Fire Cider: An Easy-to-make homemade respiratory tonic

Decades ago, renowned herbalist Rosemary Gladstar gave the name Fire Cider to a spicy, delicious respiratory tonic made from simple kitchen ingredients. The basic ingredients are pungent herbs like onions and garlic, steeped in apple cider vinegar which has its own health benefits too. When I was in herbal school in the late 1990’s, I…

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Naturally fermented pickles – Vinegar Free

Naturally fermented (aka cultured) pickles produce the most delicious sour flavour thanks to the naturally occurring good bacteria.  The pickles float in a cloudy brine that is delicious. Many are known to drink this brine for the flavour and beneficial bacteria. When we had sore stomach’s as kids, my mom or grandmother would have us…

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Culturing Vegetables

While it seems cultured foods such as designer kombucha and fermented vegetables are a health food trend, cultured foods have been around as long as people have.  Naturally fermented foods were borne out of necessity: to preserve food in the absence of refrigeration.  Naturally fermented foods, also called cultured foods, result from harnessing naturally occurring…

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Gluten Free Diet

Have you noticed how commonplace gluten-free products have become on our grocery store shelves? Does it seem like everyone and their cousin is now  “gluten-free”? WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? First of all, gluten is not a grain – it’s a protein that just so happens to be found in many of them. Gluten is actually a form of…

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