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7. Once a day, however, without lifting the jar, rotate the jar one complete rotation. (This is the touch of marnier magic; perform it with appropriate inner ceremony while holding a deep in-breath.) Do not, at any point, jostle or shake the brandy/sugar mixture. The alcohol will slowly vaporize. This vaporous menstruum will rise and condense on the orange peel. As it clings to the peel, it will extract the orange’s volatile oils and drip back into the pool of sweet brandy below, being one of the most subtly dramatic herbal extractions you will ever witness.

8. On day 11, remove the orange and stir in any undissolved sugar.

9. Sip some Grande Marnier.

10. Sip some more Grande Marnier.

11. Bottle and store for further sipping on all special occasions.

Orange Suspension Jar

Next time you prepare this elixir, modify it by doing things a little differently; poke some coffee beans or clove buds into the orange peel, or use a mandarin orange, work in an herb or two, use a different brandy or a different sugar, or all of the above, whatever. You’ll love this one; it’s totally eccentric—the Addams family would smile fondly upon its antics.

A bottle of vinegar can be found in nearly every household. It sits on a shelf ready for use in salad dressings, as taste enhancement for diverse recipes, for pickling, or as a springtime window cleaning agent; but it is hardly ever employed in modern domestic cuisine for its nutritional and medicinal properties. Vinegar’s inherent abundance of nutritional components has been all but forgotten along with that of sauerkraut, yogurt, miso, and other fermented foods.

In the early nineteen hundreds, appreciation of vinegar’s nutritional/medicinal properties entered the dark ages in tandem with medicinal herbs, but, unlike herbs, full appreciation of vinegar’s medicinal virtues is still to be revived. When one looks closely at the inherent constituents of apple cider vinegar, its health-enhancing properties are rather astounding. Vinegar, commonly a derivative of apples or grapes (grapes being the foundation of wine vinegar), contains, in addition to sugar, starch, gluten, and gum, all the fruit’s inherent mineral salts, most especially potassium, which play a major role in human metabolism, respiration, blood conditioning, and nervous system vitalization. Used topically as a facial cleanser and tonic, cosmetic vinegar infusions have a timeless reputation for being plant-wise women’s favored potion for retaining the youth and beauty of their hair and skin. All these vinegars, cosmetic, medicated, or culinary, are easily made.

An in-depth study of the medicinal properties of apple cider vinegar lies in the pages of a little book titled Folk Medicine, written by D.C. Jarvis, M.D. This once-renowned doctor’s discussion and guide to the folk medicine practices of Vermonters illustrates common (palate-pleasing) uses of apple cider vinegar, honey, kelp, and other plant foods for sustaining health; the book documents culinary Herbalism at its folkloric best.

So many of the menstrua (oil, wine, vinegar) that were used by mankind throughout the history of Herbalism, but fell out of fashion in mainstream pharmacy because they wouldn’t preserve medicinal extracts indefinitely, are nonetheless excellent for our domestic use as solvents and preservatives. These are inexpensive, nutritious, aromatic, and pleasant-tasting components we can make for ourselves at home, if so inclined. As we reestablish our experiences as medicine-making lay herbalists, it is a good idea (having a rich folkloric precedent) to embrace vinegar in the creative expansion of our contemporary solvent journeys.

The medical/pharmaceutical administrators who made the decisions to eliminate the use of vinegar (and wine) as an official menstruum in mainstream pharmacy, replacing their use with distilled alcohol and harsh solvent-preservatives, had their own good reasons for doing so. Within the medical crises intervention and heroic disease-care arena in which these doctors participate,