Fire Cider Recipe and More Immune-Supportive Tincture Tips

The winter months are considered cold and flu season, but our immune systems can be susceptible to infections all year long. Consuming cold-fighting foods and following an immune-supportive lifestyle are helpful throughout the year; however, when you’re struck down by a nasty bug you don’t always feel like cooking broth or blending a bowl of soup. This is where a great fire cider recipe comes in – with one quick shot, you are flooded with nutritional power!

Fire cider tastes, in all honesty, completely gross. And yet is highly effective, which is why it’s an essential tincture we have on hand in our culinary nutrition pantry. What makes fire cider so powerful? First off, its primary ingredients are roots, which all contain phytochemicals that protect them from the challenging environment underneath the earth. When we consume these roots, we also receive this protection! Let’s take a detailed look at what’s in our fire cider recipe.

Fire Cider Ingredients: Why They’re immune-SUPPORTIVE

Garlic - Fire Cider Recipe

how to make fire cider: a step-by-step guide

Our fire cider recipe is based on ratios so you can modify it to suit your needs or how much fire cider you’d like to tincture. It’s a flexible recipe!

Equipment You’ll Need:

  • Wide mouth mason jar, either 500 ml or 1 litre/quart (note: your ingredients should fill the jar about halfway)
  • Fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth
  • Medium-sized bowl
  • Cutting board
  • Knife
  • Masking tape and pen/marker

Ingredients You’ll Need:

  • 1 part garlic
  • 1 part horseradish
  • 1 part onion
  • 1/2 part fresh ginger
  • Pinch of cayenne (or more if you can tolerate it)
  • Apple cider vinegar, enough to cover all ingredients
  • Honey to taste

What To Do:

  1. Chop fresh garlic, onions, and horseradish into small pieces. Let them sit for 5–10 minutes to activate the constituents in garlic and onion after chopping.
  2. Grate fresh ginger.
  3. Add the garlic, onions, horseradish, and ginger into the jar. It should fill the jar approximately half full.
  4. Cover the ingredients with apple cider vinegar (keep vinegar about two to three inches above the roots).
  5. Add cayenne. Cover the jar with the lid and shake well.
  6. Label the jar using masking tape, noting the name of the recipe and the date.
  7. Let sit in a cool, dark place for two to four weeks.
  8. Place your fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth over the bowl, then strain and discard spent herbs.
  9. Add honey to taste when serving.

How to Use Fire Cider

  • As a preventative: If you can handle it, a small daily shot works to keep your immune system strong.
  • As a cold and flu remedy: If you feel a cold coming on or have a full-blown cold, drink a small shot daily.
  • As a culinary ingredient: Fire cider liquid has a savory and pungent quality – add a small amount to salad dressings, dips, sauces, or other recipes for flavour. It essentially works as a lovely homemade condiment.

More Immune-supportive Tincture Ideas

horseradish tincture

There are a wide variety of herbs and roots you can use to make tinctures! First off, check out our Guide to Homemade Tinctures and Tonics for all the common methods you can use to formulate them. It’s easy to learn how to make tinctures, and the herbal possibilities are vast. Some of our favourite immune-supportive herbs include:

Get your FREE Tincture & Tonics Guide plus 35 more free resource guides!

Fill out the form below for instant access.

We love immune-supportive tinctures because they are long-lasting, powerful, and convenient when you feel something coming on. You might curse us when you take your first shot of fire cider, but once you reap the benefits you’ll be coming back to this recipe again and again.

Fire Cider Recipe

More Wisdom from our Experts

More Wisdom in Health

10 responses to “Fire Cider Recipe and More Immune-Supportive Tincture Tips

  1. Jaclyn Beaty

    I made this but accidentally added the honey along with everything else before I let it sit for 2 weeks. Oops! Any experience if this is safe to let sit and fetment with the honey already in it or do I need to refrigerate it immediately?

  2. Wendy McConnell

    Hello, love this article! After straining the fire cider, how do I store it and how long does it last? Thank you!

  3. Academy of Culinary Nutrition

    You can store this in the fridge, or a cold pantry if you have one. It should last for at least a couple of months in the fridge.

  4. Academy of Culinary Nutrition

    It’s hard to say – there are recipes for fermented honey so it might work! Perhaps try leaving it for two weeks rather than four and watch for mold. If there is any doubt, then throw it out and start again!

  5. Jill

    Haven’t been able to find organic horseradish. Any substitutes or can I make it without?

  6. Deb Beattie

    I added the roots and filled the jar to the top with apple cider vinegar and the onions still float to the top, is this okay?

  7. Academy of Culinary Nutrition

    You could try peeling your horseradish – or simply leave it out.

  8. Academy of Culinary Nutrition

    Hi Deb – all of the ingredients should be below the vinegar and not exposed to air, otherwise mold may develop. You can add a weight to the top, such as a small clean jar filled with water that fits just inside your larger jar, or a fermentation weight.

  9. Paul

    Hi,

    Is it okay to add vodka? 50/50 vodka and apple cider. Coz i read in some blogs that vodka will help extract the nutrients.

    Cheers
    Paul

  10. Academy of Culinary Nutrition

    Hi Paul! We’ve never seen Fire Cider with vodka, or tried it ourselves. One thing to be mindful of is you are taking this as shots or using it in recipes, so you’d probably be consuming more alcohol than you may want – especially if you are trying to support the immune system, which can be suppressed by alcohol consumption.

    With tinctures, alcohol like vodka does help to extract the nutrients, but most people are consuming a smaller amount of tinctures than they would of Fire Cider – like a few drops as opposed to a full shot.

Let us know what you think!

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can also subscribe without commenting.