Fermented Honey Garlic

Fermented honey garlic is easy to make and requires very little daily upkeep. It’s packed with tons of immune boosting properties. With cold and fly season quickly approaching, you’ll want to be sure to have this fermenting on your counter (or in your cupboard).

Benefits of Honey

Local, raw honey is a staple in my cupboard. It’s a natural sweetener, reduces inflammation, and can even help with seasonal allergies if consumed regularly. We always try to source local, raw honey if possible because of the process of pasteurization that store bought honey goes through. Ensuring that it’s local is what helps with those seasonal allergies- the bees are gathering pollen from local flora, and being exposed to honey produced from that can actually lessen allergy symptoms. Plus, it’s always nice to support a local beekeeper.

Because of its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, honey is an excellent choice for treating wounds. I use honey for burns, spider bites, and even scraped knees that start looking a little suspicious. I rub a little honey (usually manuka, but loca,l raw will work great as well) on the injury and then cover with some gauze. Honey enhances wound healing and has even helped us clear up infections.

Benefits of Garlic

Like honey, garlic is a staple around here. It can aid in regulating blood sugar and blood pressure, lower cholesterol, and help with fungal infections of the skin. Garlic helps strengthen the immune system and has even been documented to aid in cancer treatment! Talk about a super food!

Garlic also has anti-inflammatory properties, which helps with the treatment of colds and other illnesses. I’ve personally used garlic to tackle mastitis (an infection that can occur with breast feeding), ear aches/infections, and often times use it in place of antibiotics. It’s also delicious in basically any recipe we make!

Why Fermented?

The microorganisms (yeast and good bacteria) involved in the fermentation process are so beneficial to us. Our guts need an abundance of good bacteria in order to remain healthy. Fermented foods help keep those good bacteria thriving. If the good bacteria isn’t thriving, the bad bacteria can take over and cause issues like candida or irritable bowel symptoms.

Combining honey and garlic in order to facilitate fermentation is like a triple dose of goodness- You’re getting the benefits of the honey, the garlic and the ferment! We take a clove at the first sign of a sniffle and it helps combat the onset of a cold, or lessens the duration of a cold if we already have one. The only downside is that it does take 4-6 weeks to ferment, so you’ll want to start this early to have it on hand.

How to Make Fermented Honey Garlic

Making fermented honey garlic is easy- the hardest part is peeling all the garlic! I recruit a few of my helping hands (my kiddos) and it makes for light work. Once you get the garlic cloves peeled go ahead and use the flat part of your knife to slightly crush the cloves. That releases some of the juices and makes the fermentation process go quicker.

After the garlic is peeled and slightly crushed, add it all to a jar. I prefer a mason jar but any glass jar with a lid will work. Fill it to the top with garlic (my jar required about 9 bulbs of garlic), and then fill it the rest of the way with honey. Screw on your lid and set it on the counter to ferment.

The Upkeep

The upkeep for fermented honey garlic is super easy. You’ll want to “burp” your jar once or twice a day- this just means you’ll open up the lid to allow the gases to escape. The gas here is a byproduct of those microorganisms mentioned above doing their job. They are breaking down some glucose and the process of fermentation has begun! Give your jar a good shake or stir after burping, and that’s all there is to it.

Let it sit for 4-6 weeks on the counter to fully ferment, keeping it out of direct sun. Once that’s done you can continue to keep it out (just remember to keep up on the burping), or store it in the fridge. It won’t go bad either way, thanks to the honey.

Is Mold a Concern?

Thanks to the anti-microbial effects of the honey and garlic, mold generally isn’t a concern. However, it is important to shake/stir the garlic into the honey daily, so any piece that was not submerged can be rotated in. You will see some bubbling. Sometimes the garlic may even appear tinged green, but as long as you don’t see any fuzzy looking mold spots on top then it is fine.

How to Take.

You’ve let the garlic ferment and you feel a cold coming on. Now what? Consuming is easy- just pop a garlic clove in your mouth! You could also use a spoonful of the honey to sweeten your tea. You could even spread some of the garlic/honey concoction onto a piece of homemade sourdough bread. It truly doesn’t matter how you take it, as long as you get it down. And trust me, the taste really isn’t so bad!

Have you ever tried fermented garlic honey? Is it something you’d try? Let me know in the comments your experience.