Rosehip Oxymel

Rosehip Oxymel is our new special, and this is a second Oxymel in our line-up.

Rosehips (Hagebutte in German) are the fruits of the rose plant. Oxymel also known as sour honey, is a mixture of vinegar and honey, plus some herbs, or other medicinal things.

To find out more about Oxymel, please read our first blog entry here.

In order to make this one, we use dried Organic rosehips.

Those, we wash first and then, we use our living, unfiltered apple vinegar.

Our vinegar usually ripens for quite a few months. During that process beautiful mothers of vinegar form. Just like on the picture below.

Here we have the rosehips and our vinegar.

By combining these two ingredients, we get the benefits of both.

Here's just an abstract from one of many publications which can be found online.

This particular publication is titled: "Therapeutic Applications of Rose Hips from Different Rosa Species" and it can be found here.

"Rosa species, rose hips, are widespread wild plants that have been traditionally used as medicinal compounds for the treatment of a wide variety of diseases. The therapeutic potential of these plants is based on its antioxidant effects caused by or associated with its phytochemical composition, which includes ascorbic acid, phenolic compounds and healthy fatty acids among others. Over the last few years, medicinal interest in rose hips has increased as a consequence of recent research that has studied its potential application as a treatment for several diseases including skin disorders, hepatotoxicity, renal disturbances, diarrhoea, inflammatory disorders, arthritis, diabetes, hyperlipidaemia, obesity and cancer. In this review, the role of different species of Rosa in the prevention of treatment of various disorders related to oxidative stress, is examined, focusing on new therapeutic approaches from a molecular point of view."

And this is how it looks with apple vinegar.

But it looks like that only for the first couple of days.

Few weeks later, when vinegar draws all the substances out of rosehips, the color darkens.

A month later, it is the color deepens.

We usually let it sip for a minimum of one month. After that we strain the rosehips.

Next, we mix in some local raw honey.

And now, ready Oxymel goes into retail bottles.

Next comes the the hand-writing.

And our Rosehip Oxymel is ready.

You can find it on the shelf with our vinegar collection, next to our original Oxymel.

When we bottle one batch, we immediately start a new one. And here is our freshly bottled Oxymel next to the newly set next batch.

You can take Oxymel straight with a teaspoon, or you can dilute it in water.