Urban Pharm

Jill Forney doesn’t consider herself a wizard in the kitchen. In fact, she said her West Cambridge home counter looks more like a science lab with a permanent experiment going on: Various colored liquids over here, small pieces of herbs and other greenery shredded, torn and picked at over there.

Yet in talking about Urban Pharm, the “shrub” company she started this year with Cambridgeport pal Anne Bunn, and their product development process in particular, she called it “kitchen witching.”

At Urban Pharm, the shrubs they sell are not run-of-the-mill bushes that require pruning. Their goods are apple vinegar-based elixirs of sorts, modeled after those first developed in 15th century England that took advantage of vinegar’s reputation for good health, but mixed with alcohol to make “medicinal cordials.” Americans adopted the British recipe generations later (in the 1800s) as a way to preserve berries and other fruits off-season. Apple cider vinegar reemerged in more modern times as a scientifically validated source of antioxidants and antimicrobials.

The company’s Apple, Rosemary, and Flowers Shrub, for instance, has apple cider vinegar that “supports digestion” and apples with attributes that “promote immunity and reduce inflammation,” raw honey that “improves blood sugar regulation,” rosemary rich in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds, hibiscus with “heaps of vitamin C” and rose petals whose antioxidants “reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes, obesity and cognitive decline.”