Oxymels: the alcohol-free, two-step method for making your new favorite herbal mixers ✨

Who's read Homer?

This simple oxymel recipe is functional, too tasty, and widely customizable. Preserve in-season plants while they’re fresh (see rose geranium from my garden, above), or use dried herbs of nearly any kind. Plus, you get triple the benefits: honey, vinegar, and herbs. 🌿

If you’re oxymel-experienced or make this recipe after reading, please LMK! We’d all love to hear your fav herbal combinations.

OXY-WHAT?

Somewhere between a tincture and a syrup is the folkloric and also surprisingly versatile oxymel. Of Homer’s The Odyssey renown, oxymels are a half-and-half-ish mingling of vinegar and honey, both of which are effective extractors and preservatives that also happen to taste great. Honey is a humectant, meaning that it pulls out and “holds” water and so, water-soluble compounds from plants. Herb infused honeys, and jams, are a special sort of concoction very worth seeking out. While not as strong or shelf-stable as tinctures, oxymels are simple yet sophisticated in flavor and versatile in recipes—serving as a functional-culinary, alcohol-free, DIY-friendly way to make herbal remedies at home. In highest summer, I draw out one of my absolute favorite aromas from …