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An ancient remedy: Bitter herbs and sweet wine

Jars suggest early Egyptians mixed medicinal plants into alcoholic beverage

For Mary Poppins, a spoonful of sugar helped the medicine go down. For ancient Egyptians, wine did the job.

An ancient wine jar found in Gebel Adda in southern Egypt dates from between A.D. 300 and 500. New chemical analyses of residue found inside the jar show that the wine may have been laced with rosemary and pine resin for medicinal purposes. ~~ Courtesy of W. Pratt, with permission of the Royal Ontario Museum © RO

New chemical analyses of ancient wine jars suggest that Egyptians mixed herbs into wine to create medicinal remedies, researchers report. The findings, published online April 13 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could be the earliest direct evidence for wine containing medicinal substances, the scientists say.