Vinegar of the Four Thieves

Ingredients

• 1 large handful lavender
• 1 large handful rosemary
• 1 large handful sage
• 1 large handful wormwood
• 1 large handful rue
• 1 large handful mint
• 4 quarts vinegar
• 1 clove garlic

Instructions

1. Take lavender, rosemary, sage, wormwood, rue, and mint, of each a large handful.
2. Put them in a pot of earthen ware and pour on them four quarts of very strong vinegar.
3. Cover the pot closely and put a board on the top.
4. Keep it in the hottest sun two weeks, then strain and bottle it, putting in each bottle a clove of garlic.
5. When it has settled in the bottle and become clear, pour it off gently. Do this until you get it all free from sediment.
6. The proper time to make it is when the herbs are in full vigour, in June. This vinegar is very refreshing in crowded rooms and in the apartments of the sick, and is peculiarly grateful when sprinkled about the house in damp weather.