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Vinegars & oxymels

Garlic and thyme oxymel

Hippocrates already prescribed oxymel. Vinegar, honey, and two chosen plants: a simple, dry, luminous preparation, traditionally used to help the throat and bronchi through winter.

The oxymel (from the Greek oxos = vinegar, meli = honey) is a very old galenic form. The vinegar extracts the acidic, water-soluble compounds of the plant, the honey the sugary compounds and certain fat-soluble active principles, and their combination gives a tangy syrup that keeps for a long time. The garlic + thyme combo is a great classic of the herbalist tradition for the cold season.

Ingredients

  • Fresh garlic

    peeled and crushed

    5 cloves
  • Fresh or dried thyme

    wild thyme or common thyme

    30 g fresh (or 15 g dried)
  • Raw unpasteurised cider vinegar

    the 'with the mother' kind is ideal

    250 ml
  • Raw honey
    250 ml (about 350 g)

Equipment

  • •1 glass jar of 750 ml to 1 L
  • •1 fine sieve or muslin
  • •1 tinted glass bottle for storage

Steps

  1. 1

    Prepare the plants

    Crush the garlic cloves with the flat of the knife (don't chop them too fine, or straining will be laborious). Strip the thyme leaves if using fresh, or take it as is if dried.

    5 min

  2. 2

    Macerate

    In the jar, put the garlic and thyme, pour in the vinegar then the honey. Stir with a wooden or plastic utensil (no metal, which reacts with vinegar). The honey takes time to dissolve, that's normal, it will melt into the vinegar over the days.

    5 min

  3. 3

    Rest away from light

    Close the jar and place it away from light. Shake vigorously each day for 3 to 4 weeks. The mixture should take on an amber hue and become fragrant.

    3 to 4 weeks

  4. 4

    Strain

    Strain through a muslin, pressing the plants well to extract as much liquid as possible. Decant into a clean tinted bottle.

    10 min

Storage

1 year in a cupboard, at room temperature; longer if kept cool.

How to use it

1 tablespoon diluted in a glass of warm water, in the morning on an empty stomach, in a 3-week course at the start of winter. For an irritated throat: 1 teaspoon neat or in an infusion (never boiling).

Health properties

  • Traditionally taken as a support during the cold season (garlic and thyme, aromatics of the airways)
  • Traditionally, soothes the throat and helps thin bronchial secretions (thyme, a traditional expectorant, EMA monograph)
  • Garlic brings its prebiotics, raw honey its enzymes
  • Thyme, with a traditional antiseptic reputation, contains thymol (European Pharmacopoeia reference)

These preparations belong to cooking and herbal tradition: they nourish and support, do not “cure” anything and replace no treatment. Ask a doctor or pharmacist before prolonged use, if under treatment, pregnant or breastfeeding, or for a child. Follow the stated storage precautions strictly.

Precautions

Never heat (it would destroy the enzymes of the raw honey and the volatile thymol). Not advised during pregnancy (thyme at high doses) or for children under 1 year (raw honey). People on anticoagulants: garlic is a blood thinner, seek medical advice for a prolonged course. Gastric hyperacidity: avoid, or very diluted.

Sources & tradition

  • · Hippocrates, Complete Works (ref. to oxymel)
  • · Maria Treben, La santé à la pharmacie du bon Dieu
  • · European Pharmacopoeia (Thymi herba monograph)
  • · EMA/HMPC, Community herbal monograph on Thymus vulgaris L. and Thymus zygis L., herba (traditional use: expectorant in productive cough associated with colds)

Continue in Vinegars & oxymels

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