Fire Cider Tonic Recipe – The Master Tonic for Colds and Flu
Learn how to make this Master Tonic for colds and flu with this Fire Cider Tonic Recipe. This recipe is easy to make and uses common pantry staples that you probably already have on hand in your kitchen.
Fire Cider and Master Tonics
What exactly is a Master Tonic? Great question! A Master Tonic refers to an all-encompassing home remedy that helps to ease a myriad of symptoms. And Fire Cider is known as the original Master Tonic. You can make the original recipe with simple pantry staples, but you can tailor it to suit various conditions by adding additional herbs and spices.
What is in Fire Cider?
The basic ingredients in this wonderful elixir include:
- Garlic
- Onions
- Ginger
- Cayenne pepper
- Horseradish
- Apple cider vinegar
Your horseradish should generally be fresh (but not required – see more about this below), and you’ll top your mixture off with apple cider vinegar. If possible, use raw apple cider vinegar, which is sometimes labeled “with the mother.” The “mother” represents the good bacteria that is rich in probiotics and is excellent for gut health. And of course, you can certainly use your own homemade apple cider vinegar to make this tonic.
All you have to do is steep your ingredients in the apple cider vinegar for about three to four weeks, then strain and decant it and you’re all set. You’ll have your Fire Cider ready to get you through cold and flu season. (So be sure to make it now with my printable recipe so it will be prepared in time once the fall season rolls around!)
Fresh Horseradish? That’s Not Common!
Don’t worry if you don’t have fresh horseradish on hand. This ingredient can be hard to find at many local grocery stores, and it’s often not even found at specialty stores. But as I mentioned earlier…you need “generally” fresh horseradish to make Fire Cider, but not exclusively. (And in some recipes, it’s even left out.)
The good news is that an easy fix for fresh horseradish is bottled horseradish, which is usually sold at most grocery stores. Just make sure to look for a brand that contains just horseradish with nothing added other than vinegar and salt. Avoid any horseradish sold with cream. (I show you the horseradish that I use in my recipe video.)
Can I Modify the Recipe?
Keep in mind that this Fire Cider Recipe is for the Master Tonic Recipe, which means that all recipe variations stem from this basic recipe. If the basic recipe contains ingredients you don’t like, leave them out.
If you want to add certain herbs and spices, such as turmeric (fresh or dried) for its anti-inflammatory properties, you can easily modify the recipe. You can tailor this basic recipe in any way you like.
Refer to Rosemary Gladstar for More
If you want to learn how to tailor your Fire Cider Recipe to help you with certain conditions, be sure to refer to the book Fire Cider! by Rosemary Gladstar. Rosemary developed the original Fire Cider Master Tonic, and she shares many variations in her book.
And if you enjoy making Master Tonics and other herb and spice-based home remedies, be sure to check out Rosemary’s other book, Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner’s Guide: 33 Healing Herbs to Know, Grow, and Use. This book is absolutely outstanding and definitely of value, even to those experienced at making herbal remedies. I refer to it often and have found it to be indispensable. I based my Homemade Thyme Cough Medicine on a recipe from this book.
More Natural Living Recipes
Now that you know how to make the Master Tonic Fire Cider, be sure to watch these other videos where I show how to make a variety of home remedies, including an easy cold and flu remedy that only uses four ingredients and is ready in 5 minutes! Plus, I show you how to make an immune-boosting mineral broth, your own homemade elderberry syrup, and more!
Homemade Syrup Recipes
Try making these easy syrup recipes to store in your pantry.
Make Your Own Ingredients
You can make your own Apple Cider Vinegar to use in your Fire Cider. I show you the easy recipe in this step-by-step video.
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Fire Cider Tonic Recipe
Equipment
- 64-ounce glass jar with screw-on lid
Ingredients
- 2 large Onions, rough chopped small with skins left on
- 2 heads Whole garlic, rough chopped small with skins left on
- 2 3-4 inch pieces Fresh ginger, rough chopped small with the peel left on
- 1/2 cup Horseradish, grated This can be fresh grated or from a bottle, but make sure that if you use horseradish from a bottle, the horseradish DOES NOT contain cream.
- 1 tsp. Cayenne pepper You can use the ground cayenne pepper or the flakes.
- Raw apple cider vinegar, to cover
Instructions
- Place all ingredients, except vinegar, in a large jar, preferably a 64-ounce wide-mouth jar.
- Add vinegar to the jar to cover all the ingredients and leave approximately a 1-2 inch headspace at the top of the jar.
- Screw the lid onto the jar, and place the jar in a warm place in your kitchen out of direct sunlight.
- Each day for the next four weeks, give the jar a shake by inverting it and then setting it back to its right side up position. Make sure that the jar lid is on securely before doing this.
- After four weeks have passed, strain out the solids and decant the liquid into a clean bottle with a screw-top lid. You should refrigerate your Fire Cider Tonic, and it should last for up to one year.
- To take this as a tonic, you will take 1-2 ounces straight or take the same amount mixed in warm water with a bit of honey, if you want.
Video
Notes
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Love this recipe. I did not have the horseradish. Low and behold I did have on hand “Pensy’s” powder horseradish. So I used it. It did raise a question for me. Mary what are your thoughts on possibly substituting wasabi? I personally think it might work. Would love to here your thoughts. Thank you.
Hi Paula,
Thanks so much for your kind comment.
Most “wasabi” sold today isn’t real wasabi. Instead, it is made out of powdered horseradish and food coloring. Therefore, I think it would work similarly to actual horseradish. However, you may be introducing artificial food coloring into your ferment, which is a drawback.
If you can find real wasabi, that would be great, but if not, you can certainly experiment with the imitation version. Please let me know how it works out. 🙂
Love and God bless,
Mary