What is Fire Cider?

What is Fire Cider?

A Time-Tested Remedy 

Fire cider has been a staple in herbalists’ cabinets for decades, and it's having a significant revival in wellness circles today. This spicy, pungent tonic is more than folk medicine tradition. The ingredients behind it have real, studied benefits.

Fire cider is an apple cider vinegar-based tonic infused with a concentrated blend of roots, aromatics, and heat—traditionally horseradish, ginger, garlic, onion, and hot peppers. The result is sharp, warming, and full of life. It is typically taken as a daily shot (diluted with water or orange juice) but can also be stirred into dressings. It’s used to prevent colds and flu from taking hold. If you do happen to get sick, it helps clear the congestion from your chest and sinuses. 

How Do You Make Fire Cider?


Traditionally Fire Cider is made with freshly chopped vegetables and spices. Horseradish is grated and, unless done outside, will bring the whole room to tears! Onions and garlic are chopped, ginger is grated, peppers are diced, oranges sliced—and all of it is tightly packed into a large mason jar. 

Fill the jar with apple cider vinegar and cover with a plastic BPA free lid or use a piece of waxed paper between the jar and a traditional metal lid. >> Don’t skip this part!<< 

 I find that this lid works the best- you can order it here. 

Vinegar will corrode any metal it touches over time. I thought this was probably not necessary (because I’m hard headed sometimes) and I ended up with metal bits in my fire cider and had to toss it all! 

Once all of the ingredients are combined and the lid is safely on, give it a good shake to mix it up. Leave it in a sunny windowsill for 4-6 weeks and allow it to do its work. 

Vinegar extracts the beneficial compounds from the veggies over time. Give it a shake every day or so to help it mix. If you need to speed it up, you can gently heat the jar. I keep mine on top of my toaster oven to give it a boost. 

When 4-6 weeks have passed, use a cheesecloth, a nut milk bag, or a piece of an old T shirt over a mesh strainer to strain it. You want to be able to squeeze the “pulp” by hand to get all of the tasty liquid out.

** A lot of liquid remains in the plant matter, so twist up the cloth and really squeeze it out! **

Pour the liquid into a glass jar and add honey to taste (~1/2 cup per quart of fire cider). Be sure to stick a label on the jar with the name and date you made it.

How Long Will it Keep Fresh?

If you use fresh ingredients, the water content of your cider is higher. You should store it in the refrigerator and use it within about 6 months. If you’re using our dry mix, it’ll last for 1-2 years at room temperature since there is virtually no water to cause spoilage. I keep mine in the fridge because I like it cold. 

Why These Ingredients?

Fire Cider is a time tested remedy, so there has to be something to it, right? As a (sometimes hard headed) Pharmacist, I wanted the answer to “why?” for each ingredient. Here is my detailed research and why I chose the ingredients I did for my Fire Cider Mix (*link here to shop*).

If this is too much science-y detail, feel free to skim through this part. If you're interested in trying fire cider, but overwhelmed by the idea of all that chopping and grating, consider buying my Fire Cider Mix and let me do the hard part for you!

Whats inside:

Garlic – Allium sativum L.

Constituents (what’s in it?) – volatile oils, allicin, B vitamins, selenium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorous, vitamin A, Vitamin C, flavonoids.

Actions – antimicrobial (inhibits growth and production of bacteria, fungi, viruses, protozoa), diaphoretic (helps you sweat/ break fever), decreases cholesterol, hypotensive (lowers blood pressure), antispasmodic (eases cramping in skeletal and smooth muscles), antioxidant, thins mucus.

Uses – The volatile oil in garlic is excreted via the lungs, making it useful in infections of the respiratory tract (cold, flu, bronchitis, productive coughs, etc), the sinuses, and the GI tract (including intestinal parasites). It stimulates the production of white blood cells, boosting the body’s immune system.

*It may be used as preventative medicine against many infectious conditions, digestive and respiratory. Because garlic thins mucus, it is particularly indicated for thick, rubbery, or difficult-to-clear mucus. Garlic inhibits the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-17 often upregulated in inflammatory airway disease.


Onion – Allium cepa

Constituents – thiosulfinates

Actions – mast cell stabilizers (helps with allergies), antimicrobial (inhibits growth and production of microbes like bacteria, fungi, viruses).

Uses – a traditional remedy to thin mucus, a time-honored base for homemade cough syrup for expectorant properties (help you cough up mucus), for cough and chest colds. May help with infections and allergy symptoms of the lung and sinuses. 


Horseradish – Armoracia rusticana

Constituents – Sinigrin – a selenium-containing glucosinolate which breaks down to allyl isothiocyanate (antimicrobial). 

Actions – antimicrobial, sinus-clearing, anti-inflammatory (due to regulating effects on cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase) 6, detoxifying, catarrhal. 

Uses – folkloric remedy for bacterial infections of respiratory tract. Excellent for moving stagnant mucus out of sinuses, lessening sinus pain and pressure. When used at onset of hay fever/ allergies/simple colds, may prevent progression into sinus congestion and infection.


Ginger – Zingiber officinale

Constituents – volatile oil containing sesquiterpenes zingiberene and Beta-bisaboene, oleoresin containing gingerols, gingerdiols, gingerdiones, dihydrogingerdiones, shagoals. 

Actions – warming stimulant, carminative (aids in release of gas from intestines, reduces production) antispasmotic (eases cramps in skeletal and smooth muscle), rubefacient, diaphoretic (encourages sweating), antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, inhibits cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase like Rx arthritis medications.

Uses – motion sickness, increase circulation in arms/ legs, diaphoretic (increase sweating to help break fever), relieve sore throat, reduce inflammation.


Citrus (orange peel)

Constituents – Limonene

Actions – expectorant and sedative, flavoring, potential cancer-preventative properties 

Uses – The rinds of oranges are credited with many immunomodulating and medicinal actions. In traditional Chinese medicine rinds are said to “open the orifices” helping medicines to enter the digestive and respiratory passages. Cell culture studies show orange essential oil to deter lung cancer proliferation in pancreatic and breast cancer. 


Cayenne – Capsicum annuum

Constituents – capsaicin, vitamin A, vitamin C

Actions – antioxidants, reversible antinociceptive (pain relief) and anti-inflammatory.

Uses – Relief of minor pain in muscles and joints, arthritis, bruises, cramps and sprains. Traditionally used in herbal medicines for dry coughs. Added for its anodyne (pain-killing) effects on the throat.


How Should You Use Fire Cider?

Daily as a health boost: 1-3 Tbsp diluted in water or juice to ward off illness during cold/ flu season.

During illness: If you already feel a cold coming on or are already congested, increase to taking it every 3-4 hours while awake until you notice some relief from the congestion.

Fire Cider as Part of a Wellness Routine

Fire cider isn't a cure-all — it's more like a daily ritual that supports the systems your body already uses to stay healthy. Think of it less like a supplement and more like a concentrated, intentional food. Consistency is where it earns its reputation. Fire Cider makes a mean addition to a home made Cesar salad dressing, a tasty addition to a Bloody Mary, or as a simple digestive bitter. Get creative!  

 

References

  1. Koch, HP, Lawson, D, eds. Garlic: The Science and Therapeutic Application of Allium sativum: And Related Species. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins Publishing Co., 1996.
  2. Gladstar, Rosemary. Medicinal Herbs, A Beginners Guide. North Adams, MA: Storey Publishing, 2012. p.71.
  3. Stansbury, Jill ND. Herbal Formularies for Health Professionals Volume 2 Circulatory and Respiration. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2018. P.157
  4. Robbers, James E. PhD, Tyler, Varro, E. PhD. Tyler’s Herbs of Choice, The Therapeutic Use of Phytomedicinals. Binghamton, NY: The Hawthorn Press, 1999.
  5. Hoffman, David, FNIMH, AHG. Medical Herbalism, The Science and Practice of Herbal Medicine. Rochester, VT: Healing Arts Press, 2003.
  6. Corinna Herz et al., “Evaluation of an Aqueous Extract from Horseradish Root (Armoracia rusticana Radix) Against Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Cellular Inflammation Reaction,” Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2017, (2017): 1-10, doi:10.1155/2017/1950692.
  7. Blumenthal M. et al, The ABC Clinical Guide to Herbs
  8. Srivastava K, et al. Ginger and Rheumatic Disorders. Medical Hypotheses, 1989;29:25-8
  9. Crowell, PL, Gould MN. Chemoprevention and therapy of cancer by d-limonene. Critical Reviews in Oncogenesis 1994;5(1):1-22.
  10. Dray, A. Mechanism of Action of Capsaicin-like Molecules on Sensory Neurons, PMID: 1331641

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