The sweet and sour power of nature
Eating is more than absorbing nutrients. It determines culture and politics, provides for social interaction and, of course, enjoyment. Physical functions can also be influenced by food. Especially in winter and at demanding times, there is a great desire to eat healthy and to strengthen the body through an adapted diet.
We want to combine pleasure with effect true to the motto:
Your foods should be your remedies – and your remedies should be your foods.
Hippocrates
For this we collect ourselves some ingredients to capture the power of the forest. This is nothing new at all but takes on aspects that make modern “functional foods” so popular.
Elixirs and tinctures
However, we do not add special active ingredients to a delicious basic product, but think of time-tested remedies. For this we go to the realm of elixirs and tinctures and make Oxymel. Sounds mysterious, the name is derived from the basic ingredients honey and vinegar and means sour honey. Herbs, spices, flowers, etc. are added to this base and aromas and active ingredients are thus transferred to the liquid. This procedure goes back to the Romans and Greeks and has been mentioned in medical treatises ever since, including Hildegard von Bingen.
The herbs, spices, etc. are the key ingredient here, because depending on the amount and type, they determine the effect of the oxymel. But you can also be guided by aromas and tastes, combining effect and pleasure. It is important that the ingredients are of high quality. This also applies to the honey and vinegar. We can obtain both from partners of the agency. The honey, of course, comes from beeswe.love, our agency honey, with which we implemented our first project, Met, a year ago. The vinegar we obtain from the company Feldmann from Karlsruhe, it is a strong, full-bodied and yet light apple cider vinegar. For the flavoring we have chosen winter ingredients. We put a mixture with tangerine peel, juniper, pine and Douglas fir needles. For the juniper we use whole dried berries. We collect pine and Douglas fir needles in the forests of the hilly Fläming.
Elf and trolls
In keeping with the time of year, the forest was covered in snow shortly before. Our Oxymel expedition gains some more mysticism and magic from this.
The basic recipe of Oxymel consists of 3 parts honey, 1.5 parts vinegar and 1 part herbs/spices, i.e. the flavoring ingredients. We make four approaches with different quantity ratios. The branches of pine and Douglas fir, freed from needles, unceremoniously inspire us to make a batch with wood chips. We free them from the bark and plane down fine shavings with a sharp knife. They go into our brown jars, as do the other Oxymel blends. We leave the jars at room temperature for two weeks, moving them every 2 days to ensure that the active ingredients and aromas are transferred to the liquid. Care must also be taken to prevent mold from forming in the herbs, a risk that is reduced by the honey (sugar) and vinegar (acid).
The right tonic for every occasion
We chose the version Winter Forest, but Oxymel is as diverse as nature. For each season there are different compositions and can be used herbs, flowers, roots, spices…. from which endless combinations result.
There are also recommendations for compositions to counteract certain complaints. From aging (sea buckthorn, curcuma, ginseng) and anxiety (rose, linden, violet) to menopause (sage, red clover, lady’s mantle), an oxymel has grown for or against almost everything.
So there is something for everyone. We continue to be oriented to enjoyment but still happy to pass with less anxiety as well as young and fresh turn of the year and changeable years.
