Hedgerow Oxymel

One of my favourite ways to enjoy the healing magick of the Autumn hedgerows is to make an oxymel with foraged berries. The name oxymel comes from the Greek word ‘oxymeli’ meaning acid and honey. Oxymels are simple herbal preparations that use a mixture of raw apple cider vinegar and raw honey to extract and preserve the potent goodness from an array of berries, herbs and spices…

Fire cider is one example of an oxymel but they work really nicely with Autumn berries and herbs such as sage and thyme too. You can also find my recipe for an elderberry oxymel here.

This year I am making a heart healing hedgerow oxymel with rosehips, hawthorn berries and some hawthorn blossom that I gathered and dried in the Spring. Hawthorn supports heart health as well as the immune and nervous systems and rosehips are rich with vitamin C and other minerals and I have felt particularly drawn to both this year.

To make my oxymel I filled a clean, sterilized jar about a third of the way with my berries & blossom. I then filled the rest of my jar with apple cider vinegar and honey keeping everything under the liquid. After much experimenting over the years I go for a rough mix of 2 parts vinegar to 1 part honey. Some use a 50/50 mix but I find this too sweet, others use even less honey that me, you really can experiment with this to your own taste.

I shall be leaving my oxymel in a cool, dark place for around a month, shaking regularly before straining the liquid and bottling. Keep in mind that vinegar can erode metal so if you are using a metal lid it is a good idea to cover with parchment or wax paper first.

Once ready I will be taking a daily spoon of my oxymel. I would love to know if you have made an oxymel before or if you are thinking of having a go.

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