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Chemotherapy……UGH! What a nasty word in my life lately. Too many friends battling breast cancer, lupus and other horrific things. I feel helpless. What can any of us really do when a friend is at their absolute lowest moment but try to offer support?

Last year when I was going through a low dose trial of chemo meds for lupus, I found something that really helped with my nausea. Through time I adapted the recipe to where the moment any one in our family is sick to their stomach, THIS is what they crave. My very special Chemo Moonshine (there is no alcohol, its just a cute name for it). It’s good for just everyday upset tummies too!

I am far from being a recipe blogger so please bear with me and know you can play with the amounts below to adjust to your taste. I like mine more cinnamony than gingery so I sometimes sprinkle in finely ground cinnamon.

Recipe for Chemo Moonshine: A Natural Nausea Remedy

Ingredients: 

• Apple Cider- 1 gallon, non-concentrated *do NOT use vinegar!
• 1 cup Honey or Agave Nectar (I like to use Manuka honey for its healing properties)
• 5 Cinnamon Sticks
• Whole Cloves, about 2 tablespoons
• 1-2 inches Fresh Ginger Root (peeled and chopped or sliced thinly)
• 1 tablespoon Ground Ginger
• 2-3 Star Anise

Directions: 

I make mine in a 32 qt stock pot with a straining insert. Pour the gallon of juice in the pot.  Add the ground ginger, cinnamon sticks, star anise, whole cloves and fresh ginger in the pot with the stove turned to medium heat. Let it boil and then reduce the heat and let it steep covered for about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it continue steeping while covered for another hour.

Add the honey (or agave) and let steep uncovered over low heat for another hour. Strain using the straining insert in the pot. Pour into mason jars using jelly strainers. If you don’t have this you can strain it through a strainer and store it back in the juice bottle with a little left over.

I use the 1/2 gallon mason jars because I think they look great as gifts. You can get them at Ace Hardware or online someplace like Amazon (affiliate link).

This tastes great either heated just a little to sip warm like you would cider or tea OR over ice chips just a few sips at a time. You can freeze this into smaller jars but if you freeze it in glass make sure and leave a few inches of headroom and leave the tops off while it almost freezes. Place them on before it completely freezes.

For the label: I went to PicMonkey and uploaded a blank square as my picture. I used the Bleeding Cowboys font to create the text here and then applied a Daguerreotype frame and wrote a custom message for the friend I was giving this to. I would like to have found a jarsticker but I just didn’t have the time. I called it Chemo Moonshine because it was a fun way to present the gift. It brings a laugh and something fun into the something as serious as not being able to keep anything down.

This particular friend, Lori, is fighting breast cancer and I hope this small comfort may make her journey just a little bit easier.

Let me know if you try this, what changes you make, and more importantly any stories of it helping someone!