The “fire” in fire tonic, comes from the hot chile peppers, which have been shown to increase circulation, boost metabolism, and support the immune system. You can adjust the "fire" level by adding less or more hot peppers to the recipe. This fire tonic recipe tends to be very flexible and is easy to make.
There are many optional immune-supporting ingredients that you can add to fire tonic. This allows you to creative and to use what is available to you. Fire cider starts with a base of raw apple cider vinegar with the mother, which aids in digestion, fights infection, and clears the sinuses, and wards off bad gut bacteria.
Ingredients:
Aside from raw apple cider vinegar with the mother, raw honey, and hot peppers, fire tonic ingredients are completely adjustable based on what you have access to. The following list of ingredients are ideas of what you can add to this herbal tonic. If you can’t find some ingredients or have an aversion to something, simply leave them out or replace them with something else. I would simply suggest doing your best to use the freshest ingredients possible.
Raw Apple Cider Vinegar: aids in digestion, fights infection, clears the sinuses, goes after unwanted gut bacteria (not optional)
Hot Peppers: such as cayenne pepper, serrano peppers, habaneros, increase circulation, boost metabolism, and aid in immune system support (not optional)
Raw Honey: (Semi optional depending on your taste buds) you will add the honey after the mixture is finished brewing and strained. You can add this to taste. Raw honey has many health boosting benefits, and makes the tonic easier to take.
Optional Ingredients:
Onion and Garlic
Ginger Root
Turmeric
Horseradish
Thyme
Citrus (I always add oranges with the peel to mine for the flavor)
Medicinal Herbs: Rosemary, Sage, Oregano, Thyme, Lemon Balm, Lemon Verbena, etc.
Cranberries
Nettles
The Process:
Wash a glass jar with warm soapy water and allow to air dry. Fill your clean jar with the prepared ingredients, aside from a sweetener if using (you do not do this until weeks later after straining), and pour your apple cider vinegar into the jar to fully submerge the ingredients. If you are worried about the ingredients staying submerged, I recommend you purchase some ferment weights to hold the ingredients underneath your ACV.
Seal the jar with plastic lid or a metal lid with parchment paper underneath, and let it sit at room temperature but away from the direct sun for anywhere from 2-6 weeks. During this time, all of the ingredients will infuse into the vinegar along with all of their benefits. After the tonic is done infusing, strain the vinegar through a fine mesh strainer into a large bowl and then distribute into the containers you will store it in. I like the swing top bottles.
At this point, you can sweeten the fire cider to taste with raw honey or real maple syrup, or you can leave it unsweetened.
Storing Fire Tonic
Store fire tonic in a cool dark place away from sunlight. Fire Tonic is a herbal vinegar. Once it is strained, it becomes very shelf stable. You can store it in your fridge or in your pantry. The official recommendation is to store in your pantry up to a year.
Taking Fire Tonic
Take a shot of fire tonic or 1-2 tablespoons daily for immune system support. You can also use fire tonic in salad dressings and as a marinade. As always remember to please use caution, and do your own research.