flipRosemary and Honey Syrup (Oxymel)
Rosemary and Honey Syrup (Oxymel)
Why this dish? Herbs, mortar, and precision scales: Anne Ponsarde belongs to the world of practical knowledge where cooking and pharmacy were done at the same table. Oxymel — honey, vinegar, and plant — is the quintessential domestic remedy of the era, prepared between two dishes.
An ancient medicinal syrup blending honey, vinegar, and rosemary, gently reduced to a syrupy consistency. A spoonful was taken for coughs or to "rejoice the heart." Sweet, tangy, slightly bitter.
Here is a secret every good housewife must know. I weigh on my scale as much honey as good vinegar, I plunge a large branch of rosemary into it, and I let it all melt over a very low fire — above all, it must not boil too hard, otherwise the honey turns bitter. When the syrup coats the spoon, I strain it and seal it in a stoneware flask. A spoonful in the morning rejoices the heart and clears the chest; I always keep some in reserve on my office.
- •Honey — one pound (base and sweetness)
- •Wine vinegar — same weight (preservative acidity)
- •Fresh rosemary — one large branch (signature active plant)
Rosemary and Honey Syrup (Oxymel)
An ancient medicinal syrup blending honey, vinegar, and rosemary, gently reduced to a syrupy consistency. A spoonful was taken for coughs or to "rejoice the heart." Sweet, tangy, slightly bitter.
Why this dish? Herbs, mortar, and precision scales: Anne Ponsarde belongs to the world of practical knowledge where cooking and pharmacy were done at the same table. Oxymel — honey, vinegar, and plant — is the quintessential domestic remedy of the era, prepared between two dishes.
Here is a secret every good housewife must know. I weigh on my scale as much honey as good vinegar, I plunge a large branch of rosemary into it, and I let it all melt over a very low fire — above all, it must not boil too hard, otherwise the honey turns bitter. When the syrup coats the spoon, I strain it and seal it in a stoneware flask. A spoonful in the morning rejoices the heart and clears the chest; I always keep some in reserve on my office.
Ingredients (period version)
- Honey — one pound (base and sweetness)
- Wine vinegar — same weight (preservative acidity)
- Fresh rosemary — one large branch (signature active plant)
Ingredients
- Honey (preferably garrigue honey) — 250 g (base)
- White wine vinegar — 250 ml (acidity)
- Fresh rosemary — 2 nice branches (signature plant)
Method
- Pour the honey and vinegar into a heavy-bottomed saucepan, add the rosemary.
- Heat over very low heat without boiling, stirring, for 20 to 30 minutes, until the mixture coats the spoon.
- Remove the rosemary, skim if necessary.
- Pour hot into a scalded glass or stoneware bottle; seal.
- Store in a cool place; enjoy a teaspoon diluted in a little warm water.
How it was made : Oxymel (from Greek oxos, vinegar, and meli, honey) is a preparation from the Greco-Arabic pharmacopoeia passed down to Renaissance apothecaries. "Simples" (medicinal plants) were infused in it; the sweet-sour mixture served both as a remedy and a preservative. Nostradamus, in Salon-de-Provence, devoted an entire treatise to preserves and sweet preparations of this type.
The contemporary twist : A few drops in sparkling ice-cold water make a non-alcoholic Provençal "shrub," charmingly served in a carafe.
Sources : Michel de Nostredame (Nostradamus), Traité des fardements et confitures, 1555 · Pharmacopoeia of oxymels, Greco-Arabic tradition transmitted by Renaissance apothecaries
Anne Ponsarde · Charactorium
