Winter is coming and with it cold and flu season. I was trying to think of different ways I could preserve the herbs I have growing in my yard for winter and use the last of the yarrow flowers I foraged in the mountains. I decided to make a few compound oxymels.
Traditionally oxymel (oximel ME) is made with just honey and vinegar while compound oxymel often includes additional ingredients. I have already written about the historically accurate way to a simple oxymel with honey. You do see historical receipts that mention using sugar:
Syrup of Simple Sikanjabîn (syrup of vinegar)
Take a ratl (1 lb) of strong vinegar and mix it with two ratls ( 2 lb) of sugar, and cook all this until it takes the form of syrup. Drink an ûqiya ( 1.5 tbsp) of this with three (4.5 tbsp) of hot water when fasting. It is beneficial for fevers of jaundice, and calms jaundice and cuts the thirst.
Kitab al tabikh fi-l-Maghrib wa-l-Andalus fi `asr al-Muwahhidin, limu’allif majhul circa 1200
Many receipts recommended compounding additional ingredients with oxymel by boiling the plant material in oxymel, but some like the following recommended incorporating the plant material during the cooking process.
Oxymel Compositum,
The Queens Closet Opened 1659
Take pure Honey a pottle, white Wine Vinegar a pint and a half, five Parsley, five Fennel, five Smallige roots the pith taken out, the roots of Knacholm two ounces, Sparagus one ounce, Smallage seed four ounces, shred the roots, and bruise the seeds, and steep them in three quarts of Conduit water for four and twenty hours, and after boil it all to one quart, strain it, and adde the Honey clarified and boil it therein, then put to the Vinegar, and let it boil gently to the thickness of a Syrup, one spoonful whereof taken every morning fasting cutteth and divideth all gross humours, it purgeth the Liver, Spleen, Reins, and opens all obstructions, it moveth Urine, and provoketh sweat.
I don’t like to cook my tender aromatics too much though, so I have tweaked the process slightly and I am pleased with the results. I used to make mine with honey, but have started using sugar because honey is expensive and I have a lot of vegans in my life.
My Compound Oxymel
Ingredients
2 cups of sugar (I use evaporated cane juice)
1 cup water
1 cup white wine vinegar
3 cups fresh herbs
Directions
- Let the herbs sit out to dry/wilt overnight.
- Bring the water and the sugar to a boil and boil for a few minutes, skimming any foam off the top.
- Pour the white wine vinegar into this mixture and bring it back to a boil.
- Simmer over low heat until it reaches thread stage.
- Chop your dry wilted or dried herbs in a heat-resistant bowl that has a tight-fitting lid. If you are going to add spices, make sure they are ground well.
- Take the syrup off the heat and pour it over your herbs. Give it a little whir with an immersion blender if you want to ensure they are mixed in well.
- Put the lid on and let it cool. When it is cool strain the syrup and bottle it.
To use it as it was used traditionally you would just feed people small tastes of the syrup, or make a tea with 1 pt syrup: 3 parts hot water.
This brings me back to the yarrow. I used this receipt to make a compound oxymel with yarrow flowers that I will be giving to people as a hot beverage when they are feverish this winter. You could also add elderflowers and mint. It’s really just a different way to preserve the yarrow flowers. I have made syrups with infusions of yarrow in the past also.
Domestic Medicine 