
If you like potent, immune-boosting potions that give you breath like a garlic-and-onion-eating dragon, fire cider is for you!
Fire cider, created by renowned herbalist, Rosemary Gladstar, is an immune-boosting kitchen-witch staple. It’s simple to make, and exciting to take—causing some of us to dance around our kitchens like we’re doing a jig. And by “some of us,” I mean my sweetheart, Jordy. Part of the reason fire cider boosts my immunity is because each night after I hand him his little glass of the golden elixir, we toast, he drinks it down, and then he proceeds to jump and dance around because fire cider is that exciting. And that makes me giggle. And giggling is good for our health.
So, fire cider not only boosts immunity, enhances circulation, loosens congestion, invigorates respiration, and stimulates digestion, it can also make you dance and laugh, which is the best medicine to take whenever possible.
Google fire cider and you can go down a wonderful rabbit hole of recipes. But the basics remain the same: garlic, onion, ginger, hot peppers, horseradish, apple cider vinegar, and raw honey. From there, you can add lemons and oranges for a vitamin C boost, and herbs like rosemary and thyme for their antiviral properties. This year I added dried echinacea, and the last of the yellow calendula blooms still cheering up our backyard.
Fire cider is an herbal tradition, and it feels important to keep it going in as many home kitchens as possible. Not only because boosting our immunity with a delicious culinary acetum (herbal vinegar) is a good idea, but also because a few years ago a lawsuit (denied!) by a company that trademarked the fire cider name threatened to take from herbalists the ability to make this recipe. They wanted to capitalize on the product created decades ago right here in Forestville during a winter herbal health class while Rosemary wants to keep “fire cider…community property, customizable to one’s own needs and tastes but belonging to everyone and available for anyone to make, sell, trade, and enjoy.” I encourage you to read the full story here. And then get out your herbs and vinegar and make a batch.
Here’s my recipe for 2023. Follow your inspirations to make it your own.
In a quart mason jar, pack:
1/2 cup horseradish, grated
1/4 cup fresh ginger, grated (powdered is hotter! Use 1–2 teaspoons if using dried)
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 lemon, zested then chopped
1/2 orange, zested then chopped
5 cloves garlic, chopped
2 serrano peppers, chopped
1 tablespoon turmeric powder
(can substitute a thumb fresh turmeric root, chopped)
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
Few sprigs fresh thyme
4 dried echinacea flowers, broken up
5 fresh calendula blooms
1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder
Enough apple cider vinegar to fully cover the ingredients
Honey to taste
Add the apple cider vinegar to the packed jar, using enough vinegar so all ingredients are submerged. Close with a plastic lid. Vinegar and metal do not mix. If you can’t find a plastic lid at your local hardware store, use wax or parchment paper between the metal lid and jar. Label and date the jar. Store in a cool, dry place, and remember to shake it, baby, shake it! Daily shaking is good, and keeps you in touch with your potion.
After four weeks, strain through a cheesecloth, squeezing as much of the vinegar out as you can. Make sure to wash your hands well after squeezing—remember, you put serranos in there! Stir in 1/4 cup raw honey and taste. Add more honey to round out the flavor. Raw honey has its own medicinal benefits so though it is a delicious sweetener, it’s also helping us by being an antioxidant and antimicrobial friend.
We drink this from pretty little cordial glasses while we’re preparing dinner. It gets the digestive juices flowing. When fighting off a cold, take 1–2 tablespoons every few hours. Fire cider can also be used as the vinegar portion in a salad dressing, or drizzled on grain bowls, into soups, and in a glass of warm water as a sweet/hot/tart cup of tea.
So many fun markets happening through the rest of 2023!
Rodney Strong Fall Maker’s Market this Saturday, 11/18, 12:00pm–4:00pm. Rain or shine! Come enjoy a glass of mulled wine, and check out over twenty local vendors.
Saturday, 11/25, Healdsburg Farmers Market, 8:30am–12:00pm. Always a delight to see you.
New event added! Merry Healdsburg Holiday Night Market
Friday, 12/1, 4:00pm–9:30pm. Along with the annual tree-lighting celebration, the plaza will be transformed into a sparkling night market with prepared and packaged food, and holiday vendors. Carolers and horse-drawn carriages? Yes, please!Our favorite: Holiday Collective! See below for details. Not to be missed!
Two December Healdsburg Farmers Markets: 12/9 and 12/16. Last market of the season will be 12/23, but I’ll be enjoying time with my daughter. Yay!
Our Holiday Collective has been a December tradition for years. It feels like a parade of community members, smiling, shopping, visiting, and generally making merry together. We have many familiar and new faces lined up this year. Looking forward to seeing you there!
