Recipe for 4 Thieves Vinegar

I haven’t had coffee all week, which wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be and I have to say, I think it actually helped settle my stomach. I didn’t go all out cold turkey however, as I still had a daily cup of tea, thus avoiding the headaches commonly associated with caffeine withdrawal.

But it is the weekend, the sun is shining and I’m feeling a little French, so a petit café (little coffee) is keeping me company as I type. Oh yes, it’s great to be good; but God it’s good to be bad.

To fulfil my yearning for a little piece of France this morning I have been looking at two of my major girl crushes online - Inès de la Fressange, who I discovered in the 1980’s, whilst she was Karl Lagerfield’s muse for Chanel. Now in her 50’s, still gorgeous with a seemingly effortless chic she has a newsletter - La Lettre d’Inès.

Inès de la Fressange from her newsletter

Inès de la Fressange

The other is the illustrator and style blogger Garance Dore. Here is a picture of Garance with newly cropped hair wearing a dress at Cannes 2015.

Garance Dore

I love Garance Dore’s stylish illustrations.

Illustration © Garance Dore

One of the products Inès mentions in her newsletter is Vinaigre des 4 Voleurs. 

The name intrigued me so I did a little research and discovered this herbal tincture supposedly kept alive 4 thieves who robbed graves during the Great Plague of Marseille in 1720. Legend has it that under threat of death they divulged their life-saving secret, which was a herbal infusion. 

There are several different recipes online, I have badly translated one below. 

It can be used as an antiseptic aftershave, to treat dandruff even taken diluted as a health tonic for all varieties of ailment from acid reflux to general sickness.

La fameuse recette du Vinaigre des 4 Voleurs  
The famous recipe for 4 Thieves Vinegar

Dans 1 litre de vinaigre de cidre mettez ces plantes séchées: 
Add these dried herbs to 1 litre of cider vinegar.

20 g de romarin (20g rosemary)
20 g de lavande (20g lavender)
20 g de sauge (20g sage)
20 g d’absinthe (20g artemisia absinthium - wormwood)
20 g de rue (20g common rue - ruta graveolens)
20 g de thym (20g thyme)
20 g de menthe (20g mint)
3 g de muscade en poudre (3g powdered nutmeg)
30 clous de girofles ou 3g de poudre de girofles (30 cloves)
3 g de cannelle en poudre (3g ground cinnamon)
3 gousses d’ail (3 garlic cloves)
5 g de camphre (5g camphor - Cinnamomum Camphora)


Vous laissez macérer pendant 10 à 15 jours, puis vous filtrez et vous mettez en bouteilles.  La conservation doit se faire au frais et à l’abri de la lumière.

Leave to macerate for 10 to 15 days then sieve into bottles and keep in a cool dark place out of direct sunlight. 

I might try it, although apparently it tastes and smells abhorrent! And I may attempt to plant up a 4 thieves herb bed at my new allotment.

Herb Garden at Pantry Garden Herbs

Dairy free chocolate cupcakes for milk allergy kids.

 2oz Dairyfree spread such as Pure (the sunflower one tastes nicer than the soya based one, but either will work. Regular margarine contains milk proteins – so always read the ingredients.)

2oz sugar

1 egg

1oz self raising flour

1oz cocoa powder (yes, chocolate grows on trees not in cows)

Cream together the ‘not butter’ and sugar, beat in the egg, it will be  a bit sloppy but fear not. Sift in the flour and cocoa powder don’t worry too much if you have slightly more flour than cocoa just as long as they add up to 2oz. Fold in, until mixture is a consistent colour. Line a 12 hole mini muffin tin with cases and plop a generous teaspoon of cake mix into each.

Bake at 190 degrees or gas mark 4 for about 10minutes or until the smell of cake starts to eminate and the point of a knife comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack, dust with icing sugar and give on demand of: ‘cakey, cakey.’

This recipe can be doubled and used for normal sized cupcakes just add an extra egg and  use 4oz flour of dry ingredients using 1oz of cocoa powder. Adjust the cooking time as they are larger and check after 15 minutes.