Oh my!! There has been a huge success in the herbal community this past week. Fire Cider has been ruled a ‘generic’ term. Most people know of Fire Cider as the spicy brew that is used to keep colds and flus away during the winter month. The DIY concoction has ingredients can be found at any grocery store and is easy to make. With Fire Cider becoming a common household remedy outside of the herbal community, there has been a long fight around the term ‘Fire Cider.’ Let me explain.

Rosemary Gladstar first concocted Fire Cider in the 1980’s at the California School of Herbal Studies. The basis of this hands on learning was to remind her students that food was the same as medicine. Gladstar’s goal was to urge people to bring herbalism back into their kitchens because medicinal herbs and food were one in the same. At the time, there were no other recipes or products with the name ‘Fire Cider.’ Yes, there were old recipes of vinegar extractions with culinary herbs, but not one that consisted of fiery, hot , and spicy ingredients. When Rosemary initially shared this recipe with her students, she urged them to elaborate on the recipe and to share it freely.

So what is the problem? Well, a young start up company by the name of Shire City Herbals trademarked the term ‘Fire Cider.’ At the time of this filing, there were no notices sent out to herbal companies or product makers. Around 2013 Shire City Herbal started going after small herbalist through Easy and other platforms. Shire City would threaten legal action if these companies did not take down their Fire Cider products, or change the product name altogether. They even went after herbalist with product names like ‘Fighter Cider’ and ‘Fyre Cider.’ The herbal community was outraged, to say the least. Shire City claimed that the Fire Cider recipe was from the owner’s grandmother and also stated that it was an ancient recipe. WRONG! Fire Cider appeared in the first edition of Rosemary Gladstar’s home study course in 1981, and has been copyrighted in her books since 1991.

Because of the herbal community uproar, a small group of women, referred to the ‘Fire Cider 3,’ took action into their own hands and found themselves in court with Shire City, fighting for the right to freely use the term Fire Cider. The ‘Fire Cider 3’ consist of Kathi Langelier, Mary Blue, and Nicole Telkes, with the help of course from Rosemary Gladstar herself. Well, after a 5 year fight, there is good news. The United States District Court determined that fire cider is a generic term. This means that if another corporation tried to trademark a generic herbal term (i.e. tincture, oxymel, infusion), the courts can refer to the fire cider case. These terms only have to be recognized in relevant communities. This means that a term does not have to be known to a wider public. Yahoooo! Because of this group of women, now we can freely label and sell products with the term Fire Cider without a lingering fear of being sued. I can’t stress enough, BOYCOTT SHIRE CITY HERBALS!

Ingredients:

• ½ cup grated fresh horseradish root

• ½ cup or more fresh chopped onions

• ¼ cup or more chopped garlic

• ¼ cup or more grated ginger

• Chopped fresh or dried cayenne pepper

• Optional ingredients; honey, turmeric, echinacea, cinnamon, lemon, orange, rosemary etc.

• Half gallon canning jar

• Apple Cider Vinegar