Elderberry Oxymel Recipe

by Rosalee de la Forêt

Elderberry Oxymel

Elderberry Oxymel Recipe...

Learning about herbalism through your sense of taste is a powerful way to connect to herbs. It can also give you a deeper understanding of how herbs work!

There are five categories or tastes in herbal medicine: pungent, salty, sour, bitter and sweet.

This herbal recipe contains several tastes but is mainly an exploration of the sour taste.

Oxymels are one of my favorite medicinal preparations for boggy and congested coughs. An oxymel is basically a combination of vinegar and honey, giving these preparations a sour and sweet taste. Adding herbs gives it those healing qualities as well.

This oxymel is a gorgeous purple color and combines the healing power of elderberries along with the stimulating expectorant qualities of ginger and elecampane.

The following recipe is part of the upcoming Taste of Herbs Course.

What you’ll need

dried elderberries
2 tablespoons of dried ginger
2 tablespoons of elecampane root
apple cider vinegar
honey
jar with plastic lid

Fill a quart size mason jar 1/3 to 1/2 full with elderberries. Add the elecampane and ginger to the jar.

Add an equal amount of honey and apple cider vinegar. Stir well.

Cover with a plastic lid. (Don’t use a metal lid.)

The next day stir it again and add more vinegar if necessary. (The dried elderberries will swell a bit.)

Let this sit for 2-6 weeks, stirring occasionally.

When done, strain off well using a cheesecloth.

Take this liberally for wet, congested coughs that produce a lot of mucus.

Store in the fridge and use within 6 months or so.

This recipe is an excerpt from the upcoming course, Taste of Herbs. Taste is an amazing way to learn HOW herbs work.

Rosalee created the Taste of Herbs Flavor Wheel to help people learn herbalism using their sense of Taste.

Get the free Taste of Herbs Flavor Wheel and another great recipe here!.


Rosalee de la Forêt is the creator of Taste of Herbs, a new course by LearningHerbs and Mountain Rose Herbs. Rosalee is a clinical herbalist, herbal educator and founder of Herbal Remedies Advice.