Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) is a herb with some ancient history. I’ll be writing a post about it soon but for now, here’s another use for it – ‘strong bones vinegar’.
Mugwort contains a lot of calcium and magnesium, making it useful for strengthening bones and improving muscle function. As the two often go hand in hand, this is a good combination. Mugwort is all that is used in traditional recipes but I like to kick thing s up a bit and add to this brew Nettles for their amazing mineral content and Wild Oat Grass for theirs, especially Silica.
Using vinegar is a cheap and easy way to extract all of those lovely minerals. Most are slightly alkaline so using a weak acid helps make them more soluble. Vinegar extractions are called Acetae (after the acetic acid in the vinegar) and we have a whole page dedicated to making them right here. They’re a great alternative to alcoholic tinctures.
A bit of caution: some folks are allergic to Mugwort, usually the same ones that have a Ragweed allergy. The oils in Mugwort can also affect pregnant women, so be careful here too please.
If this is your first time dealing with Mugwort, take precautions. Handle the fresh herb for a little, wait for a while and if you’re not sneezing up a storm and your eyes aren’t red and watery in about an hour, you should be good to go. It’s mostly the pollen that some folks are allergic to but in a few cases, contact with the skin can provoke a reaction.
How to do it:
Making strong bones vinegar is just too easy!
You need 2 things – some Mugwort and other herbs, if you wish. Fresh is nicer but not necessary because we’re really after the water soluble components of the plant, not the oils.
Then you’ll need some vinegar. I use our home grown Apple Cider Vinegar. The acid in the vinegar is necessary for taste and to combine with the alkaline minerals in the herbs and make them water soluble – vinegar is about 96% water, afterall. You can use regular white or malt vinegar if you wish.
First, you’ll gather the fresh Mugwort (some of mine in the pic above is looking a little singed because of a week of 40°C+ temperatures here in Gawler).
Then you need to chop it up fairly finely so the vinegar can get in and do its work.
Add the herbs to the vinegar or the other way around. We like it fairly light, so a couple of big handfuls of leaves in 1 litre of vinegar is enough for us. You may like it stronger or use a different amount if you use another kind of vinegar. It’s all good, just experiment.
Nobody here at Ligaya Garden is big on measuring anything for culinary purposes, preferring experience and the question ‘what if I do this…?’ to take the lead. When I’m making the more technical remedies, I’m a stickler for accuracy, of course.
Seal the bottle up, label it (thinking ‘I’m sure I’ll remember what’s in this jar’ has been my downfall many times). Store it in the fridge and it will last a long time.
Leave it a two weeks to month and away you go. It’s ready to strain and sprinkle on food or take 1 tsp – 1 tbsp in a glass of water every day.
Use Strong Bone vinegar as you would any other vinegar and you’ll benefit from the added minerals. Your skeleton will love you!
Look what I found!
Recently (Dec 2024) I found this jar of Strong Bones Vinegar that I put up to macerate at the tail end of the Covid lockdowns. The herbs are still intact – you can clearly see the Oat Grass pieces, there’s no mould or spoilage and it’s sealed itself with a Mother (the rubbery layer on top)! It tastes good too!
Other herb pages on Ligaya Garden
We cover a lot of ground on many herb related topics here on our website. There are whole pages devoted to different topics as well as frequent posts. Some of the links are –
