Long before Gatorade was a twinkle in its creator’s eye, beverages made from a mixture of honey or molasses, vinegar, water, and varying herbs were used by those laboring in the heat to help keep them cool and prevent the sick stomach that drinking cold water can cause.
The most famous of these was switchel, or haymaker’s punch. This was made from molasses, vinegar, ginger root, and water, and was a common item drunk during the back-breaking work of hay-making. Laura Ingalls Wilder mentions “ginger water”(sweetened with sugar) in “The Long Winter.”
“Ma had sent them ginger-water. She had sweetened the cool well-water with sugar, flavored it with vinegar, and put in plenty of ginger to warm their stomachs so they could drink till they were not thirsty. Ginger-water would not make them sick, as plain cold water would when they were so hot. Such a treat made that ordinary day into a special day, the first day that Laura helped in the haying.”
Oxymels are quite simple to make. They are made from a base of apple cider vinegar and honey (glycerin or molasses may be used if you have blood sugar issues), usually at a one-to-one ratio, but you can adjust it to your own taste. Both honey and apple cider vinegar have healing properties of their own, and are commonly combined to make a health drink with water. Infusing them with herbs bumps up their benefits exponentially.
You can add either fresh or dried herbs. The following is a recipe that makes roughly 1 quart.
Use a clean wide-mouth jar and fill between 1/3 and 1/2 way with your herbs.
Pour one cup honey and one cup vinegar over the herbs, stirring and poking with a chopstick or the handle of a wooden spoon. This helps to get the honey down in the cracks. Put the lid on tight and give it a few good shakes to get it mixed up well. Then add equal amounts of honey and vinegar until you leave 1 inch of headspace at the top.
For the strongest potency, begin on the day of the new moon. Shake the jar daily, and pour off on the day of the full moon.