FOLKLORIC IMMUNITY TONIC

Hurry up and make this sweet and spicy immunity tonic. You will thank me later!

This sweet, sour, spicy, floral drinking vinegar is my version of the age-old immunity-boosting folkloric immunity tonic. I started making it some years ago after a few bouts of serious winter illness that always seemed to settle in my lungs.

Growing up in New England, I was no stranger to home remedies. I first read about drinking vinegar and fire cider in Rosemary Gladstar's Herbal Recipes For Vibrant Health. I revisited Rosemary's book while experimenting with shrubs and oxymels for my now-defunct blog.

This curative vinegar-based tonic was a natural progression as I began to look at food as medicine. Rosemary first made a version of fire cider in the late 1970s while teaching at the California School of Herbal Studies. I like the word folkloric to describe this tonic because it has been passed down through many cultures and generations through spoken word. It has many incarnations, and no one knows when or where it started, but most cultures have a version of a healing vinegar tonic.

The exciting thing about a recipe like this is that it is not a recipe; just a set of guidelines and notes a friend might pass to you to do with it as you wish. It belongs to no one. My version has morphed and changed with time and place. The current mood it takes on is the local terroir of upstate (where I forage for anything and everything) and the flavors and inspirations of my travels.

The essential ingredients in this tonic are vinegar, ginger, turmeric, garlic, horseradish, onions, lemons, chilies and honey. I add dried sumac, rosehips, pine, and hibiscus for an extra boost of vitamin C, and turmeric and black pepper are always added for their anti-inflammatory properties. In my last few batches, I have added bee balm, fennel pollen, cranberries, and some bee pollen. I sometimes mix young ginger with mature ginger. You get the idea. Once you have the base, you can experiment.

Gathering all your ingredients for this health tonic is almost as fun as drinking it. Before you start chopping and grating, take a moment to revel in what you have gathered.

If you start making this in big batches, you should search for a farmer who grows turmeric, ginger, and horseradish. Fresh ginger and turmeric are in season at the Union Square Farmers Market in New York City. Buying from health food stores or larger grocery stores can be costly. I started sharing half a case of fresh turmeric and young ginger a couple of years ago with my friend India. We order it in the early fall. It comes from a farm in Western Massachusetts, but more and more people are growing ginger and turmeric, and you can probably find them in bulk at the farmer's market. Last year, I cheated a little and instead of getting a large knob of horseradish root, I picked up some freshly grated horseradish at a market in Pennsylvania. There are quite a few farms around Lancaster that are growing delicious horseradish. I didn't notice any difference in using freshly grated or pre-grated horseradish, so I would say do what is easiest. You might not want to spend the time grating it yourself.

This year, I am adding deep red hibiscus from a trip to Oaxaca, dried rose hips, and sumac. I am always on the lookout when I travel for easy things to bring back, and they inevitably end up in my cooking. Ingredients and market hunting are at the crux of what inspires me.  I hit the market first thing wherever I am traveling. I don't want to scare you off with all the foraged and stowed travel bits because you can jazz this up or strip it back to just the key ingredients so that I will stop here. The items with an asterisk are optional, and in the end, please make it your own!

You will want to make a big batch because they will ask for more once you share it with friends. You might want to drink it at the first sign of feeling a bit of a cold or sore throat, or you might want to take a shot every day as a preventative.

FOLKLORIC IMMUNITY TONIC (FIRE CIDER)

Takes 2-4 weeks to mature. ( Ideally, you would make this in the late fall and let it sit for a month before straining)

This recipe makes roughly 1 gallon but easily halves.

1 cup freshly grated ginger root

1 cup freshly grated horseradish or use an excellent quality jarred horseradish

1 medium sweet yellow onion finely chopped

10 cloves plump fresh garlic finely chopped

5 1-inch nubs of fresh turmeric finely chopped 

1 cup fresh cranberries coarsely chopped

1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

2 organic lemons de-seeded, juiced, and peeled. (I peel the skin, making 1/2-inch strips)

2 dried red chilies (give them a little smash in the mortar and pestle to release the oils)

8-10 cups organic apple cider vinegar.

2 cups organic raw honey

*Optional add-ins/ goji berry, dried hibiscus, fennel pollen, white pine, juniper, organic rose petals, and dried sumac powder.

Add all ingredients to a food processor. Buzz to a finely chopped texture. ( Yes, it took me until I was this many years old to figure out I didn’t need to hand-chop it all.)

Add the chopped ingredients evenly into two wide-mouth  1/2 gallon Ball jars. Top the jars off with organic apple cider vinegar. You will

Cover the ingredients thoroughly with the vinegar. Cover the top of the jar with baking paper before screwing on the metal lid. (The metal will rust and corrode, ruining your tonic if you don't use paper. Ideally, use a plastic lid; Ball makes plastic wide-mouth lids. I buy them online. Place the sealed jars in a darkened room or pantry for 4 weeks. Periodically, turn the jars gently.

After 4 weeks, strain the liquid from the chopped ingredients and macerated roots through a fine-mesh sieve. Divide the liquid equally into two sterilized wide-mouth  1/2-gallon ball jars.

Add 1 cup of raw organic honey to each jar. If you prefer a sweeter tonic, add more to taste.

Your tonic should be spicy and sweet but not overly sweet.

This tonic can be stored in the refrigerator for months. Take it whenever you are feeling under the weather every other day or when you feel.