May 2025

Seasonal Living – Spring

• Spring Into Spring – The Energetic Of Spring
• Leaves Medicine For Spring
• From Weed To Table
• Apple Cider Vinegar Medicine For Spring

If you are a farmer tending an apple orchard and pressing fresh apple juice in the fall, there is a good chance that some of the leftover apple juice will be fermented by spring, and you will get yourself apple cider vinegar or ACV.

Apple Cider Vinegar – A Spring Medicine.

attracts yeast that converts the apple juice into alcohol. Bacteria ferment the alcoholic apple juice, creating acetic acid in the second step.

Vinegar can be made in a quick process for commercial use or in a slow method. The longer fermentation process allows the creation of a non-toxic slime composed of acetic acid, yeast, and bacteria known as “Mother of the Vinegar.”

Apple cider vinegar typically has a pH range of around 2.4 – 3.4, making it a highly acidic food. 

It contains vitamins C and B, as well as acetic acid, minerals, salt, amino acids, polyphenol acid,  and nonvolatile organic acids.

A little bit of history

The word “vinegar” comes from the Latin words “vin Aigne” or “sour wine” and has been used for thousands of years. Vinegar has been used as an energy drink, preservative, and medicine since ancient times.

Traces of vinegar were found in Egyptian urns dating back to around 3000 B.C. Babylonian scrolls, which record the use of vinegar, date even earlier, to around 5000 B.C.

In ancient Greece, around 400 B.C., Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, prescribed a mixture of apple cider vinegar and honey for various illnesses, including coughs and colds.

The healing benefits of apple cider vinegar

Even before you add herbs to the mix, apple cider vinegar has healing benefits.

Apple cider vinegar can improve indigestion and heartburn when the root cause of the heartburn is hypochlorhydria. Hypochlorhydria is a condition where the stomach doesn’t produce enough stomach acids because of nutrient deficiencies, chronic stress, alcoholism, or H. pylori infection. Taking a small amount of apple cider vinegar with meals can support stomach acidity.

Research has shown that ACV increases insulin sensitivity and slows down the digestion and absorption of carbohydrates, helping to lower fasting glucose levels and improving the muscles’ ability to take up sugar from the blood.

By stabilizing blood sugar, apple cider vinegar helps prevent food cravings and takes you off the blood sugar rollercoaster. It also helps reduce cravings by healthily decreasing your appetite and increasing your feeling of satiation. Doing so might help reduce weight.

Using apple cider vinegar for herbal medicine

To make an herbal extraction, you need two components. One is the dissolved or extracted substance, known as the solute. In herbal medicine making, the herbs you are using are the solute. The other is the solvent, a substance, usually a liquid, such as water, alcohol, or vinegar, that dissolves.

When an acid solvent is poured over alkaloidal herbs, it initiates a reaction that transforms the alkaloids into salts, which can be readily extracted in alcohol or water.

Acetous tincture is made with 50% A and 50% ACV. The vinegar is used to assist in extracting the alkaloids from the plants.

Aceta is an extract containing 100% vinegar. Acetum has a shorter shelf life than an extraction using alcohol. Up to six months. They are less potent in comparison to alcohol extractions. Dry herbs are generally more potent than fresh herbs. The only caveat is aromatic herbs that are more potent when extracted fresh.

Why use apple cider vinegar as a solvent?

One reason to use apple cider vinegar as a solvent is its inherent health benefits, but there are more reasons to use ACV in herbal preparations.

A critical factor in making plant medicine is understanding plant biochemistry. You want to know what plant compounds you are trying to extract when you choose your solvents.

Vinegar is a good solvent for aromatic herbs containing alkaloids and alkaloidal bitters. It can be used with less efficiency for salty herbs containing minerals, sour plants containing flavonoids, and astringent herbs containing tannins.

Vinegar is not a good solvent for sweet herbs (mostly roots) rich with carbohydrates or oily or pungent herbs containing resins.

Another reason to choose ACV as your solvent is when you prepare herbal medicine but want to avoid alcohol, either for a person who has liver issues (fatty liver disease), a person with a history of alcohol addiction, or for children. ACV might be a good option in these cases.

Energetically, vinegar cools and dries; therefore, it benefits people with hot, boggy conditions characterized by inflammation (heat) and excessive mucus discharge. You want to avoid ACV in people with cold, dry conditions or a melancholic constitution.

A basic formula for dry herb ACET

Formula – 1:7 (100% acv)

For example:

Take 50 grams of dried herb material crumbled into small chunks (you want to expose the cells but not powder your herb)

Add 350 ml ACV.

Place in a mason jar.

Cut a piece of parchment paper and place it between the top of the jar and the lead to protect it from rust.

Let it infuse for a month, shaking daily.

Strain and enjoy!

In the spring, fields and meadows offer an abundance of nourishing herbs that can be used in vinegar. As a herb farmer and a commercial medicine maker, I made “Superwoman Vinegar” every spring. It was made with herbs rich in minerals, such as horsetail, nettle, chickweed, oat straw, and cleavers. I add opal basil to the vinegar to create a beautiful red hue. Superwoman vinegar was designed to provide a nourishing boost of minerals, particularly for women in menopause who are experiencing bone loss.

Try making herb-infused vinegar at home, and let me know how it turns out.