Awards/Mentions: 

Silver Finalist - Outstanding New Product - sofi^tm- 2011 

Gold Award - Outstanding New Product - sofi^tm- 2010

Product Notes:  

 The flamboyant hibiscus and healthy rosehip, elderflower and vanilla bean flavour this aromatic vinegar. A sprinkling of hibiscus-infused vinegar adds a healthy piquancy to dressings, summer fruits and salsa.

It’s known as roselle, Jamaican water, karkady and bissap; is made from the sepals of the flower and consumed worldwide. It’s bursting with vitamin C, caffeine free, reduces cholesterol and blood pressure and enriches the immune system. It is delicately perfumed, a lovely colour and has a tantalizing flavour. This magic herb? The resplendent hibiscus.

The healing properties of the elderflower (Sambucus nigra) include reducing chest ailments, fever and inflammation. Culinary uses: in wine, jam, chutney and vinegar. For a dessert that’s completely different, serve elderflower fritters with a scoop of gooseberry and elderflower ice-cream. Use only the flowers, because the leaves and branches are poisonous if consumed. 

The Melipona bee, native to Mexico, is the only creature that pollinates vanilla flowers naturally. Small wonder raw vanilla is so expensive, second only to saffron. Vanilla makes an excellent insecticide and removes difficult-to-shift odours, such as those caused by sour milk. The extract gives immediate relief from burns. Vanilla flavours pastries and desserts, seasons pork, augments crab and scallop dishes and reduces acid in tomato sauces.

When a rose bloom dies, the remaining fruit is called rosehips. The taste, reminiscent of cranberries, is piquant. Use rosehips in savory and sweet spreads; to flavour bread and pastry; or add to soups and stews. Remove the fine hairs before cooking. Rosehip tea is crisp, blending well with mint or hibiscus flowers. Rosehips contain abundant Vitamins C, D and E, and make an excellent blood purifier. Use rosehips for respiratory infections, gastrointestinal discomfort and to boost the immune system.

Rozendal Story

“Sour makes happy” (German expression) – By Kurt Ammann 

In 1995, Rolf Saxer visited me on our small family wine farm, Rozendal, in Stellenbosch, South Africa. We had started farming organically in 1994 and he was looking for red wine made without sulphur. He described the healing potential of certain vinegars, explaining the intricacies of producing such elixirs – a process taking two to three years, after which various herbs are individually macerated in the vinegar, in separate barrels, for another two to five years. With the 1988 vintage (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc) still in the barrels, we ventured into vinegar production – naturally made to enhance health and food.

We started farming biodynamically in 2001 and I began drinking our vinegar several times per day. I measured my pH (the balance between alkalinity and acidity) up to 10 times daily to ascertain how different emotional, mental and physical states, together with the raw vinegar, affected my body. I learned that naturally-made raw vinegar is an excellent pH balancer and that the macerated herb ingredients are better utilized by the body.

When stressed by exercise, injury or emotional pressure, the body produces more acid. This is illustrated by damage appearing after a burn or muscular stiffness following excessive exercise (a build-up of lactic acid). However, if pH levels are maintained, the body suffers no additional damage beyond the initial injury. Drinking raw vinegar during/immediately after stress helps maintain the body’s optimum pH level, neutralizing harmful acidic build-up. When my wife broke three ribs, I gave her a large shot of this vinegar immediately. Healing was accelerated by four-to-six weeks and after a fortnight, she had no pain in the affected area. A body not under stress produces fewer acids (the blood should measure between 7.3 and 7.45 pH when pH is balanced). I have been in the food and wine industry since 1957 and have noticed that circumstances affect the taste experience. Under positive circumstances, where people feel rested/happy (for example, on holiday), their pH is balanced. They may enjoy a particular wine, buy a bottle and store it. Later, when daily stresses exacerbate, the ‘delicious’ wine is sampled and they wonder who changed it! Their bodies’ pH has changed because of accumulated acids which now oppose the acid in the wine and alter the taste.

Naturally-made raw vinegar assists in neutralizing excessive acid, never producing it.  I was once told “Sour makes happy” – when negative emotions, such as anger, produce acid, one should drink a naturally-made vinegar/lemon juice immediately to restore the body’s pH balance. Read up on pH and the best ways to optimize health. At Rozendal, we make different blends of vinegar using our farm ingredients: wine, chillies, elderflower, carob, lavender, wild rosemary, rose geranium, wild olive, bay leaf (the kelp, green tea, rose hip, hibiscus, honey bush tea, buchu are obtained elsewhere). We served Rozendal vinegar to our restaurant customers for years, then started bottling and selling it. Rozendal Red Wine Vinegar tastes good, drinks beautifully and definitely makes people happy.