Fire Cider

The end of summer begins the prep for cold and flu season.  My counter is currently filled with jars full of ferments for wellness, and the main one is FIRE CIDER.  Fire cider is full of health benefits from medicinal plants and herbs that are infused into raw apple cider vinegar and sweetened with raw honey.  A tablespoon a day will help support your immune system and overall health throughout the year but especially during cold and flu season.

Here's how I make it:

You'll need:

Organic apple cider vinegar with "the Mother"

Onion

Lemon

Garlic

Turmeric

Black Pepper

Ginger

Rosemary

Horseradish

Any Hot Pepper

Chop all ingredients and add to a glass jar.  Pour apple cider vinegar over and make sure the ingredients are submerged under the vinegar.  Loosely lid while fermenting so gasses can escape.  Place in a cool dark space and shake occasionally.

Let ferment for 2-6 weeks.

Strain into glass bottles for storage and sweeten to taste with raw honey.

Work up to taking a tablespoon a day, this is potent stuff, and increase to 2-3 tablespoons in the event of illness.

All of the ingredients have amazing health properties and really help to support a healthy immune system. If you can't find the ingredients listed above, you can always substitute dried OR any other medicinal plants you may find like elderberries, sage, oregano, lemon balm, lemon verbena, holy basil/tulsi, savory, catnip, etc.

Herbal vinegars like this should last a year at room temperature.

Homemade Yogurt

Yogurt can be expensive to buy plus it has a long list of artificial ingredients.  Many years ago, when I still had little kiddos at home, I used to make it in the crockpot.  Fast forward a decade and my boys still love the stuff with granola and fruit.  

So, I pulled out my trusty crockpot and am sharing this easy recipe with all of you!

Homemade Yogurt

Pour one gallon of milk into your crockpot.  

Store bought milk is good, but if you can source raw milk, the taste and nutritional value 

will be even better!  

Set your crockpot to LOW and let it go for 2 1/2 hours.

At the end of 2 1/2 hours, 

unplug the crockpot and let sit for 3 hours.

At the end of 3 hours, the yogurt should be around 110 degrees. If it's hotter, you could possibly kill the yogurt cultures.  Mix in one regular container of unflavored Greek yogurt. Make sure it says, "active cultures".  Then wrap your crockpot in a couple of towels or a blanket and let it sit 

for12 hours.  

THAT'S IT!

Look at those vanilla specks

Don't forget to save one cup of your yogurt 

to start the next batch! 

You can get fancy and flavor your yogurt if you like.  I added two Tahitian vanilla beans to the milk and the flavor was so good!  You can add honey, flavorings, or just leave it plain.  If you like really thick yogurt, you can strain it through cheesecloth.  

We like to eat this with fresh fruit or jam, with granola, in the blender with frozen fruit for a cold smoothie, and I like to use it in place of sour cream in a lot of recipes.

It stays good in the fridge for two weeks.