🎃🍎 𝐏𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐤𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐎𝐱𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐥

The Oxymel goes in a completely different direction from the Extract, Oil, and Elixir. Here we’re deliberately bringing apple cider vinegar + honey into the picture, giving us tartness and sweetness alongside the pumpkin and warm spices.

𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝:

1 lb fresh culinary pumpkin, cut into ½–¾” pieces

1 whole vanilla bean, split

1 whole nutmeg, coarsely cracked

½ oz / 14 g Indonesian cassia cinnamon chips (Cinnamomum burmannii)

1 Tbsp whole cloves

3 cups apple cider vinegar labeled 5% acidity

1½–2½ cups mild honey, which we’ll add after extraction.

Put the pumpkin, vanilla, and nutmeg into a clean half-gallon jar. Place the cinnamon and cloves in a small muslin or nut-milk bag and add that to the jar. Pour in the vinegar, keep the pumpkin submerged, and use a nonreactive lid.

Start tasting around day 3. Once the cinnamon and clove have reached the level you want—often somewhere around 5–10 days—remove the spice bag. Leave the pumpkin, vanilla, and nutmeg to continue extracting for another 2–3 weeks total, tasting along the way.

Once the brew reaches your desired flavor, strain and press thoroughly before adding any honey. Begin with 1½ cups, mix well, and taste. If it needs more rounding, add honey gradually, working up toward 2–2½ cups if necessary. The goal isn’t to bury the vinegar; you want enough tartness left to make this useful throughout the kitchen.

Try it in sparkling water, shrubs, mocktails and cocktails, tea, cider, vinaigrettes, marinades, pan sauces, roasted vegetables, and glazes for pork and poultry. Pairing Pumpkin Spice Oxymel + Pumpkin Spice Culinary Oil + homemade Dijon also gives us a terrific starting point for an autumn vinaigrette.

𝐀𝐧 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭: Fresh pumpkin contributes a substantial amount of water to this preparation. I 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐱𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐥 rather than assuming vinegar and honey automatically make it shelf-stable. A shelf-stable version would need to be formulated and verified separately.

Revisiting the pumpkin spice delicacies we’ve already created: