Drinks / cold drink
Fire Cider Lemonade
Summer afternoon refreshment at its best: Fire Cider Lemonade with Berkshire Mountain Bakery ciabatta and butter.
Fire Cider Lemonade
For a pint-sized drink:
Ingredients:
- fresh squeezed lemon juice from 3-4 whole lemons
- splash of Fire Cider
- raw honey
Mix the lemon juice and Fire Cider in a pint glass. Add raw honey to taste. Top with soda or plain water. It's that simple!
Bright & sunny sweetness outside Fire Cider headquarters.
Cool Drinks for Hot Summer Days
Drinking vinegar for its myriad health benefits goes back to ancient Greece, no wait, even further, to 5000 BCE when Babylonians were using date palms to make vinegar. Warriors throughout history have used vinegar mixed with water for strength and energy. Vinegar drinks and vinegar tonics infused with herbs, roots, flowers, you name it, have been around for many centuries.
In New England farmers have been making a drink called 'switchel' to keep them hydrated and ward off heat stroke during the long, hot summer days:
"They drank a quenching beverage that functioned much like modern Gatorade: switchel, also called switzel or haymaker’s punch. It contained water, a sweetener—either molasses, maple syrup, honey or brown sugar—ginger, and cider vinegar. All the ingredients (except water) happen to be sources of potassium—an electrolyte. Molasses is especially high in potassium."
Apple Cider Vinegar is an incredibly medicinal food since it contains several different beneficial acids plus beta-carotene, amino acid, bone building minerals, enzymes, magnesium, potassium, pectin and tannins. No wonder humans have been using this super food since we figured out how to preserve apples in the form of vinegar! Here are my three favorite vinegar drinks, aka, switchels, to help keep you cool and healthy this summer:
Dana's Pomegranate Switchel
Ingredients to make one cup of Switchel concentrate:
- ¼ cup of Fire Cider
- 3 tablespoons fresh ginger juice
- 3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
- 1 tablespoon raw honey
Shake well to combine all ingredients.
Serve about 2-4 ounces of concentrate over ice, top with soda water to make a pint.
Store leftover Switchel mix in the refrigerator.
Citrus Switchel
Makes 2 servings-
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar or Fire Cider
- juice from 1/2 a grapefruit
- 1 1/2 tablespoons, or more to taste, raw, local wildflower honey
- Soda water or plain water
- 2 lime wedges
Combine the first 3 ingredients and makes sure to dissolve all the honey.
Fill two pint glasses with ice and split the switchel mix between the glasses.
Top with soda water and garnish with a lime wedge.
Dr. Earl Mindell's Switchel, from his book 'Amazing Apple Cider Vinegar' which is also where I got some of the information for this blog post.
Makes 2 servings:
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar or Fire Cider
- 1 1/2 tablespoons black strap molasses
- 2 cups warmed water (to melt the molasses)
Combine and pour over ice.
Fire and Fog
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Apples and Pears - A new cocktail by Paul Dodds
Let's start the weekend with a new, original cocktail recipe by Berkshire County resident and Fire Cider fan Paul Dodds. We think you'll love this cocktail as much as we do, happy weekend everyone!
Hornitos Tequila is a good start to a great cocktail.
Apples and Pears
- 3 parts Hornitos Añejo (or your favorite tequila)
- 3 parts Goya Pear Nectar
- 1 1/2 part Mathilde Poire Liqueur
- 1 part St. Germaine Elderflower Liqueur
- 2 dashes Fee Bros. West Indian Orange Bitters (or your favorite Orange Bitters)
- 2 capfuls of Fire Cider (to taste really)
- Reed's Spiced Apple Brew - spicy ginger soda with real ginger-yum!
To make:
Add all ingredients (except Reeds Apple Brew) to shaker with ice and shake vigorously until foamy.
Add 3 shots to a Low Ball glass with ice.
Top with Reeds Apple Brew and gently swirl.
Garnish with Apple and Pear slices. Enjoy!
Garnish with a slice of pear, sip slowly and enjoy the extra sunlight this Sunday. If you make this cocktail, we'd love to see a photo. And remember, this Sunday we lose an hour of sleep but we gain an hour of sunlight!
Fires of Hell Cocktail
This cocktail recipe brought to you by The Religion Based on Drinking - a Facebook page that recently shared this arty gem of a poster on our page. It's really getting us in the Halloween spirit, pun intended!
Spicy Limeade Cocktail or Mocktail
Our friend Stephanie sent us this recipe after she attended the demo Brian hosted last Friday at Provisions. If you haven't been to this relatively new store on Crafts Ave. in downtown Northampton, you are in for a treat!
We think Stephanie's cocktail is just perfect for celebrating the beginning of spring, how 'bout you?
It's green so it must be good for me, right?!
Spicy Limeade Cocktail
- 2 ounces of vodka (I used Absolute)
- 1 ounce of Fire Cider
- 5 ounces of limeade (I used Simply Limeade brand. If you're really motivated you could make your own by creating a simple syrup, then adding it once cooled to fresh-squeezed lime juice.)
Combine all ingredients, shake or stir, and serve on the rocks. Add a sprig of fresh cilantro if you like.
Note: I really didn't measure--I just made it to taste. But I would say this is probably a good starting point.
Variations:
- For a refreshing drink, anytime, just omit the vodka and add a few ounces of soda water instead.
- Substitute 2 ounces of your favorite tequila in place of the vodka.
Ginger Warm Up/Ginger Cooler
Welcome to the new Fire Cider Recipe blog! Each week Amy will post a new recipe, festival update or cocktail recipe. This one features one of my favorite foods: ginger.
This hot or cold beverage goes by the name ‘Ginger Cooler’ at the juice bar in the Berkshire Co-op Market in Great Barrington, MA. Amy and Dana bought the first Fire Cider ingredients in bulk from the co-op and have been members since moving home to the Berkshires in September 2009.
To make this yummy, warming drink:
Send enough green apples, plus a big chunk of ginger, through your juicer to make a 12 oz. glass of juice. For a hot drink, heat the ginger and apple juice gently on the stove top until warm. Add a splash or up to a full ounce of Fire Cider.
If you don’t have a juicer, you can make this fall favorite by heating up fresh-pressed apple cider with grated fresh ginger root. Add Fire Cider to the warmed juice and enjoy! This combination is also delicious as a cold drink.
Check back here for weekly recipes and updates!
