Chase Away Your Winter Woes with Garlic Honey
By Badger Compain
Happy Fall, everyone, and welcome to the bin. In this month’s knowledge bin, I have an herbal offering to help fight sickness in these colder, darker months. This recipe is a beginner-friendly fermented garlic honey that helps chase away winter woes.
While this is a common herbal remedy, the recipe I am most familiar with is the one by Christine Buckley found in her wonderful book Plant Magic: Herbalism in Real Life. An important disclaimer before you begin: I am not a certified health professional or certified herbalist. I know a thing or two from my own personal experimentations, but if you are experiencing severe symptoms, please seek out a doctor for further medical support.
Now grab your jar, and let's get crafting!
For the recipe, you’ll need:
1 head of garlic, peeled and lightly smashed
1 cup of honey (bonus if it is local honey to fight seasonal allergies in your area!)
A glass jar
Recommended:
pH test strips
Optional:
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon dried oregano
Apple cider vinegar
Instructions:
After peeling and smashing the garlic, add it to a glass jar with the herbs if you choose to use them! Cover the herbs with the honey, ensuring that everything is completely submerged. Once the lid is on, tuck it away somewhere dark and safe - but not somewhere you will forget about it!
You will want to open the jar every day to “burp” your honey, which just means releasing the buildup of gas as it ferments. You’ll want to flip the jar over occasionally, as well, to make sure the honey is coating everything.
If you are new to fermenting and unfamiliar with botulism, it is a foodborne toxin that can form in foods that have been improperly canned. While botulism is very serious, you need not worry! It is easy to ensure your honey is safe and healthy by testing with some pH strips (available at most drug stores). If your honey is under 4.6 pH, you’re all good. If it is sneaking above, add a splash of apple cider vinegar to lower the pH. Easy as that!
After 3 days, your honey should form tiny bubbles when you check on it. This means it is working! The honey will become more liquidy over time. Ferment for at least a week, and you will have a sweet, herbal, and garlicy syrup to clear out a cold in no time. Move the jar to the fridge and enjoy by taking a spoonful straight up or mixing it into a mug of hot water or tea when you feel a cold coming on.
Why it works:
If you’re a nerd like me, or just an intelligent person who likes to understand why they are told to consume something, here are the fun facts, chemical constituents, and medicinal actions you need to know!
Honey
Honey is a wonderful sweetener, but also boasts incredible benefits for the body, particularly during times of stress (like when we are fighting a cold). Honey is packed with antioxidants that protect the cells of the body. Additionally, it stimulates the immune cells, signaling the body to start cellular tissue repair. Honey is antiviral, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory, which helps to bring down swelling in the sinuses. Finally, honey is virtually unmatched when it comes to soothing a sore throat.
While there is no particular brand of honey that will work better or worse for this recipe, we would love to recommend you consider picking up a jar of Skyway Honey from our friends at Goebel Goods! Goebel Goods donated Honey for our PR/advanced reader copy boxes. And beyond being great friends of ours, they also produce honey in carefully crafted small-batch products. They’re known for 100% raw, single-source, sustainably harvested honey from their humble apiary in the Skyway neighborhood on Seattle’s southern border. Get yourself a jar at Skyway’s Farmer’s Market!
Garlic
Garlic is a warming herb that we reach for in the kitchen, perhaps without considering all it can do for us medicinally. Garlic is an antiseptic, antimicrobial, antispasmotic, expectorant, nutritive, and antifungal herb. This means we want to reach for it when you feel that cold creeping in. Because of the allicin compound released in garlic when it is crushed, it is hugely supportive to the immune system.
Thyme
Thyme is both delicious and medicinal, making it a perfect ally for the cold season. Thyme is a nervine, expectorant, decongestant, antiseptic, diaphoretic, and nutritive. Thyme is helpful during the cold season because it encourages a productive cough and helps to remove mucus from the lungs. Thyme eases a sore or scratchy throat, and eases an anxious nervous system.
Oregano
Oregano is more than a topping on your pizza. It has antioxidant, antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties, which can knock a cold right out. Oregano protects cells from free radicals and fortifies the immune system when it is under attack by pathogens, making us sick. It is nutrient-rich, supports digestion, and helps reduce inflammation in the sinuses and respiratory system, just like thyme!
This is a classic recipe for supporting health and well-being during these colder months. Feel free to experiment with your own ingredients as well! I imagine that ginger or rosemary would also make excellent additions. Please remember to be incredibly careful that the jar, hands, and other equipment used are clean so that we can stay safe while canning and fermenting!
Happy Fall from the Hinton Team!