As summer turns into autumn, the leaves transform our world into a brightly colored rainbow of yellows, orange and red. The cool air starts settling in around our hearts and homes. We harvest the pumpkins and squash to adorn our doorsteps while filling our pantries with nature’s bounty. It’s a great time to forage rose hips, crab apples, berries, dandelion root and and late season mushrooms…reishi especially! We divide and transplant flowers, bury our garlic cloves for next year and clean up our soil for spring. I also love preparing tinctures and tonics to support the natural vitality of our immune systems. While I firmly believe that allopathic medicine has its place in western cultures, eating nutrient dense foods and supplementing with herbs and spices is essential for our bodies to heal and thrive.
Fire Cider is one of my favorites! While offering anti-inflammatory benefits, its known to also lend anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties, immune boosting components and a great digestive aid. It’s so great for battling coughs and colds. This recipe is altered a bit from Rosemary Gladstar, and I hope you’ll customize it to fit your needs as well. Choosing high quality organic produce (local even better) is so very important! Here’s what we do…
Ingredients…
2″ raw ginger bulb, peeled and chopped
2″ fresh horseradish root, peeled and chopped
2″ fingerling raw turmeric, peeled and chopped
2 small onions (whatever you grew in your garden or is available at the farmers market)
10-12 cloves garlic (i always do 12 or more)
2-6 jalapeno peppers (i also like serrano peppers..and don’t skip these!)
1 lemon, sliced
several springs fresh rosemary
organic apple cider vinegar with the mother (Bragg is the only one I purchase)
local, raw honey to taste
Instructions…
Place ginger, horseradish, turmeric, onion, garlic, peppers, lemon and rosemary in a jar. Cover with apple cider vinegar by about 2 inches. Place a piece of parchment paper or wax paper between the vinegar and the lid to keep it from corroding. Shake well. Every day. Every other day. Every week. Keep swirling and whirling to encourage well-developed, flavorful fermenting. Store in a cool dry place. After about a month, pour the vinegar and pulp over a cheesecloth to strain the liquid into a clean jar. Press and squeeze all the goodness out of the pulp. That’s where the good stuff is.
Add 1/4 cup honey. Give it a taste. It should be hot and spicy and sweet. Add a little more honey if you desire. It’s done! Store it in the fridge and enjoy straight up, as a salad dressing, drizzled over roasted vegetable or rice. I may or may not have also tried it in a bloody mary… hahah, it was super good!
Also, if you space out and add the honey to the mix before the month of fermenting, don’t toss it. It will be fine! Just be sure it stays in a dark and cool location.
Did you give it a go? Tell me what you think! 🙂
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