Maple Spiced Switchel

This is by far my favorite drink and it’s medicine at the same time.

Ba-da-bing, Ba-da-boom!

I hate the “snot” season, and with 4 children I’ll probably never know a winter without snot… I am sure of it. But thank the good Lord for apple cider vinegar (ACV). When my littles are congested, snotty, coughing, don’t feel well, whatever…. I usually warm up a glass of water and add a teaspoon each ACV and raw honey. It wasn’t their favorite drink in the world but they would drink it. And by golly does ACV cut mucus.

We’ve used this method for about three years, but only when sick. Fast forward to when my friend, Ashney, introduced me to strawberry switchel this summer. It was a nice summertime refreshment and she said it was a great way to get your daily vinegar in. I was intrigued because I’ve always wanted to get more vinegar in our diets, but summer and I have a love-hate relationship. It’s the time of bounty and exhaustion. Not really a time to delve into new found medicinal research. At least not for this girl. So switchel was lost to memory.

As always, summer gave way to glorious fall and Ashney happened to give me a jar of what she called “Maple Spiced Switchel”. My kids and I downed a half gallon…… ….in one day!

They were literally fighting over it.

Who has ever had their children fight over apple cider vinegar????

**Crickets Chirping**

Yeah me either… until now that is.

Two months later I still can’t keep enough on hand. It’s slightly sweet and slightly sour, with a whole lot of awesome flavor. We love it so much I asked Ashney if I could share her recipe.

Try it. You’ll love it. Your kids will love it.

Maple Spiced Switchel

Ingredients:

– 2 cups filtered water
– 1/4 cup mulling spices (mine contains whole cloves, whole allspice, dried orange peels, and cinnamon bark)
– 4 diced pears (apples will work as well)
– 1 cup ACV
– 1/2 cup maple syrup
– 1-2 Tbsp grated ginger
– 20 drops liquid stevia (or additional maple syrup to taste)
– Additional filtered water to fill a gallon glass container with lid

1. Heat 2 cups filtered water to almost boiling. Remove from heat.

2. Add spices and pears. Cover and let sit until room temp. About 2 hours.

3. Pour into a gallon sized glass container. Add syrup, stevia, ginger and ACV. Add enough water to fill the container.

4. Cover and let sit overnight in refrigerator.

5. Strain and enjoy. (I usually add enough water after staining to fill the gallon)

I have used the “left overs” and made 2 additional batches with no noticebale flavor loss. No need to heat again just throw in another gallon jar, add sweetener, ACV and water. Let sit in the fridge overnight again.

We drink it daily just for the normal benefits of consuming apple cider vinegar. When someone is congested I tend to have them drink a bit more than normal though. We’ve had several colds run through the kids already and I truly believe switchel was a huge help in shortening the duration and kept it from turning into the usual ear infection, sinus infection, bronchitis etc.

Enjoy Friends!