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Oxymeli (Vinegar Honey Drink)

Oxymeli (Vinegar Honey Drink) is a traditional Ancient Greek and Ancient Roman recipe for a concentrated cordial of honey, vinegar, salt and water, believed to be a cure-all at the time. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Ancient Roman version of: Oxymeli (Vinegar Honey Drink).

prep time

15 minutes

cook time

40 minutes

Total Time:

55 minutes

Makes:

1 bottle

Rating:

Tags : Ancient Roman Recipes

Original Recipe

Oxymeli (from Pliny the Elder's Historiae Naturalis (Natural History) 14.114)

quin et acetum melle temperabatur: adeo nihil intemptatum vitae fuit. oxymeli hoc vocarunt, mellis decem libris, aceti veteris heminis quinque, salis marini libra, aquae pluviae sextariis quinque suffervefactis deciens, mox elutriatis atque ita inveteratis.

Translation

Vinegar even has been mixed with honey; nothing, in fact, has been left untried by man. To this mixture the name of oxymeli has been given; it is compounded of ten pounds of honey, five semi-sextarii of old vinegar, one pound of sea-salt, and five sextarii of rain-water. This is boiled gently till the mixture has bubbled in the pot some ten times, after which it is drawn off, and kept till it is old

The actual recipe for making this version of oxymeli comes from Dieuches (Διεύχης, a Greek physician, who lived probably in the 4th century BC, and belonged to the Dogmatic school of medicine and is oft quoted by Pliny) who states that: "the manner in which oxymeli1 was prepared by the ancients. In a cauldron they used to put ten minæ of honey, five heminæ of old vinegar, a pound and a quarter of sea-salt, and five sextarii of rain-water; the mixture was then boiled together till it had simmered some ten times, after which it was poured off, and put by for keeping."

Modern Redaction

Ingredients:

280g honey
115ml old vinegar (preferably red wine)
28g sea salt
250ml water

Method:

Combine all ingredients to a saucepan and place over a low heat. After the mixture becomes very clear and has bubbles over entire surface, stir. This counts as one “bubbled in pot".

Repeat until it has done this 10 times. Remove from heat and let cool. Makes 1 2/3 cups of syrup.

To use as a cordial, dissolve 3 tbsp of the oxymeli in 350ml water. If desired, add a little ice.