Key Takeaways
Fire cider is a vinegar-based tonic made with fresh produce, alliums, and spices that’s believed to boost immunity, ease inflammation, and support digestion.
It’s simple to make at home with ingredients like ginger, turmeric, garlic, and lemon.
Enjoy fire cider as a wellness shot, salad dressing, or even a natural pickling base.
As the seasons change, all sorts of tactics can help battle sickness and lingering sniffles. Beyond staying inside to make comforting soup and being diligent about washing your hands, juices and wellness shots are tempting buys that promise to boost your immune system.
The problem is that many of these remedies are pricey, and keeping up with the habit all season long can hurt your wallet. Luckily, there are other concoctions to fend off sickness this season that are easy to make at home, including fire cider, a homemade elixir that’s popular among nutritionists and other wellness experts for its broad range of health benefits.
What is fire cider and how to make it
Fire cider is a savory, vinegar-based tonic made with plenty of fresh produce, alliums, and other pantry staples, so it’s almost sure to use up ingredients you already have on hand. This highly potent beverage is said to offer a wide range of wellness benefits that go beyond immune support, including supporting digestion, easing inflammation, promoting respiratory health, and helping reduce fatigue.
To make fire cider, start by chopping up a list of ingredients: onion, ginger root, horseradish root, garlic, jalapeño or cayenne pepper, lemon, and turmeric root. These items will just be used to infuse the drink, so there’s no need to make every cut perfect. Add the ingredients to a large jar, along with black peppercorns and rosemary leaves, then fill the jar with unfiltered apple cider vinegar until all the solid ingredients are covered.
““My wife, Amelia, is the real mastermind behind our recipe. We had a bumper crop of garlic and loads of honey from the bees we kept, and found that fire cider makes good use of both of those ingredients.””
Wes Palmer, market gardener, Quercus Hotel
Once everything is in the jar, seal the lid and shake it vigorously to make sure everything is incorporated. From there, store the combination in a cool, dark place for four to eight weeks, shaking the jar every few days to prevent settling. The longer the mixture steeps, the stronger the flavor will be. Once you’re happy with the mixture’s intensity, pour the contents through a fine-mesh sieve or cheesecloth into a clean jar, squeezing out as much liquid as possible, and add honey to taste.
The recipe is highly adaptable, according to Wes Palmer, the market gardener who makes fire cider for guests at Quercus, a boutique hotel with just four rooms located on a 4,000-acre working ranch in Gay, Georgia. “The staples of fire cider are organic apple cider vinegar, ginger, turmeric, honey, lemon, garlic, and onions,” he says. “But if you follow the basic steeping directions, there’s really no wrong way to make fire cider, and you can always tweak the recipe to your preferred taste.”
Palmer adds that the recipe’s flexibility makes it a great way to use up extra produce and reduce waste. “My wife, Amelia, is the real mastermind behind our recipe. We had a bumper crop of garlic and loads of honey from the bees we kept, and found that fire cider makes good use of both of those ingredients,” he says.
How to drink fire cider
Once you make fire cider, you can also consume it in a variety of ways. “You can do a shot of it, but there are some other applications I’ve discovered where you can really play,” says Chiara Visconti di Modrone, the co-owner of Quercus. Combine the concentrated liquid with olive oil for a flavor-packed salad dressing or, since the drink is vinegar-based, use it to pickle vegetables like cucumbers and carrots. It can even be applied topically to soothe chest congestion or sore muscles, she says.
““70% of your immune system is produced in your gut, so most fire ciders and other immunity tonics include concentrated sources of foods high in antimicrobial or antioxidant properties. These support microbial balance in the gut while also reducing oxidative stress, something that can increase during infections.””
Jessica Bippen, MS, RD, registered dietitian nutritionist
Unlike other wellness drinks that simply stock your body with helpful vitamins, Jessica Bippen, MS, RD, a registered dietitian nutritionist, says fire cider may help stimulate blood flow, support stomach acid and bile production, and aid in overall digestion. This may promote overall health at a time of year when circulation and the lymphatic system can slow down, potentially impacting immune function and making people more susceptible to illness.
“70% of your immune system is produced in your gut, so most fire ciders and other immunity tonics include concentrated sources of foods high in antimicrobial or antioxidant properties,” says Bippen. “These support microbial balance in the gut while also reducing oxidative stress, something that can increase during infections.”
The recipe is flexible, but Bippen recommends adding a few key ingredients to make a fire cider that packs the biggest punch: ginger, which may improve circulation and reduce inflammation; horseradish, which has antimicrobial properties; elderberry, which is rich in immune-supportive polyphenols; and raw honey, which can help soothe and support immune modulation. “Together, these ingredients may enhance immune function while also supporting digestion,” she says.
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