Immunity begins within your gut. What better way to get started in clearing, healing, and balancing your body, mind, and spirit than with a Vitality Fire Tincture you can make at home.

 

I think it's safe to say that my vinegars are famous in my household and with my friends who have asked for an extra batch to take home.  If you go to a Filipino market and walk down the condiments aisle, you will find a variety of vinegars, some of which include peppers and spices.  One of my family favorites is called "Pinakurat," made from coconut vinegar, crushed chilies, black pepper, ginger, garlic, and a bit of fish sauce.  Coconut vinegar is made from coconut blossom sap and is purported to have many probiotic benefits, lowers blood sugar, and can even help you lose weight.  Depending on which region of the Philippines the pinakurat is made, some people add sweeteners like honey and dried fruits.

 

In my family recipe, there are added medicinal ingredients.  Some examples are calamondin, bittermelon, and guava leaves, adding immunity support and anti-viral properties, to name a few.  In addition, I have included a blessing protocol to help enhance your relationship to the plant medicine and the lands they come from.  

 

The Vitality Fire Tincture is essentially a type of pinakurat and fire cider hybrid, sans the fish sauce.  It can be consumed in its pure form, drunk as a tonic, or used as a “sawsawan” (dipping sauce) for a variety of Filipino dishes.  In my family, whenever anyone feels a tickle in the throat or is coming down with a cold, this is the go-to medicine.  Ingesting one teaspoon is all it takes for me to feel much better.  For my 11-year old, I have to mix it with one teaspoon of honey and half teaspoon of the tincture just to make it palatable.  My eldest daughter can take it straight and loves it as it is.  It's spicy, yummy, and you can sense it's getting to work on clearing any energies that make you feel unwell.

Although this tincture includes honey, it is not sweet (unless you want it to be). I used a rare honey (it has a slightly sour and smoky taste) made from the flowers of the Narra tree by stingless bees found in the Philippines. Narra honey is good for anxiety and high blood pressure. It is also believed to help with insomnia. Of course, if you don’t have access to this medicine, using local organic honey is just fine.

 

All ingredients are balanced to aid in strengthening the immune system, clearing toxins, reducing inflammation, and increasing heat energy to the body.

Lyn's Vitality Fire Tincture

Ingredients:

• 32 oz. Mason Jar (Make sure it’s sanitized in boiling water)

• 2 Bulbs of Garlic (Bawang)

• 14 oz. Onions (Sibuyas) (About half of a medium-sized onion)

• 1 oz. Ginger (Luya)

• 1 Rounded Tsp. of Whole Black Peppercorns (Paminta)

• 1 oz. Fresh Turmeric Root (Luyang Dilaw) or 1 tbsp. Powdered Turmeric

• 4 Young Guava Leaves (Dahon ng Bayabas)

• 3 ½ oz. Whole Sili Labuyo or Thai Chili Peppers (Or any spicy pepper you prefer)

• Coconut Vinegar (Sukang Tuba)

• Cane Vinegar (Sukang Maasim)

• 5 Small Green or Ripe Calamondin Oranges (Calamansi)

• ½ of a Lemon (Limon)

• 2 oz. Indian Bittermelon (Ampalaya) You may omit if you prefer, but this is part of the medicine.

• 1 tbsp. Local Organic Honey (Pulot) Honey substitutions: coconut sugar or agave syrup. Omit this ingredient if you prefer not to add any type of sugar.

• 1 tbsp. Narra Honey

Blessing Protocol:

Before you start chopping and assembling the recipe, take time to be present with each ingredient and give thanks to the medicine it will be providing for you.

• Extend your hands over all the ingredients and send out gratitude, love, and blessings to the plant spirits and bees working with you as your allies.

• Allow these blessings to go into the lands where they were grown, creating energetic flow and connection to you and the healing frequencies of each synergistic component in this herbal concoction.

• Take a deep breath in, all the way to your diaphragm, and breathe out gratitude.

• Bring your hands to your heart. You are now ready to begin.

 

Procedure:

Start layering in the mason jar each ingredient in the following order:

 1.  Peel and coarsely chop all of the garlic.

 

2.  Coarsely chop the onions. Lightly push down into garlic.

 

3.  Add whole peppercorns.

 

4.  Slice and coarsely chop turmeric. If you do not have fresh turmeric, you may add 1 tbsp. turmeric powder.

 

5.  Slice and coarsely chop ginger. Lightly push down into the turmeric layer.

 

6.  Slice guava leaves. Add over the ginger layer.

 

7.  Take the bittermelon gourd and slice lengthwise down the middle. Use a spoon to core out the seeds. Cut each half of the bittermelon into smaller slices. Layer over guava leaves, pushing it down to make more room for the next ingredients.

 

8.  Slice the calamondin oranges and squeeze the juice through a strainer to catch the seeds, and into the mason jar. Make sure there are no seeds left in the calamondin halves. Add the calamondins into the mix.

 

9.  Squeeze the juice of half a lemon through a strainer to catch the seeds, and into the mason jar. Slice and chop up the lemon. Add it to the next layer.

 

10.  Pour 1 tbsp. of local organic honey into the mixture, followed by 1 tbsp. of Narra honey (This may be omitted if not accessible).

 

11.  Add the chili peppers. For added spice, you can cut off the tops to expose the seeds, but do not slice into the whole pepper.

 

12.  Fill to about half the container with coconut vinegar.

 

13.  Fill the rest of the jar with cane vinegar.

 

Close the jar tightly and shake gently to mix the vinegar with all the liquid ingredients.

Refrigerate. Allow to steep for two weeks, gently mixing every few days. This will keep for years if stored in the coolest part of the refrigerator. You may also add more vinegar and additional ingredients as it depletes. It gets stronger and more potent with time.

I hope you enjoyed making our family recipe! Let me know if you have any questions, post in the comment section below!  If you love it, I would love to hear more about it. Salamat!

 

Sources:

Yu, Christine. “Coconut Vinegar: The New Probiotic Superfood?” Daily Burn, Daily Burn Life, 22 Nov. 2016, https://dailyburn.com/life/health/coconut-vinegar-probiotic-benefits/

 

Disclaimer: These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. They are intended as general reference not a replacement for professional health advice. Consult with your physician or qualified health care practitioner.

Copyright © 2020 by Lyn Pacificar All rights reserved.