I've been busy gathering the ingredients from my balcony herbs for this wonderful but slightly nasty looking concoction. I needed to get it finished and brewing before the sore throat season starts.
A couple of years ago my good friend and talented acupuncturist from California (but now living in the road opposite me) made a jar of this and told me to give a spoonful of it whenever anyone has a sore throat and is feeling flu-ish. Since then, none of my family have been to the doctor or needed any antibiotics. Maybe a coincidence, who can tell!
According to French folklore, when the Black Death plague was rife in Marseille, there were a group of thieves who were raiding the graves of plague victims for their fortunes. Noone understood how they were avoiding becoming victims of the plague themselves and when they were finally captured they were forced to give details of how they gained immunity against the disease in exchange for a less gruesome death.
There are many versions of the recipe, but this one seems to work for my family.
250ml organic apple cider vinegar
1tbsp fresh lavender flowers
1tbsp fresh sage leaves ripped in half
1tbsp fresh rosemary leaves
1tbsp mint leaves picked off the stalk
1tbsp fresh marjoram leaves
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and then squashed down by the flat side of the knife.
Mix all the ingredients together in a glass pickling type jar and leave for it to ferment for a few weeks where it will become an awful looking brown colour. Store at room temperature like any other vinegar. Take out a spoonful whenever you need it and keep topping up over the Winter with more organic apple cider vinegar. Apparently you can clean with it too but Im not sure I'd want the house smelling of herby vinegar! Make it now while the herbs are readily available.
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