On the contagion question. A careful reader asks how to read the Four Thieves story inside a terrain framework that rejects contagion. The thieves were not "preventing contagion." They were supporting their own terrain in a genuinely toxic environment. Decomposing bodies are a real toxic exposure: volatile breakdown products, ammonia, cadaverines and putrescines, the sheer load of biological decay. A city in mass death is a real toxic exposure: compromised water, compromised food, fear at sustained intensity, rest deprivation. The vinegar applied topically limits microbial growth on contact, which matters when handling decomposing tissue. The vinegar taken internally supported digestion during a period when everything else was compromised. The story does not require the contagion model. It requires the terrain model.
On the "alkalizing" claim. Several commenters raised the folk argument that vinegar is acidic outside the body but alkalizing once metabolized. The claim has a long history in the alkaline-ash dietary tradition. It is also not load-bearing for the case the essay makes. Blood pH is tightly regulated regardless of what you eat. The terrain question about acid-alkaline balance operates at the tissue and cellular level, not as a residue calculation from foods. Fire cider's case rests on the aromatic compounds drawn into the vinegar matrix. Whether the residual acetate metabolizes net-alkaline is a different framework's question.
On reductionism. A commenter extended the synthesis thesis to willow bark and salicylic acid. The example is exact. Whole willow has been used for centuries without the ulcers and kidney complications that follow isolated salicylic acid and synthesized aspirin. The compounds in the bark that buffer the acid are stripped away in isolation. Folk medicine kept the buffers. Pharmacology kept the acid.
What needs to be understood is that some acidic foods have an alkalizing effect on the body, and the body likes that. Lemons are very acidic, but taken as food, they are alkalizing. Most vegetables are alkalizing (but not all). A diet that leans in the direction of alkalizing foods has been shown to be more healthy. Unfortunately, you cannot judge a food based on its pH outside the body. I have a big chart that has common foods listed that I refer to as needed. I suspect that people are judging vinegar because outside the body it is acidic. In fact, when taken as food, it has a net alkalizing effect. So not only are the elements contained in the brew good for you, the vinegar alone (and ACV has been used as a tonic) has a positive effect, taken in appropriate amounts.
I just took a good look at that chart, which is NOT the one I use/have, and I see they list vinegar as acidifying. That is incorrect. I recommend buying a chart from a reliable source. Until then, I found this one for free that has vinegar as alkalyzing, which is true. The actual chart I have is quite old and may no longer be available for sale. Just a reminder that you need to know your source.
I appreciate the recommendation & correction. I asked for information purposes, as eating mainly meat is currently working for my body. If that changes, I'll be looking into this as an option.
A proper chart of this type is useful is you want to make sure you are alkalizing your body, which is supposedly the way to go. Most meats are acidifying, and our culture often eats too much protein in general, but we each have to listen to our bodies and give them what they need. I was anemic as a child, and I actually loved liver, probably because it was a good source of iron, though I didn't realize it at the time. Our bodies know.
i have been making a tea for the past few years, resembling this cider. Slow heating of saltwater with cinnamon, cloves, cayenne, ginger, dandelion, rosemary, chamomile, dictamon, thyme, lavender.
Fabulous! As a US based Acupuncturist, I heartily thank you so much for this great article. A return to simplicity when supporting health is such a great option in this complicated, technologically focused world.
This article will prove very useful for my wife and me.
Reading about this made me curious to see if any commentators here would offer a comment about a daily "tonic" that I have been preparing/drinking every morning when I am home (not away) for about eight years. I drink the tonic after drinking a large glass of good water and a large mug of black coffee (recently I have begun adding to the coffee: cinnamon, maca, cacao, ground lions mane and coconut oil.) The tonic consists of: Redmond salt, ginger powder, ashwaganda or astragalus, chaga powder, half a lemon and 1-3 fresh picked aromatic herbs growing in the yard (rosemary, oregano, lemon thyme, lemon balm, mint) hot water to steep. Recently I have added chia seed.
Yes, I use it for salad dressing. Pour some olive oil over your salad, dribble a little fire vinegar (a little goes a long way in a salad), drizzle a little honey, then salt and pepper. Enjoy!
Oxymels are traditional herbal preparations made by combining honey, vinegar (typically apple cider vinegar), and medicinal herbs. The term originates from the Greek oxymeli, meaning "acid and honey," reflecting the elixir's signature sweet-and-sour profile. Historically prescribed by Hippocrates around 400 B.C., oxymels serve as an expectorant to clear mucus, a digestive aid by stimulating gastric juices, and a palatable alternative to alcohol-based tinctures.
And all this time I thought that the "Four Thieves" compound was an essential oil blend sold by several essential oil companies. It is not used internally, though. It usually consists of essential oils of: cloves/lemon peel/cinnamon bark/eucalyptus/rosemary.
I say "usually" because there's recipes out there whereby you make your own blend. Anyway, I did not know of its vinegar-based history. Thank you for this most interesting article.
So, did the Four Thieves vinegar work by preventing contagion? I thought there wasn't any such thing as contagion. If so, why did the thieves believe that this strong mixture of spices and herbs would protect them from getting sick by handling rotting bodies? I do understand that the idea of contagion is very old, having its origins in the widespread belief that acute sickness is never our own doing but rather from contact from something from the outside. Yes, yes, I know that we were not designed to handle the Amanita mushroom or a bite from the black Mamba snake, etc. But contact with disgusting rotting bodies? I have handled one or two dead animals in my time and lived to tell the tale.
I have been taking my own Homemade version of this for over 10 years. In all that time I’ve had nothing of a sniffle,cold, flu, no more pollen allergies, and more.
I’m already a believer and plan to assemble these and make this Fire Cider. Mine is called the Flu Shot. I make every am with 1 Tsp each Organics Turmeric,Ceylon Cinnamon,Ginger, 6 dashes Black Pepper, 1 TBsp each ACV with mother & RAW unfiltered Honey in a cup of Filtered Water. I love it and take two X’s a day, like 3 yrs ago I had a kidney stone: I used caster oil packs for about 4 days dissolved it. It’s my pharmacy in a cup but I’m expanding to Fire Cider now!
Thank you ! so many people are clinging to allopathic medicine and doctors and dying. Afraid to go against a failing corrupt system requiring income generators to survive : US. Keep up the Great Service Educating Humanity.
A fire cider recipe was given to me 10 years ago by a like-minded work colleague. I was impressed with the concept but didn't do anything with it. With this article reminding me, I intend to get this done. It makes sense to me.
Unbekoming, have you written about "the plague"? It was obviously a terrain issue (in my mind) but would like to read more about it.
I love this stuff and boy oh boy does it work!! For over a decade I've purchased a form of this and whenever I feel something coming on I take a shot glass full every few hours or so and wake the next day feeling fine. Warning though, it's really strong (I guess that's why some people add it to water). Glad to finally have a recipe for it so I can make my own if I every run out of my stock.
I agree it smells a bit dodgy, but it tastes alright in a cup of warm herbal tea with the honey and I find it feels incredibly, supportive and comforting in my body.
I'm happy to share my fire cider recipe. Mine has additional herbs that are not part of the original recipe, but offer additional health benefits. I make a gallon at a time, but this recipe is for 1 quart.
1 large handful of chopped parsley
1 large chopped onion
1 thumb size peeled and chopped or grated fresh ginger root
1/3 cup fresh horseradish root, peeled and chopped or grated
10 cloves chopped garlic
1 sliced lemon with peel
1/2 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
Fresh Rosemary, Oregano and Thyme sprigs
1 teaspoon vegetable glycerin
Apple cider vinegar to cover and fill jar
Combine all ingredients in a quart sized jar, pour vinegar over it to fill the jar, cover the top with parchment paper or unbleached waxed paper and screw on the lid. Leave at least an inch between the liquid and the top of the jar.
Keep in a dark, cool spot and shake it every day. Let it ferment for 4 weeks. Open the jar and strain out the bits. You can eat some of these vegetables as they are marinated. Keep in the refrigerator and use daily.
I use vegetable glycerin as a preservative as well as it adds a touch of sweetness.
Do you think this would work with Kombucha vinegar? I make that by just leaving a SCOBY to ferment Kombucha until it turns really sour, to the point where it tastes about as acid as cider vinegar.
Apple cider vinegar is the traditional method due to its chemical composition. I don't have any knowledge about kombucha being used so can't give you a reliable answer.
"Dawn Lester, co-author of What Really Makes You Ill?, argues that stomach acid is self-regulating in a healthy person and that adding external acid is unnecessary."
Your response is correct. A similar example could be the widespread idea that fermented products such as kefir, raw sauerkraut, etc. are good for you - and necessary - because they provide your digestive system with healthy bacteria. We are told that these strains of bacteria and yeasts "foster a diverse microbiome..."
The reality is that we get our own unique collection of bacteria from our mother at birth (look up "first lick") and any strains contained in these fermented foods might not be right for us in the first place and they will in any event not implant in our guts. At least not easily. They might do a bit of good on the way thru our tract, though.
Various foods are fermented because they break down various nutrients and substances within the food and make them more digestible.
Author's Note
On the contagion question. A careful reader asks how to read the Four Thieves story inside a terrain framework that rejects contagion. The thieves were not "preventing contagion." They were supporting their own terrain in a genuinely toxic environment. Decomposing bodies are a real toxic exposure: volatile breakdown products, ammonia, cadaverines and putrescines, the sheer load of biological decay. A city in mass death is a real toxic exposure: compromised water, compromised food, fear at sustained intensity, rest deprivation. The vinegar applied topically limits microbial growth on contact, which matters when handling decomposing tissue. The vinegar taken internally supported digestion during a period when everything else was compromised. The story does not require the contagion model. It requires the terrain model.
On the "alkalizing" claim. Several commenters raised the folk argument that vinegar is acidic outside the body but alkalizing once metabolized. The claim has a long history in the alkaline-ash dietary tradition. It is also not load-bearing for the case the essay makes. Blood pH is tightly regulated regardless of what you eat. The terrain question about acid-alkaline balance operates at the tissue and cellular level, not as a residue calculation from foods. Fire cider's case rests on the aromatic compounds drawn into the vinegar matrix. Whether the residual acetate metabolizes net-alkaline is a different framework's question.
On reductionism. A commenter extended the synthesis thesis to willow bark and salicylic acid. The example is exact. Whole willow has been used for centuries without the ulcers and kidney complications that follow isolated salicylic acid and synthesized aspirin. The compounds in the bark that buffer the acid are stripped away in isolation. Folk medicine kept the buffers. Pharmacology kept the acid.
Awesome article! Thank you for sharing!!! I will be taking this to my doctor because he is always looking for more herbal/holistic remedies.
You are blessed Mary! a real doctor.
What needs to be understood is that some acidic foods have an alkalizing effect on the body, and the body likes that. Lemons are very acidic, but taken as food, they are alkalizing. Most vegetables are alkalizing (but not all). A diet that leans in the direction of alkalizing foods has been shown to be more healthy. Unfortunately, you cannot judge a food based on its pH outside the body. I have a big chart that has common foods listed that I refer to as needed. I suspect that people are judging vinegar because outside the body it is acidic. In fact, when taken as food, it has a net alkalizing effect. So not only are the elements contained in the brew good for you, the vinegar alone (and ACV has been used as a tonic) has a positive effect, taken in appropriate amounts.
Will you share this chart?
You can get a free download here or buy one if you prefer. https://llc.uk.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/acid-alkaline-food-chart.pdf
Thanks.
I just took a good look at that chart, which is NOT the one I use/have, and I see they list vinegar as acidifying. That is incorrect. I recommend buying a chart from a reliable source. Until then, I found this one for free that has vinegar as alkalyzing, which is true. The actual chart I have is quite old and may no longer be available for sale. Just a reminder that you need to know your source.
https://courts.ca.gov/sites/default/files/courts/default/2024-12/list_of_acid-alkaline_forming_foods_-_need_print.pdf
I appreciate the recommendation & correction. I asked for information purposes, as eating mainly meat is currently working for my body. If that changes, I'll be looking into this as an option.
A proper chart of this type is useful is you want to make sure you are alkalizing your body, which is supposedly the way to go. Most meats are acidifying, and our culture often eats too much protein in general, but we each have to listen to our bodies and give them what they need. I was anemic as a child, and I actually loved liver, probably because it was a good source of iron, though I didn't realize it at the time. Our bodies know.
yes, redox chemistry, especially in living organisms, is quite tricky!
excellent! Thank you. very helpful indeed.
i have been making a tea for the past few years, resembling this cider. Slow heating of saltwater with cinnamon, cloves, cayenne, ginger, dandelion, rosemary, chamomile, dictamon, thyme, lavender.
Most of our cooking herbs are indeed healing plants! Thanks for the recipe. Got all except the dandelion.
actually, i also put nutmeg and star anise
i slowly heat it with enough sea salt in the water, and whennit comes to a simmer, i turn off heat, and let it steep until next morning.
then i put it in a glass bottle in the fridge, and mix it with warm water and a squeeze of lemon in the morning
Thanks Martinos, I got those 2 as well, I love nutmeg! Going to try both the tea and the wine vinegar (I do not like apple cider vinegar).
Just the dandelion flower, or some of its bitter green?
bitter green yes.
my local organic store sells the whole plant chopped up and dried
Thanks!
I am going to try that ferment as well.
Fabulous! As a US based Acupuncturist, I heartily thank you so much for this great article. A return to simplicity when supporting health is such a great option in this complicated, technologically focused world.
This article will prove very useful for my wife and me.
Reading about this made me curious to see if any commentators here would offer a comment about a daily "tonic" that I have been preparing/drinking every morning when I am home (not away) for about eight years. I drink the tonic after drinking a large glass of good water and a large mug of black coffee (recently I have begun adding to the coffee: cinnamon, maca, cacao, ground lions mane and coconut oil.) The tonic consists of: Redmond salt, ginger powder, ashwaganda or astragalus, chaga powder, half a lemon and 1-3 fresh picked aromatic herbs growing in the yard (rosemary, oregano, lemon thyme, lemon balm, mint) hot water to steep. Recently I have added chia seed.
I would appreciate any feedback/suggestions.
Love this! Might the mixture make a good salad dressing base?
Or Fire Cider Chutney using the strained ingredients https://www.studiobotanica.com/fire-cider-recipes/
🙏
Yes, I use it for salad dressing. Pour some olive oil over your salad, dribble a little fire vinegar (a little goes a long way in a salad), drizzle a little honey, then salt and pepper. Enjoy!
I think so as nowadays oxymels are very chef'y.
What are “oxymels:”?
Oxymels are traditional herbal preparations made by combining honey, vinegar (typically apple cider vinegar), and medicinal herbs. The term originates from the Greek oxymeli, meaning "acid and honey," reflecting the elixir's signature sweet-and-sour profile. Historically prescribed by Hippocrates around 400 B.C., oxymels serve as an expectorant to clear mucus, a digestive aid by stimulating gastric juices, and a palatable alternative to alcohol-based tinctures.
🙏
Yes!
And all this time I thought that the "Four Thieves" compound was an essential oil blend sold by several essential oil companies. It is not used internally, though. It usually consists of essential oils of: cloves/lemon peel/cinnamon bark/eucalyptus/rosemary.
I say "usually" because there's recipes out there whereby you make your own blend. Anyway, I did not know of its vinegar-based history. Thank you for this most interesting article.
So, did the Four Thieves vinegar work by preventing contagion? I thought there wasn't any such thing as contagion. If so, why did the thieves believe that this strong mixture of spices and herbs would protect them from getting sick by handling rotting bodies? I do understand that the idea of contagion is very old, having its origins in the widespread belief that acute sickness is never our own doing but rather from contact from something from the outside. Yes, yes, I know that we were not designed to handle the Amanita mushroom or a bite from the black Mamba snake, etc. But contact with disgusting rotting bodies? I have handled one or two dead animals in my time and lived to tell the tale.
I have been taking my own Homemade version of this for over 10 years. In all that time I’ve had nothing of a sniffle,cold, flu, no more pollen allergies, and more.
I’m already a believer and plan to assemble these and make this Fire Cider. Mine is called the Flu Shot. I make every am with 1 Tsp each Organics Turmeric,Ceylon Cinnamon,Ginger, 6 dashes Black Pepper, 1 TBsp each ACV with mother & RAW unfiltered Honey in a cup of Filtered Water. I love it and take two X’s a day, like 3 yrs ago I had a kidney stone: I used caster oil packs for about 4 days dissolved it. It’s my pharmacy in a cup but I’m expanding to Fire Cider now!
Thank you ! so many people are clinging to allopathic medicine and doctors and dying. Afraid to go against a failing corrupt system requiring income generators to survive : US. Keep up the Great Service Educating Humanity.
A fire cider recipe was given to me 10 years ago by a like-minded work colleague. I was impressed with the concept but didn't do anything with it. With this article reminding me, I intend to get this done. It makes sense to me.
Unbekoming, have you written about "the plague"? It was obviously a terrain issue (in my mind) but would like to read more about it.
I love this stuff and boy oh boy does it work!! For over a decade I've purchased a form of this and whenever I feel something coming on I take a shot glass full every few hours or so and wake the next day feeling fine. Warning though, it's really strong (I guess that's why some people add it to water). Glad to finally have a recipe for it so I can make my own if I every run out of my stock.
Where were you able to purchase it?
A great article! Thank you for all the info and the recipe!
Similarly, oxymels. Ancient way of making medicine, 1/3 vinegar, 1/3 honey, 1/3 your favorite herb. The one I made in a class had thyme in it.
Worth mentioning that the resulting liquid smells and tastes badly. Definitely 'NOT' Mary Poppins spoonful of sugar!
I agree it smells a bit dodgy, but it tastes alright in a cup of warm herbal tea with the honey and I find it feels incredibly, supportive and comforting in my body.
I'm happy to share my fire cider recipe. Mine has additional herbs that are not part of the original recipe, but offer additional health benefits. I make a gallon at a time, but this recipe is for 1 quart.
1 large handful of chopped parsley
1 large chopped onion
1 thumb size peeled and chopped or grated fresh ginger root
1/3 cup fresh horseradish root, peeled and chopped or grated
10 cloves chopped garlic
1 sliced lemon with peel
1/2 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
Fresh Rosemary, Oregano and Thyme sprigs
1 teaspoon vegetable glycerin
Apple cider vinegar to cover and fill jar
Combine all ingredients in a quart sized jar, pour vinegar over it to fill the jar, cover the top with parchment paper or unbleached waxed paper and screw on the lid. Leave at least an inch between the liquid and the top of the jar.
Keep in a dark, cool spot and shake it every day. Let it ferment for 4 weeks. Open the jar and strain out the bits. You can eat some of these vegetables as they are marinated. Keep in the refrigerator and use daily.
I use vegetable glycerin as a preservative as well as it adds a touch of sweetness.
Do you think this would work with Kombucha vinegar? I make that by just leaving a SCOBY to ferment Kombucha until it turns really sour, to the point where it tastes about as acid as cider vinegar.
Apple cider vinegar is the traditional method due to its chemical composition. I don't have any knowledge about kombucha being used so can't give you a reliable answer.
"Dawn Lester, co-author of What Really Makes You Ill?, argues that stomach acid is self-regulating in a healthy person and that adding external acid is unnecessary."
Your response is correct. A similar example could be the widespread idea that fermented products such as kefir, raw sauerkraut, etc. are good for you - and necessary - because they provide your digestive system with healthy bacteria. We are told that these strains of bacteria and yeasts "foster a diverse microbiome..."
The reality is that we get our own unique collection of bacteria from our mother at birth (look up "first lick") and any strains contained in these fermented foods might not be right for us in the first place and they will in any event not implant in our guts. At least not easily. They might do a bit of good on the way thru our tract, though.
Various foods are fermented because they break down various nutrients and substances within the food and make them more digestible.
Thank you.