I made Master Tonic today. It's a new moon tonight and supposedly that's the best time to start it. I got the recipe from Pat over at Heal Thyself. Basically, it's a combination of every torturously spicy food item you can think of. Chopped up and put in a jar with vinegar. Shake daily for 14 days until the next full moon. Filter and drink one to two tablespoons daily as needed. Besides curing EVERYTHING, I think it stands a good chance of protecting you from vampires, zombies, werewolves, and other things that go bump in the night (the husband?), while also putting hair on your chest. I don't recommend daring your friends to try the fresh mix, because that would just be mean, and might put them in the hospital.
I have no idea how I'm going to be able to stand even a tiny taste of this, but maybe the vinegar cuts the heat some? I ate the teeny tiniest bit of the flesh of a habanero when I was done, just to see how it was. I mean we are talking, pin head sized piece. I thought the end of my tongue had immediately melted off. Granted, I'm a super wimp when it comes to hot stuff, but still. You don't mess around with those suckers.
Here's my recipe (wear gloves when you start touching the peppers!!):
Master Tonic Recipe
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2 bunches of garlic, chopped A decently sized ginger root, grated A decently sized horseradish root, grated 2 huge organic red onions, chopped 1/8 - 1/4 cup of ground turmeric (I added this because it's a potent antioxidant.) 12 or so serrano peppers (23,000 SHU) 24 or so small habanero peppers (350,000 SHU) 64 oz raw, unfiltered, organic apple cider vinegar (Bragg) 4 quart size glass jars and lids
The Heal Thyself recipe says to fill the containers 3/4 full. I didn't have enough AC Vinegar to fill 5 jars, so I stuffed it all into 4.
It's best to use all organic ingredients, and all fresh stuff, but you make due with what you can. The original recipe calls for equal parts of the above ingredients (minus the turmeric - I added that myself). I also would have liked to chop my ingredients finer, but I don't have a food processor, so I chopped it all by hand and only lost a tiny bit of skin and fingernail. Not too bad, considering.
We will see how this turns out in a few weeks! Apparently it makes a fabulous marinade as well.
UPDATE!
I filtered the end product back into jars.
This stuff is fantastic. Ok, I do want to gouge my eyes out for the first few minutes after taking it, but really, that short term pain is so worth the benefits. I've been taking one shot of it any time I feel the slightest bit sick, cold/flu/stomach bug, etc. Works every time. In fact, I even take it when I've been in public or have been around someone who is sick. I neglected to mention a few of the health benefits so here they are: Most of the ingredients are known to be anti-viral/fungal/bacterial/parasitic as well as strong antioxidants. It's also considered a fermented product because it sits for 2 weeks, so the fermentation introduces healthy bacteria into the gut, which is one of our first lines of defense against illnesses.
Another added benefit is that it helps relieve heartburn. Most heartburn is actually caused by a lack of sufficient stomach acid to digest our huge American meals, so it sits in our stomachs too long and goes rancid, producing all the gas and stuff that works it's way back up. Taking a tablespoon of something slightly acidic like apple cider vinegar, or Master Tonic aids in digestion!
I'm almost out of my current batch, so I'm going to make some this weekend with the next new moon.
