Oxymeli recipe

---------- Recreation of Oxymeli --------------
from Pliny the Elder, The Natural History (eds. John Bostock,
M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A.)

CHAP. 21.--OXYMELI
Found at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?
lookup=Plin.+Nat.+14.21

"Vinegar even has been mixed with honey; nothing, in fact, has been
left untried by man. To this mixture the name of oxymeli has been
given; it is compounded of ten pounds of honey, five semi-sextarii
of old vinegar, one pound of sea-salt, and five sextarii of rain-
water. This is boiled gently till the mixture has bubbled in the pot
some ten times,2 after which it is drawn off, and kept till it is
old"


Recreation:
Ingredients in Roman weights
10 pounds honey
5 semi-sextarii of old vinegar
1 pound sea-salt
5 sextarii of water


Ingredients in modern weights
( Roman equivilents found at http://www.answers.com/roman%20measures )
7.5 pounds of honey
5 c 11 T (5.7) old vinegar
12 oz sea-salt
11.5 c water


Recipe at 1/12 reduction
10 oz honey
7 T 2t old vinegar (3 fluid oz)
1 oz sea-salt
1 c water


Add all ingredients to a sauce pan and heat over a low flame. After
mixture becomes very clear and has bubbles over entire surface,
stir. This counts as one "bubbled in pot". Repeat until it has done
this 10 times. Remove from heat and let cool. Makes 1 2/3 cups.


3 tablespoons of oxymeli added to 12 ounces of water tastes just
like Gatorade, and is significantly cheaper.

Notes on the recreation
I used just things I had around the house, honey that had gone hard,
apple cider vinegar and kosher salt, and it tastes really good.