Today I’m going to be making some fermented garlic honey.
Making any fermented food is actually pretty easy, the hardest part is the patience. I’m not known for patience, but I am getting better as time goes on.
I wanted to make fermented garlic honey more out of curiosity than anything else. I love honey and will sneak a spoonful from the jar every now and then.
Be on the lookout for my sauerkraut recipe. I have been tweaking it and am finally happy with the results. I will be posting that recipe soon!
So What Are The Benefits of Fermented Honey, Anyway?
Well, I’m glad you ask.
We all know that honey sooths the throat and can help reduce coughing when you are sick.
Fermented honey kicks the health benefits up a few notches.
According to google, fermented honey can boost your immune function and fights infection. Which is why it is suggested to take during the winter months and especially when you feel a cold coming on.
There are some claims out there that it is natures antibiotic. I do suggest that you not take this to extreme. I plan on trying my garlic honey when I first feel a cold coming on. However, if it doesn’t seem to work or I start feeling worse, I will by all means go to the doctor.
We have to remember to use common sense. I’m all about being more self sufficient, but I’m not going to take risks at mine or my family’s health.
Other benefits include, reducing inflammation, which can help in a host of ways including joint pain. It may also help reduce blood pressure.
And probably the one that excites me the most is that garlic honey can improve gut health with its probiotics factors.
Ways To Use Nature’s Miracle In A Jar.
So, you may be wondering how you are supposed to use fermented garlic honey. I know I was.
The most obvious way is to eat a spoonful of the garlic honey each day to boost your immune health. You could also just take it when you feel a cold or sore throat coming on.
I choose to dice up my garlic, but there are some recipes that call for leaving the garlic cloves whole. In that case you would eat a whole clove of garlic in stead of a spoonful.
I had a coworker who left the cloves of garlic whole but could hardly eat the whole clove at one time, so she suggested to me to dice up my garlic.
The garlic can be very strong and overpowering. I personally do not see my family taking this willingly. So, I am going to do what any good mom and wife does, hide it in their food.
That’s my plan.
In recipes that call for garlic, I am going to use this instead, where it makes sense. Probably at the end of cooking.
Cooking fermented garlic honey will decrease its health benefits so it needs to be something you add to your food after it’s done cooking.
Other suggestions include adding fermented garlic honey to salads, teas, eating it raw on bread or crackers.
Making Fermented Garlic Honey.
The most important thing to make this recipe work is to source your honey from a local farmer.
I would also suggest starting with a small amount.
I used an 8 oz jelly jar. This way if I mess it up, I am not wasting a lot of my local honey.
First thing to do is to break up the garlic from the bulb, peel and dice each clove of garlic, I found this part to be very tedious.
I chopped up my cloves pretty finely.
I ended up using 2 bulbs of garlic. You need enough to fill the jar halfway.
The next thing to do is add your honey. Fill the jar the rest of the way with honey leaving about one inch of head space.
At this point you put the lid on the jar and set in a cool dark place. The back of your pantry should make it happy.
Since this is fermented garlic honey, it will need to be burped once a day for the next two weeks. This will release gas buildup during the fermentation process.
To “burp” it, simply open the jar and then close it up again. You may also want to easily flip the jar to get the garlic to mix with the honey. The garlic will rise to the top of your jar.
As it ferments, the garlic smell will not be so potent. Again, it’s all about patience.
There you have it. I hope you give this recipe a try. It’s one more recipe for your arsenal of from scratch cooking and self sufficiency!