Fire cider making

Last week a few of us attended a fire cider making session organised by our local reusable shop, the Selkie Collective.

The herbalist running it was an experienced practitioner, and she talked knowledgeably and at some length about the anti bacterial, probiotic and anti inflammatory properties of the ingredients we were using.

We chopped turmeric root until our fingers were stained bright orange. Into the jars it all went. Then we chopped onion and garlic. Then ginger root. Then a mixture, unique to each of us depending on what we felt like using, of chillies, honey, rosehips, elderflowers, elderberries, fenugreek and other herbs.

The mixture was topped up with organic cider apple vinegar and tops were added to the jars to seal them. To be shaken daily and stored somewhere cool and dark for six weeks.

We tasted the resultant mixture, a winter tonic, that the herbalist had made up some weeks previously. Two tablespoons to be taken every day during the winter months to ward off colds and supposedly strengthen the immune system. I know that modern medical science doesn’t back the claims made by herbalists about this stuff, but it will be interesting to see what effect it has.

In any case, it was delicious!

Fiery, dark and sweet.