Fermented Garlic Honey - Honey Month!

It’s National Honey Month and the start of cold & flu season so we made a batch of immune-strengthening fermented garlic honey!

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Raw honey and garlic have been used medicinally for centuries and are well-known for their health benefits.

Raw honey is packed with antioxidants that protect and strengthen the immune system, and it has antibacterial and antiseptic properties. Honey is not only a sweet and tasty treat it’s a wonderful remedy to quell a cough and soothe a sore throat.

Garlic is packed with amino acids, flavonoids, sulfur and allicin – a compound shown to reduce inflammation as well as protect against a number of aliments such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. It’s also known for its antiviral and antibacterial properties making it a great addition to your immune-strengthening regimen.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole garlic cloves peeled and slightly crushed
• 1 cup raw, unpasteurized honey* or as enough needed to cover garlic completely

*Raw honey is needed for this recipe as raw honey contains bacteria and yeast that is necessary for fermentation.

Instructions:

• Peel and very slightly crush garlic cloves. Place the peeled garlic cloves into a pint size, wide-mouth mason jar. Slightly crushing the cloves will create enough juices to help the fermentation process.
• Add enough honey to completely cover the garlic cloves ensuring all are coated.
• Loosely place the lid on the jar and store in cool dark place. Keeping the lid slightly loose helps let out the gases that build up.
• Every day or so tighten the lid and flip upside down re-coating garlic, then return to upright position and slightly loosen the lid again.
• Repeat for about a month.
• In a few days you will notice bubbles starting to form – the process has begun!
• Store in a cool place for many months. Do not refrigerate. Honey does not like refrigeration!

Food Safety:

• pH should be under 4.6 to ensure botulism does not grow. If you are concerned, pH meters are a great tool to ease your mind; however, honey is typically a pH of 3.9 but can vary depending on botanical source.
• Do not feed to babies under 1 year old.