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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Because we’re home herbalists, we’re naturally going to be thinking of herbs we can work with to ease the transition and it’s a good idea to have a back-to-school herbal toolkit on hand!

Stress, and worry

It’s totally normal to be stressed about back to school – new teacher, new timetable, maybe shifting friendships after the summer break – there is a lot going on!

Luckily for us, there are tonnes of herbs to help ease the worries and relax the nervous system, that are super safe and gentle for kids. The main nervines you could turn to are:

• Lemon balm (melissa officinalis) leaf
• chamomile (matricaria recutita) flower
• catnip (nepeta cataria) leaf
• lavender (lavendula angustifolia) flower

These herbs make a beautiful tea when on their own, or you can blend 2 or all of them together.

Aim for roughly 2 teaspoons herb/ cup, steeped for 3 to 10 minutes covered.

ie. 2 teaspoons chamomile, OR 1 teaspoon chamomile + 1 teaspoon lemon balm, OR 1 teaspoon lemon balm and 1 teaspoon catnip OR 1 teaspoon each chamomile, lemon balm and catnip, OR 1/2 teaspoon each 4 herbs.

They’re all good options! If you want to more detail on how to choose – get all my tea-making tips in my easily-digestible course: Mastering Herbal Teas in 5 Minutes a day)

I recommend starting with what you’ve got, or get a small amount of all of them and do a fun experiment with your kids to try to find their favourite blend. Keep in mind lavender and chamomile can get bitter if steeped longer than 3 minutes.

Anxiety

If your kid really falls on the more anxious end and has looping, ruminating thoughts, passionflower (passiflora incarnata) is a kid-safe herb to work with. I recommend combining passionflower with one or a few of the herbs mentioned in Stress and Worry section.

1/2 teaspoon each Chamomile, passionflower and lemon balm makes a lovely blend. If your kid finds the passionflower too ‘grassy-tasting’ you could use less of that herb (ie 1/2 teaspoon passionflower to 1 teaspoon each chamomile and passionflower), or sweeten with honey. Steep tea covered for 3 – 10 minutes.

Passionflower can make some kids sleepy (it’s also a great herb for insomnia due to ruminating mind), so either use it in a bedtime mix, or, if using it during day, just check your kids individual response to it.

Holistic viewpoint:

Like many things in the body, anxiety can have various causes. Whilst herbs can help, if they’re anxious because they’re magnesium deficiency then a cup of chamomile isn’t going to solve the problem. If you’re working with herbs, and things are continuing or getting worse, work with a practitioner or experiment with some other strategies to find what helps your child on a holistic level.  There are other lifestyle strategies such as getting enough sleep, movement and learning some breathwork techniques that can also help with anxiety.

Irritability and frustration

Kids (and adults, let’s keep it real!) can lash out with irritability and frustration when they’re experiencing other emotions like fear, nervousness, stress or overwhelm. If that’s your kid, chamomile can be a really good herb to turn to. You can use it alone or in combo with some of the others herbs in this article.

2 teaspoons chamomile, steeped 3 – 10 minutes (the longer the steep, the more bitter the brew)

Navigating Big feelings

Sometimes our kids are nervous going back to school because they’re actually processing some really big feelings, maybe separation anxiety, bullying, friendship issues etc etc,

Rose (rosa sp) is such a gorgeous herb to hold the heart safe while they process their emotions.

One tea blend could be 1 teaspoon each lemon balm, chamomile and rose, OR 1 teaspoon lemon balm, 1/2 teaspoon rose and lavender. Steeped 3 – 10 minutes covered.

Whilst I love rose in tea, I think she really shines as a glycetract and this is one of my favourite ways to work with her. Rose syrup also tastes like liquid turkish delight (depending which sweetener you use, so a very good option!) Check out rose info and some recipes, including the glycetract recipe

Focus

Sometimes, kids are emotionally ready for school but simply find the back-to-school transition hard cause they’re going from summer playing to having to focus and concentrate.

Along with a good daily dose of movement, a tea made with 1 teaspoon each: lemon balm, peppermint (mentha x piperita) and gotu kola (centella asiatica) can all help kids focus and pay attention at school.

Other areas

Other remedies you might like in your back-to-school herbal toolkit could be remedies for:

• the immune system (for my fav immunity remedies, check out the DIY Immunity Kit or grab my FREE Ebook – Top 3 remedies for every home)
• herbal first aid – such as a cuts and scrape salve (make your own with the DIY Herbal Starter Kit, or grab my FREE Ebook – top 3 remedies for Every Home)

How to use these herbs

These herbs are all delicious as syrups, glycetracts and tea. You can have them individually or make a blend of 2 – 4.

(I give recipes and teach you how to think through tea-blending in my self-paced course Mastering Herbal Teas in 5 Minutes a day)

Make home herbalism your own

Whilst I’ve mentioned a few herbs here, to support you, please never think you need them all, or that there’s “one right herb”.  That approach can really stress you out. Whilst over time you might find you and your children have favourite recipes or herbs that match your particular patterns really well, but in the beginning know that all these herbs are an effective part of a back-to-school herbal toolkit.

I hope you enjoy creating your back-to-school herbal toolkit and that these herbs support you and your family in this transition!

Get support making your own remedies

Want our hand in yours, guiding you to make your own remedies!? Grab the Herbal Starter Kit. Make a chamomile syrup, and soothing chamomile, lavender moon mylk. Learn to make a glycetract in the DIY Immunity Kit (although it’s a glycetract to support immunity

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