Four Thieves Vinegar - History

History

This specific vinegar composition is said to have been used during Black Plague time to prevent the catching of this dreaded disease. Other similar types of herbal vinegars have been used as medicine since the time of Hippocrates.

Early recipes for this vinegar called for a number of herbs to be added into a vinegar solution and left to steep for several days. The following vinegar recipe hung in the Museum of Paris in 1937, and is said to have been an original copy of the recipe posted on the walls of Marseilles during an episode of the plague:

Take three pints of strong white wine vinegar, add a handful of each of wormwood, meadowsweet, wild marjoram and sage, fifty cloves, two ounces of campanula roots, two ounces of angelic, rosemary and horehound and three large measures of champhor. Place the mixture in a container for fifteen days, strain and express then bottle. Use by rubbing it on the hands, ears and temples from time to time when approaching a plague victim.

Another recipe called for dried rosemary, dried sage flowers, dried lavender flowers, fresh rue,camphor dissolved in spirit, sliced garlic, bruised cloves, and distilled wine vinegar.

Modern day versions of Four Thieves Vinegar include various herbs that typically include sage, lavender, thyme, and rosemary, along with garlic. Additional herbs sometimes include rue, mint, and wormwood. It has become traditional to use four herbs in the recipe—one for each thief, though earlier recipes often have a dozen herbs or more. It is still sold in Provence. In Italy a mixture called "Seven Thieves Vinegar" is sold as a smelling salt, though its ingredients appear to be the same as in Four Thieves mixtures.