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Shalom Shalom!
Please excuse the delayed response in this--as I've been wanting to put do this particular entry for quite a while. There were a few difficulties, but despite that, I'm going to submit it anyway--as this is important, considering that we're knocking on the door of cold and flu season. I saw one YouTube video about fire cider, but have bypassed it for a long time. Then, one day, I started to take a look at it, and became intrigued. Since then, I've been researching on how to make it, and remember a couple in our congregation mention that they made some after the Shabbat. I asked for the recipe--as I was still in the research phase. Looking at this family's recipe and based on my other research, I think I got it. Now, I'm sure you're wondering, "What the heck is fire cider?"; otherwise, you wouldn't be reading this entry. Fire cider (or Master Tonic or 4 Thieves Vinegar--which are other names for this) is a powerful concoction with ingredients that have antifungal, antiviral, and antimicrobial properties. Some people will consider it as "nature's flu shot". It is used as a preventative to keep colds and flu at bay, and should you get a cold or flu, it should knock it out rather quickly. Interested? Stay tuned...
Here's what you'll need. The amount of ingredients may vary--depending on how the ingredients are broken down or your tolerance level on certain ingredients. For my recipe, I used:
*Fresh Horseradish Root
*Fresh Garlic
*Fresh Ginger
*Fresh Turmeric (if you have only dried, then that's fine)
*Black pepper
*Fresh Hot Peppers (the store only had organic jalapenos. Subsequent batches will be made with hot peppers grown from my garden).
*Onions
*Lemons
*Apple Cider Vinegar
*Raw Honey (to be used at the very end)
(NOTE: All of my ingredients are organic. I encourage you to get organic ingredients if and when possible.)
Oh yeah, you need something to put those ingredients in. Make sure you have a 1-gallon glass jar.
For this recipe, I'm using one fresh horseradish root.
Because it is rather large and somewhat difficult to cut and peel, I cut the root crosswise in half, and then cut the halves in half. This also makes it easier for peeling off the skin
As I was peeling, there were some knobby ends that my vegetable peeler could not reach. So, I cut them down a little more--to make peeling easy. Try to get it cut and peeled as easily as you can.
The first batch I made, I just chopped the horseradish in small cubes. I found that a bit time consuming. This time around, I'm chopping them finely using a food processor. I found it said in my research that the finer the ingredients are the better the vinegar can penetrate and draw out those wonderful sickness-fighting properties. That being said, the horseradish root went into the food processor...
...and into the jar. As you can see, about a third of the jar is already filled.
Next is the garlic. You'll want to use whole heads of garlic. As you can see in this pic, there are four heads of garlic; however, in the end, I used 7 heads. I love garlic, and it has AMAZING antimicrobial properties!
Each head had the cloves separated, peeled, and put into this cup. This is the processor cup for my immersion (stick) blender. I used it when the ingredients weren't as much to fill up a food processor cup.
Like the horseradish root, the garlic is also finely chopped...
...and into the jar.
Next, we have ginger. Ginger is also a good anti-inflammatory. I used all of the ginger in this pic...
...peeled it..
...and placed into my small cup for my immersion blender. Although it all fit, for some reason, the blade could not finely chop it.
No worries! Regular-sized food processor to the rescue, and it worked beautifully!
Into the jar it goes!
Next, we have turmeric. For those who have never seen fresh turmeric, then this is what it looks like. It looks very similar to ginger--as it is in the same family. Unlike the ginger--which was a yellow color, turmeric is a reddish-orange color.
WARNING: If you do not want you hands to be stained, USE GLOVES! Turmeric WILL stain the crap out of anything and everything. Like the ginger, peel the turmeric
See! That would've been the color on my fingers if I had not worn gloves, AND it stays on your fingers for a couple of days. This is my gloved hand after peeling the turmeric.
Take your peeled turmeric and place in a processor cup.
Mince finely...
...and add to the jar with the rest of the ingredients.
Next add your black pepper. I prefer peppercorns, but I didn't have enough. I wanted enough to create a layer; however, we had already ground black pepper on hand. So, I used it...lol. I've read that turmeric and black pepper, when combined is an awesome antibacterial powerhouse! These two ingredients are good to use if you have a toothache in terms of alleviating the pain.
Next ingredient...hot peppers. As I mentioned earlier, the store only had organic jalapeno peppers, so I got those. I would loved to have had serranos or habaneros--as I've heard that the hotter the pepper, the better. I've gotta work with what I have right now--as the growing season is in another six months. So take you peppers, chop of the tops--where the stems are...
...and place in the processor (or finely chop by hand, if you don't have a processor). Put in everything--seeds and all.
Chop finely...
And place in the jar. As you can see, my jar is filling up.
Next ingredient...onions. Use whatever onions you have in the house. My preference is red onions. I use them for everything. What you'll want to do is peel and cut the onions in large chunks.
Transfer the large chunks into the food processor (or finely chop by hand if you don't have a food processor)...
...chop finely...
...and place into the jar. This jar is looking rather full, and I have two more ingredient to add!
Next ingredient...lemons. You'll definitely want to get organic lemons--as the entire lemon will be used...peel, pulp, and seeds.
What I did was cut the ends off of the lemons, sit them up, and cut off the peel with a knife. I then cut the lemons in large slices...
...and added to the food processor. The pulp chopped up nicely, but the peels didn't.
So, I chopped up some of the peels. I didn't chop it all, but you should still get the same effect.
In the jar it goes. I actually had to pack it all in, but it all fits so far.
Here is the top of the jar. Now, one more ingredient to go (for now)!
That last ingredient at this time is apple cider vinegar. After all, this is called "fire cider", so there has to be a liquid component to this! Raw apple cider vinegar is awesome! It clears acne, alkalizes the body, and has tons of antimicrobial, antifungal properties! My first batch, I used two 32-oz bottles.
Next, pour in the apple cider vinegar. Unlike my first batch--of which I was able to use both bottles of vinegar, I was only able to use one who one and about a third of the second one. I guess fine chopping the ingredients took up much room needed to accommodate all of the vinegar. It's all good though. Get as much of the vinegar into the jar as you can.
(NOTE: I plan to make one more batch--of which I will still finely chop the ingredients, but perhaps, use less ingredients. Once it's done, I will post a picture of it as an addendum.)
And voila! Here is the beginning of our fire cider. Now, allow to sit in a dark place for 6-8 w.eeks--shaking it at least once daily.
I know, 6-8 weeks is a long time, and again, I apologize that I didn't get this sooner. You can, however, buy fire cider online. If possible, I would encourage you to buy some until yours is ready.
Ok y'all. Here is my very first batch. As you can see, I started in September.
The pic on the left is when it was just assembled. In this one, I used one horseradish root, three heads of garlic, two huge pieces of ginger, a handful of fresh turmeric (It wasn't enough for me, so I also used some powdered turmeric as well), three jalapeno peppers, three red onions, and two full 32-ounce bottles of apple cider vinegar (I forgot the lemons in this one). Perhaps because I used less ingredients, and didn't chop them up so finely is why both bottles were able to be accommodated. This is still a work in progress. Please bear with me. The life in general is a work in progress...lol
The pic on the right is two months later--ready to be strained, bottled, and consumed.
Next, you'll want to assemble your straining station. What I have hear is a large bowl, a large mesh strainer over the bowl, and cheesecloth over both the bowl and the strainer.
Next, pour the contents into the straining area. To help speed up straining, pick up the cheesecloth, and allow the liquid to pass through and into the strainer. It also wouldn't hurt to squeeze the cheesecloth to get out more liquid, but I must caution you, like I did earlier, WEAR GLOVES because of the staining effects of the turmeric.
This is how much liquid I was able to strain out.
Next, add one cup of raw honey. Raw honey has wonderful antimicrobial, antibacterial, and healing properties. Raw honey (as the pic shows above) is more solid than the regular honey you see sold in the grocery store. Any processing done to the honey in this pic is, more or less, strained from the comb with little to no heat applied--as heat kills the valuable enzymes and healing properties in the honey. This also contains bits of honeycomb and propolis, and this is what you want. I'll need to do a little more research on the honeycomb, but the propolis is powerful! It is what is used to seal and sanitize the hive, and it is especially used by the "nurse bees" in terms of sanitizing combs used to house the eggs lain by the queen. It keeps such combs sterile and clean for growing baby bees.
Raw honey is also good for wounds and cuts, and it is a good natural antihistamine. Taking down a spoonful of raw honey during allergy season will keep your sneezing at bay, but I digress...
Add the raw honey to the liquid and mix it thoroughly. As you can see it is still a blob in the liquid. Simply mix and swirl it around until it dissolves.
Alas. Fire cider...done!
Now, it's time for the bottling. To make bottling easier, I transferred the finished product into this 4 cup glass cup (or whichever implement that you have with a spout. I would recommend glass for easily cleanup--as the turmeric will stain plastic). Just in case there was some unwanted sediment, I placed this small mesh strainer over the cup,
Next, I ladled the mixture in the cup. Since I saw no unwanted sediment, the strainer was removed.
Finally, time for bottling. I am using 32-ounce amber glass bottles.
Next, pour the cider into the bottles...
...and voila! This fire cider is REALLY ready! As you can see, I have two 32-ounce (larger) glass bottles. Because I had some extra, I stored that in a smaller 16-ounce bottle, and it was perfect!
Also, label your bottles. That way, you'll know when it was made AND what's exactly in the bottles!
Here is the finished product in a shot glass. This is the recommended dosage for adults. Take one shot as a preventative. If you get sick, take a shot every hour or two--until you start to feel better. For children, I would recommend 1/4 or 1/2 of the dosage--depending on the age of the child and their affinity for spice and other flavors.
I understand that with the ingredients used, that one would think it tastes gross, but actually, it's not bad! I thought it tasted like salad dressing. My Ish thought it tasted like pickle brine. The spice wasn't too bad, either, nor was it too sweet or sour. It tastes better than it sounds based on the ingredients. Now, the batch that I made based on the process above might be a bit spicier, but we will see. I will provide an addendum--as well as one with the next batch that I make.
Now, about those solid contents. What do you do with them? As you can see, I have them in a freezer bag, so I am not throwing them away. In my research, I saw that the solid contents can be dehydrated and ground into a seasoning. So that is my plan for this. I'm still debating as to whether to use the oven or wait until I can save my pennies for a dehydrator.
I hope that you consider making fire cider, and keeping it around in your medicine cabinet. Because all of these ingredients are food, they should pose no problems to your health (unless you are allergic to any of the ingredients or have certain health problems. I've read that fire cider should not be consumed if you're pregnant--as the horseradish could cause a miscarriage). Big Pharma is a multi-billion dollar industry, and is, more or less, "legal" drug dealers. The products brought on by Big Pharma temporarily alleviate symptoms, but do not provide a cure. Not to mention, many of the pharmaceuticals come with various side effects, and oftentimes, you may be prescribed another medication to counteract the side effects of the original medication. That secondary medication may have its own set of side effects. How is that healing? How is that making one feel better? Sorry (not sorry)...it's not! I would encourage all who read this to research and look into ways to cure any disease or sickness naturally--as it can be done. It was done before the onslaught of Big Pharma, and it can be done now. I hope that you found some inspiration in this, and if you make your own fire cider, please let me know how it turned out for you--as well as other tips and tricks that you've done in the making of your fire cider. Thank you so much for taking the time to check out "Teacher Of Good Things", and until then...Shalom shalom!
Bathshua
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