Alchemy At Home: Shrubs & Oxymels

It’s a great time of year to play with the fresh flowers and herbs growing in your garden and/or community spaces!

In this article we are focusing on how to use vinegars and honey to extract the healing, medicinal & culinary potential of your favourite plants.

At our Alchemy Workshop we forage a wide selection of fresh plant material that covers a large range of purposes and is known to be safe. In this case you will need to do the identification and foraging yourself, there are also some great apps that can help you with this. 

This can be a fun thing to involve your kids in as well - especially the foraging aspect. Our five year old helper loves when we let him carefully snip the plants.

Shrubs A shrub is a traditional, vinegar based herbal drink. It’s often used as a digestive aid and metabolic stimulant. Shrubs are also a great choice for a non-alcoholic, cool herbal drink. Apple Cider Vinegar is a good medium for many skin and hair care treatments.

Apple Cider Vinegar is a great menstruum to use; besides preserving your herbs and fruits, it has many health benefits of its own. 

Shrubs can be made at whatever strength you choose. The higher the plant material to menstruum ratio, the more concentrated it will be. You can take your concentrated shrub by the spoonful for a digestive aid before eating or add it to another liquid like water, floral water, juice or tea. You can also use it in salad dressing or basically any dish you’d like to add the flavour to. 

Method

1. Put all the herbs and fruits you wish to work with in a sterile  glass jar.
2. If you’d like to include a sweetener in your shrub, you can add sugar or honey to your material and combine thoroughly.
3. Pour the vinegar over the material until the glass is nearly full (leave ~ 1 inch of ‘shake room’ at the top).
4. Shake or stir thoroughly to combine the menstruum and marc.
5. Cover your jar with a piece of cheesecloth, fastened tightly over the top with an elastic band and set in the fridge for 12 hours. 
6. After 12 hours, replace the cheesecloth with a tight fitting lid and continue to store in the fridge, shaking well 2-3 times a day for 5-6 days. 
7. Strain the liquid through cheesecloth over a strainer. Squeeze as much liquid as you can out of the spent marc.
8. Pour into a sterile  glass bottle and label with date.
9. Store in the refrigerator. 

When is a shrub the best method to use?

Shrubs are wonderful because they not only extract & preserve the healing power of the plants you’re using, they also empart the benefits of apple cider vinegar. Taken daily before meals, a shot of apple cider vinegar helps to stabilize blood sugars by slowing insulin release. ACV is also an effective digestive aid for issues such as heartburn, indigestion and acid reflux. The shelf life of a vinegar extract is shorter than an alcohol or glycerine extract.

Oxymels Oxymel is derived from the Greek word ‘oxymeli’, which translates to “acid and honey”. This process works well for infusing a variety of fresh or dried herbs.

Method

1. Fill a sterile glass jar about 1/3 full of your choice of herbs.
2. Cover with equal parts apple cider vinegar and honey to fill the jar.
3. Stir to incorporate.
4. Seal your jar securely. If you’re using a metal canning lid, place a piece of parchment paper underneath the lid to keep the vinegar from touching the metal.
5. Shake the jar until thoroughly mixed.
6. Store out of direct light  to extract for 5 to 6 days, shake daily to assist in extraction.

Extraction time is  longer for dried material than fresh.

7. Strain out herbs through a fine mesh strainer and or cheesecloth, pressing down on the herbs to release as much liquid as possible. 
8. Pour strained oxymel into glass storage jars or bottles.
9. Label and date.
10. Store in a cool, dark place* until ready to use.

* If you’re working with fresh material it is best to refrigerate.

When is an oxymel the best method to use?

Oxymels are great because they’re delicious and healthy. They bring all of the benefits of ACV that are mentioned under ‘shrubs’. They also bring in the health benefits of raw honey,  along with the sweetness of honey, to make them more palatable. Oxymels tend to be very versatile. We take them by the spoonful, add them to dishes, smoothies, drinks and use them in skincare.