Every home needs at least one immune stimulant remedy on hand to quickly turn to when winter lurgies are doing the rounds. Fire cider could be that for you! Whilst my family tends to favour elderberry syrup, it’s so interesting how sometimes I’ll crave fire cider instead – the wisdom of the body at work. And fire cider is a great remedy to take with you if you’re on hols as it’s shelf stable.

This is a foundational kitchen medicine recipe, using many easily accessible herbs and foods! I love recipes that cross the food-medicine divide and brings herbal remedies right into our kitchen and that was the inspiration of Rosemary Gladstar who first created this remedy.

While we made this recipe at a recent workshop, I had this seriously old song stuck in my head – and I tell ya, I didn’t hold back from sharing 😂

🎤Give it to me baby, uh huh, uh huh…. pretty fly for a white guy… on repeat….. for 2 hours….🎵🎶 (ok, ok, half the time I sang in my head, I wanted people to want to come back to the workshop after all! – I run regular herbal medicine workshops on the Sunshine Coast – come join us! )

So in honour of that earworm, I wanna call this new recipe:

Give it to me Baby Fire Cider Recipe

Which also works, cause hopefully it’s so delicious your friends and family will be begging for more!😉

Recipes are great, but understanding the principles (or the ‘why’ behind things) is even better than that’s the how I love to teach herbal medicine.

So this fire cider recipe is more of a recipe framework than a recipe per se as I show you how to easily customise according to taste and what you’ve got on hand.

Don’t have an ingredient? Leave it out.

Want it to have a gentler flavour? Amp up the yummy herbs

Ingredients

• Parchment paper
• Apple cider vinegar
• Honey
• jar with lid (you can use any size jar, match ingredient amounts to your jar – see instructions below)

Core herbs

Make sure at least half your jar consists of these core herbs as they’re the ones doing the immune system heavy lifting (although they all have a role to play!).

I’ll tend to pick 3-4 of these core ingredients and then use in roughly equal parts, although use 1 or 2 herbs if that’s what you’ve got on hand.

• Onion
• Garlic
• ginger
• Horseradish*
• Thyme
• Rosemary
• Nasturtium leaves and flowers
• Chillis*

*horseradish and chillis are both strong flavours, even amongst a crowd of strong flavours, so tone these down or leave out if you don’t like things overly spicy

Optional Herbs

For added vitamin C and bioflavonoids: Lemon – sliced, including peel, rosehips, lemongrass (which also has antimicrobial and antiviral properties)

To soften the taste for kids: raisins, cinnamon, blueberries or apples (I haven’t tried, but imagine it’d be nice!?)

Random ideas: herbs like cardamon, cobblers peg, echinacea etc

(Got any other herbs you like to add to your fire cider? I’d love to hear! Just reply to one of my newsletters, or use the contact form to reach out 😊)

To make:

1. Chop and slice your herbs and foods
2. Add to your jar. If using mostly fresh herbs, fill jar ¾ full, if using dried, then fill jar ½ full.
3. Fill jar ¾ full with apple cider vinegar.
4. Fill remaining way with honey (if your honey’s too stiff, gently warm jar in a saucepan of hot water)*
5. Cut parchment paper to cover jar, then screw on lid tightly (the parchment paper is super important if you’re using a metal lid as the vinegar will corrode the lid – yes I’ve had personal experience 😂) Skip if you’re using a plastic lid
6. Shake jar
7. Label jar with ingredients and date made
8. Keep jar in a handy place as you’ll want to shake daily or 3x a week for 4-6 weeks.
9. Strain and taste. If you need to, you can add a bit more honey to make it sweeter.

*Another way to make this (and you might see this on other recipes, is to infuse the herbs in only vinegar. Then once you strain them you’ll add the honey. Depending on your taste, you’ll add 1/4 cup – 1/2 cup honey for every 1 cup vinegar (and you can even increase the honey if needed, although I’d personally explore adding yummier herbs to the blend).

To use:

Preventative immune tonic: 1 tablespoon/ day for adults and 1 teaspoon for kids, diluted in water.

Acute: 1 tablespoon every 3-4 hours for adults and 1 teaspoon for kids, diluted in water.

As food: use in marinades, salad dressings etc

Hope you love this fire cider – as you make it over the years, take note on favourite batches and flavours. After a while, you might have your own favourite recipe with particular herbs and foods you like to use each time! That’s one of my favourite parts of home herbalism, as it’s a living legacy and family health culture you can pass on for generations.

Love learning herbal medicine understanding principles, rather than just recipes? You’ll adore my Mastering Herbal Teas in 5 minutes a day course where I lift the curtain on how to craft your own tea blends for tummy troubles, anxiety and stress, sleep, vitality and more! And yes, there are a tonne of recipes too, I wouldn’t leave you hanging! Although with my simple and intuitive BASE-BUILD-EXTEND process, I know you’ll be confidently blending your own teas in no time at all! Learn more

Want a simple version of this recipe on a recipe card? Grab the DIY Immunity Kit– comes with recipe cards, herbs, bottles etc – our remedy kits are convenient, expert-backed recipes and saves you oodles of time sourcing all the bits ‘n’ bobs you need!

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They belong together.

You can eat bitter foods as part of your meals, to get this forgotten flavour into your life.

OR you can make herbal digestive bitters blends, like this one.

They’re easily customisable, delicious and optimise digestion in a tonne of ways, such as:

• increasing secretions of saliva, gastrin, mucous to line the digestive tract, digestive enzymes, hydrochloric acid, bile production and secretion
• increase circulation to gut
• regulating gut motility and digestive sphincters
• tonfiying smooth muscles of digestive tract, notably the stomach

Bitters, through helping us properly break down our food, actually help us better absorb nutrients and get more out of the food we’re eating!

What are herbal bitters?

Bitters are both an action and a taste in herbal medicine. Herbal bitter blends are traditionally a combination of cooling bitter herbs and warming aromatic ones (although yes, you can get warming bitters and cooling aromatics!).

In this recipe, I’m turning to the bitter powers of gentian (Gentiana lutea), arguably one of our most straight-up bitter herbs in our western materia medica.

So we don’t overly cool our digestive systems (we don’t want to put out our digestive fires after all), we blend gentian with warming herbs.

Gentian and ginger is a classic Western herbal combo and works well.

I personally find ginger too spicy sometimes and I wanted a herbal bitter blend that was delicious and works with carminative herbs to support digestion as well.

Herbal bitters blend recipe

Most of these herbs are tinctures I’ve made or bought and I’m blending together, although I’m also using rose glycetract in the blend. I love this for its nervous system support and its floral sweet taste balances the flavours in the recipe.

There’s two versions of the recipe – the first is in parts, so you can make it whatever size you want, keeping the same ratio. I’ve also then given some more directions in millimetres for a 100ml bottle (roughly).

Rosy Bitters recipe:

2 parts gentian (Gentiana lutea) tincture

1.5 parts orange peel (Citrus sinensis) tincture

1 part rose (Rosa sp.) glycetract

1 part fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) tincture

(could add 1/8 – 1/4 part ginger) (Zingiber officinale)

Rosy Bitters Recipe in ml

30ml gentian tincture

22 ml orange peel tincture

15 ml rose glycetract

15ml fennel tincture

Mix tinctures in glass dropper bottle.

Label your bottle with ingredients and date made.

To use:

Shake bottle before using to make sure all mixed well.

Use 20 drops (roughly 1 ml) diluted in 30ml water to stimulate digestion before meals.

Some people take the dropper straight on their tongue but I prefer to dilute mine with water – although you still need to be able to taste the bitter flavour.

I personally find this combo delicious, but if you’re really un-used to bitter-flavoured foods and herbs you might not. Try it for a few weeks and see if your taste buds adapt, or if you notice improvements in your digestive functioning.

If not, try another blend – there are so many bitter and carminative herbs!

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This broth has a place in EVERY home and I reckon has to be one of my most used recipes.

Why? Cause it’s so versatile and super quick hands-on time.

I love versatile recipes cause when you make them regularly you get to go on auto-pilot which reduces overwhelm and simplifies herbal medicine-making in your busy life!

Today we’ll talk about my immunity broth version – and some of the herbs you might want to include. At the end I’ll talk about how I like to use this broth

Benefits of herbal immunity broth

The benefits will depend on which herbs you use, but some herbs I always like to include:

Astragalus (Astragalus membranaceus) Astragalus has an affinity for the immune system and is an immunomodulator herb, meaning it brings the immune system into balance – whether it’s under or over-functioning (learn to decode herbal jargon around immunity in this article (click here).

I was taught that Chinese grandma’s would start adding Astragalus to the stock pot in autumn, to build immunity ahead of the winter cold and flu season. And that’s what I do too. It doesn’t stimulate the immune system acutely, but it works as a deep immune tonic, improving immune function when used over time.  

But it’s not just for prevention – astragalus is also a deeply supportive herb to use after illness. It’ll help you recover more fully so you don’t go down the route of recurrent infections.

NOTE – In Traditional Chinese Medicine, astragalus is contraindicated when you’re acutely sick.

Shiitake (lentinula edodes)– another immune superstar, shiitake is both an immunomodulator herb with antiviral and antimicrobial actions. See this article for more info (click here)

Seaweeds: seaweeds are a great source of bioavailable nutrients and will aid in recovery after an illness, or anytime you’re needing extra nourishment and support.

Nettle (Urtica dioica) is another great herb to add if you want a nutrient-dense broth.

Pungent herbs: garlic, onion, cayenne

Depending how you want to use your broth, you can either add these or leave them out. If I’m making a mild broth to cook rice in, or hide in foods, I’ll leave out these stronger tastes. The benefits of adding them is they warm the body, and stimulate the immune system. They’re great to add if you’re sipping on broth to support a fever as their diaphoretic action will help bring the fever to the surface. More info on supporting fevers in our Building Immunity course (click here)

Herbal Immunity Broth Recipe

Base Ingredients

I’m providing this recipe as a starting place for your herbal immunity broth adventures! Adapt to use what you’ve got on hand, and what health outcomes you want to support. Tweak the ratios to match the pot you’re making your stock in. A general guide is to fill about 1/3 – 1/2 way up your pot.

🌿 3 cups* mixed vegetables – I usually include carrots, celery, sweet potato, capsicum, onion (usually steer away from cruciferous ones, although I do use broccoli stems)

🌿 ½ cup shiitake (Lentinula Edodes)

🌿 1 dessertspoon – 1/4 cup astragalus (Astragalus membranaceus)

🌿 Few cloves of garlic, roughly chopped. (leave out if making mild version)

🌿 2 tablespoons fresh chopped or 1 tablespoon dried turmeric

🌿 1 tablespoon thyme (thyme vulgaris)

🌿 1 tablespoon fresh chopped ginger (can add more to your taste or leave out for mild version)

🌿 Salt and pepper

*Depends on your pot size, you might use up to 5 cups if a 12 litre stockpot

Method

🌿 Add all the ingredients to the pot and fill pot almost to the top with water (leaving room for it to gently simmer without overflowing)

🌿 Put lid on and bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer.

🌿 Simmer for 1 – 4 hours or up to 12 if using chicken bones

How To Use Herbal Immunity Broth

This is a mild, palatable broth, easily hidden in foods and great for kids. You can drink warm, or use it in your cooking. You can certainly amp up the pungent herbs to make it a spicier, more flavourful sipping broth.

I like to make a big batch and keep it in the fridge to use in cooking,. You could also freeze as ice cubes to have on hand when illness strikes (just make sure you’re not drinking a broth with astragalus in if you have acute infection).

Prevention: use in cooking all autumn/ winter as a base for stews, soups, as the water component in curries or when cooking rice.

If you feel yourself coming down with something, you can add the pungent herbs to warm you up and stimulate the immune system – make it according to your taste.

Acute illness: sip when feeling rough, especially if you’re not up for eating, a nourishing broth can give your body some nourishing support without adding digestion to your body’s to-do list.  Nettles, seaweeds and bones (if you eat that) are really good additions if you’re relying on your broth for nutrient support.

Note- make sure your broth doesn’t have astragalus during acute phase of illness.

Recovery: this broth can be a star in your recovery as you add herbs to help you kick of the last of the infection, rebuild your strength and focus on nourishment.

Cause yes, you can sip it as a drinking broth, but you can also use it as the base for soups and stews, the water component in curries, or when cooking rice.

Learn more

Get this as a recipe card, as well shiitake and astragalus in the DIY Immunity Kit (click here)

This broth is technically a herbal decoction – a specific way of making tea! The Mastering Herbal Teas in 5 Minutes a day self-paced course is your ultimate roadmap to make effective healing teas at home that you and your family actually want to drink!

In easily digestible videos, with printable cheat sheets and much more, you’ll what equipment you’ll need, the 3 ways herbalists make teas, as well as recipes and a simple framework to start making your own teas at home — I am so proud of this course and I hope it’ll help tea become a simple, fun enjoyable daily habit in your home! Learn more (click here)

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You could say sunlight, movement and bitter plants are medicine.

Or we could flip it, and say we say we have all these health concerns because of lack of them.

Which would mean, similar to the nutrient deficiencies we’re familiar with, we have a sunlight deficiency, movement deficiency or bitter deficiency.

I find this distinction so fascinating because it points to the importance of bitters (and sunlight, movement) to the proper functioning of being human. As James Green says:

“It is my opinion that the nearly complete lack of bitter flavored foods in the overall U.S. and Canadian diet is a major contributing factor to common cultural health imbalances such as PMS, other female and male sexual organ dysfunctions, hormonal imbalances, migraine headache, indigestion, liver and gall bladder dysfunction, abnormal metabolism, hypoglycemia, diabetes, etc.”

And that’s why James Green coined the phrase ‘Bitter Deficiency Syndrome’.

Now I’m not super into calling things syndromes, but to me, it highlights the importance of regularly including bitters in our diet for proper functioning of the body!

At this point, it’s really helpful to know, that bitters exist on a continuum from mild, (like chamomile and raddiccio), to strong (like gentian) to poison. Probably because of this range, and the risk of poisoning, our body’s actually have really sophisticated bitter receptors, and interestingly enough – they don’t just occur on our tongues! We’ve got bitter receptors all through the digestive tract and in other areas, like the lungs, heart etc! Fascinating right!?

You can see why I can rave talk for 2 hours about bitters in my Embodied Herbalism: Herbal Tastes course (click here) – they offer our body so much and are super fascinating!

How do Bitters support digestion?

We’re talking about how bitters support digestion in this article, let’s take a deeper look at what they do.

Bitter is both a taste and a herbal action in herbal medicine. One of the rockstar actions of bitters is in the body is the range of ways bitters support digestion.

In a nutshell, bitters help us to more effectively break down food, absorb the nutrients from our food and clear away metabolic wastes created during digestion.

Thought to work through a nerve reflex that is triggered by the taste of bitters (mediated through the vagus nerve and parasympathetic system), bitters optimise a huge range of digestive processes, including:

• Stimulating secretions of saliva, gastrin, mucous to line the digestive tract, digestive enzymes, hydrochloric acid, bile production and secretion
• regulating peristalsis
• strengthening digestive sphincters – including helping them to open and close at the right time
• and heaps of others ways!

How to use bitters to support digestion at home

To support digestive functioning, you can regularly incorporate bitter leafy greens or other bitter foods like bitter black coffee or dark chocolate.

You can also take bitters before meals. You might already be familiar with some classic bitter appertifs, such as  You can also regularly like Campari or Amaro.

Here’s a small list of common mild bitters you could work with at home:

Mild:

• chamomile (mixed bitter/ aromatic)
• dandelion root and leaf
• burdock
• mugwort  (mixed bitter/ aromatic)
• yarrow
• dandelion
• lavender (mixed bitter/ aromatic)
• turmeric (aromatic bitter)

Contraindications and Safety

Mild, food bitters are typically safe – although I always advocate for personal responsibility and awareness. Care must be taken when using strong bitters if someone has gallstones or kidney stones or is pregnant. Be careful to formulate with warming and moistening herbs  if someone’s got a cold, dry constitution and will be taking strong bitters regularly.

Curious!? Go grab yourself some bitter foods or herbs! or come get first-hand experience of bitters in my Embodied Herbalism: Herbal Tastes course – both online and in-person options (click here). I also go into way more detail about how bitters work in the body and we talk more about the continuum of bitters from mild to strong.

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Her medicine is twofold, protecting us and creating a safe container with her thorny embrace, yet offering such grace and spaciousness to feel vulnerable with her tender petals.

Her scent uplifts our spirits and soothe our soul. We are safe, we are held, we are ok to just be exactly as we are.

Rose reminds us, deep in our bones, that we can ride out the shock waves and tumult of our inner and outer worlds.

And when we experience emotional stress, this has an impact on our physical body (and vice versa), so I like that rose, and other heart-centred herbs like hibiscus, linden and hawthorn support both our physical and emotional hearts.

Rose has other properties as well, and as a cooling herb, is great at sedating heat in our body, with a wide variety of uses.

Read on for some rose recipes to include this gorgeous rose medicine in daily life, but here’s some quick herbal info:

Rose at a Glance

Botanical Name: Rosa Sp | Family: Roseaceae | Parts Used: Flower petals, buds, rosehips (fruit)

Energetics: Cooling, Drying | Taste: Sour, Astringent

Safety: If using rose in therapeutic doses (not just culinary amounts) caution during kidney disease, breastfeeding & pregnancy, and if you’re a cool constitution, can be cooling over time.

Rose-Hearted Tea

This is a heart-centred hug in a mug. Rose gently protects our heart as we navigate challenging times, and tulsi helps us cope with the stress that accompanies emotional upheaval. Hibiscus and linden both specifically support the physical and emotional heart and cardiovascular system as well as rounding out the blend to create this delicious, soothing tea.

• 1 teaspoon rose (rosa sp)
• 1 teaspoon tulsi (ocimum sanctum)
• 1 teaspoon hibiscus (hibiscus sabdariffa)
• 1 teaspoon linden (tilia sp)

Put herbs in teapot or heatsafe jar. Pour boiling water over herbs, and cover with a lid. Steep for 10 minutes. Strain and drink. Sweeten with honey if desired.

Rose bliss balls

Transform a simple snack into a heart-opening embrace. Turn to rose medicine in times of needing extra emotional support, or also times when you want to cultivate more feelings of love, compassion and openness.

• 1.5 cups sunflower seeds
• ½ – ¾ cup cashew nuts
• 4 (heaping) tablespoons cacao powder
• ¼ cup sweetener (honey, maple syrup)
• ¼ – ½ cup organic dried rose petals*
• 2-3 tablespoons coconut oil (if required to bind other ingredients)

Method –

Add everything to a food processor and process till can make a ball with your hands. If it’s too dry, add the coconut oil.

*Note – roses are typically a heavily sprayed crop so it’s important to use organic rose petals where possible. Petals with a strong delightful scent are best here.

Rose Glycetract

This is one of my all-time favourite rose recipes. The sweet taste of glycerine pairs beautifully with rose to make a liquid Turkish delight. It’s  sweetness is soothing in times of stress and emotional upheaval. nd the red colour is medicine in itself.

Ingredients

• organic dried roses
• glycerine
• water

Method

• half fill a jar with organic dried rose petals
• fill the jar up ¾ way with glycerine
• fill the rest of the jar up with water
• use a spoon to mix
• cover with a lid, then macerate on a shelf for 2 – 4 weeks. Shake a few times a week.
• Strain through a fine mesh sieve or muslin cloth.
• Store in a bottle and label

Use 1 teaspoon plain or mixed in water.

I’ve got a few more rose medicine recipes I love, and I know at the moment, the more ways we have to work with rose the better. Not that we necessarily need to use them all at once, but I find when we want to work with a plant consistently, it can be easier to have a variety of preparations so we can find a way to incorporate that herb one way or another every day.

I’ll write them up in another post soon!

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Benefits of this foraged wild weed pesto are that you can:

• use whatever you’ve got on hand,
• wild plants have are nutrient dense sources of a variety of vitamins and minerals – depending which wild plants you end up using.
• bitter flavours are deliciously hidden
• easy to get into a regular rhythm of making this simple kitchen medicine, which lets face it, is half the battle
• Easy for kids to help you make and forage. The more kids can be involved in making food and medicine, the more likely they are to eat it and learn these useful life skills

So what weeds can you use in foraged wild weed pesto?

In my subtropical area, it depends which season it is. I recommend nibbling the plants so you get a feel for their flavour. They all mix well together, but some will be milder and balance out the more bitter herbs. Helpful hint, young leaves will often have a milder taste.

Coming into winter, great herbs you might forage are

• Cobblers pegs
•  Nodding top
• Tulsi
• Chickweed
• Gotu kola
• Catsear
• Dandelion
• native violets
•  Stuff in the garden such as basil, parsley, rosemary, sage or nasturtium

As with all foraging, make sure each herb is safe for you to consume – check for any safety and contraindications.

 There will be others as well, start by getting to know the plants that grow near you, might include nettle, purslane or plantain (although I never find these growing near me, so I haven’t much experience with them).

You can also mix with other kitchen greens like spinach, rocket or celery leaves

👉 Make sure you forage ethically and safely, only taking what you can 100% accurately ID; not harvesting where it’s sprayed or near main roads; only taking what you  need and leaving more of the plants than you take.

To make the wild weed pesto:

I personally don’t measure anymore (if I ever did), so the measurements are guides for when you’re starting out. I think pesto is the kind of recipe where every family should have its own ‘secret family recipe’ – ie your fav combos of herbs, nuts, ratio of oil and cheese etc.

You can also make smaller or larger pesto batches, depending what you’re using it for and what herbs you’ve got available, so that as your guide and just generally keep the ratios the same.

You’ll develop this over time, but to start off, use:

Ingredients for foraged wild weed pesto

• Handful of herbs (mix of any of above)  – up to 3 cups
• Handful of nuts (I like cashews and almonds, but could use any nuts or seeds on hand – around ½ cup nuts
• Chunk Parmesan (1/4 cup) or 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast and salt for vegan version
• olive oil, to make a paste, can add more to make it saucier (probably around ½ cup)

 optional: add lemon juice (1/4 lemon) or a clove of raw garlic to taste. The raw garlic acts as a great immune stimulant to ward off colds/flu and fresh lemon juice adds a lovely hit of vitamin c and bioflavonoids.

Method

1. Start by blitzing the nuts in a food processor to small chunks.
2. Add the green leaves, parmesan (or nutritional yeast and salt), garlic and lemon juice if using and blitz until leaves are reduced. Can add half the olive oil here (or all of it if you’d rather just do it all at once)
3. Add remaining olive oil to the consistency you desire – you can make it chunkier or smoother, thicker or more oily. The choice is yours!

Don’t have a food, go old school ‘Nonna style’ in a mortar and pestle or using a knife and chopping board.

How to use

 You can use the wild weed pesto as a dip, part of a salad dressing, pasta sauce, on pizza, on toast, in wraps

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