The same day that Sarah F. and I were making hag tapers, we were also cooking up a batch of fire cider. Actually, it was the fire cider that was the impetus for the get-together, as apparently someone, not the person who originally wrote down the recipe,* has decided to sue anyone marketing a similar product under the name “fire cider.”
So in the good ol’ Druidic spirit of “up yours!” Sarah suggested we brew our own. Here’s the original recipe:
Make Your Own Fire Cider
It’s fun, simple, and easy to make. There are hundreds of variations on this recipe. Here’s the original.
½ cup grated fresh horseradish root
½ cup or more fresh chopped onions
¼ cup or more chopped garlic
¼ cup or more grated ginger
Chopped fresh or dried cayenne pepper, whole or powdered, to taste.*Optional ingredients: turmeric, echinacea, cinnamon, etc.
* To taste means should be hot, but not so hot you can’t tolerate it. Better to make it a little milder than too hot; you can always add more pepper later if necessary.
Place herbs in a half-gallon canning jar and cover with enough raw unpasteurized apple cider vinegar to cover the herbs by at least three to four inches. Cover with a tight fitting lid. Place jar in a warm place and let set for three to four weeks. Best to shake every day to help in the maceration process. After three to four weeks, strain out the herbs and reserve the liquid. Add honey to taste. Warm the honey first so it mixes in well. “A little bit of honey helps the medicine go down…” Your Fire Cider should taste hot, spicy, and sweet. Rebottle and enjoy! Fire Cider will keep for several months unrefrigerated if stored in a cool pantry, but it’s better to store in the refrigerator if you’ve room. A small shot glass daily serves as an excellent tonic or take teaspoons if you feel a cold coming on. Take it more frequently if necessary to help your immune system do battle.
We also added golden seal to the mix, since Sarah had some in her amazing and impressive herbal stash. We decided to leave out the cinnamon, since it didn’t quite seem to blend well with the prodigious amount of horseradish we ended up adding to the brew. The kitchen smelled nothing short of spicy and wonderful.
I’ve always loved making potions. Happily, my mother and father indulged my early attempts at chemistry and herbalism, though they sometimes despaired that I had yet again ruined or made unusable some container with my concoctions. Probably the most successful creation of my youthful dabbling was a weedkiller made by soaking black walnuts in water for a couple of weeks.
The fire cider promises to be much tastier. I’ve been faithfully shaking my jar, so it should be ready the day I’m scheduled to close on my new home. I love it when things come together!
*Rosemary Gladstar is the creatrix of the recipe. She also has a video describing how to make her original version of fire cider.
The Druid's Well 
A certain elf I know would love drinking that as he loves the spicy. He had me try Eritrean food about a year ago and that was… an experience.
I can deal with spice to some degree – I tend to prefer hot salsa to mild salsa when I have Mexican food, for example – but horseradish gives me heartburn. 😛 The ginger sounds good, though (and now I want ginger beer, sigh). I can also imagine the kitchen smelled really nice.
As an aside I am enjoying the kitchen witchery segments on your blog.
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Hot, hot, hot! Moderate spice is all I can usually handle, but I’m willing to go the distance in order to kick a cold’s arse. 😀
And thank you, I’m having a lot of fun writing these posts. Finally giving myself permission to let out my witchy side has been wonderful.
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Totally volunteering to be a taster…. might need at least 3 jars to give a thorough verdict. 😉
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Too bad you’re in the UK, otherwise I could post you a sample bottle. I have a feeling customs would have a fit!
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Dammit!
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