Fermented Garlic Honey
Fermented honey garlic is the perfect thing to make to boost your immune system! Both honey and garlic have strong medicinal benefits, so you’ll want to have this delicious home remedy on hand for cold and flu season.
PREPARE THE GARLIC
The most time consuming part is prepping all of the garlic. Whatever size jar you use, you’ll want to fill it about 1/2-3/4 full of peeled garlic.
The quickest and easiest way to prep garlic is to place the side of a chef’s knife on top of a single clove and then give it a firm whack with the palm of your hand.
Don’t do it too hard, as you don’t want to crush the garlic, but just enough to lightly bruise the it. This will make it easy to peel, and will also release a bit of the garlic juice.
Once you have enough garlic in your jar let it sit in the air for about 15 minutes. This is going to activate the yeast properties in the garlic to assist with fermentation.
ADD THE HONEY
Once your garlic has rested pour in some raw local honey to cover it. The garlic will probably float and that’s perfectly normal. Leave yourself at least 1” headspace in your jar.
It’s important to use raw honey to make fermented garlic in honey, as it will still have all the bacteria and wild yeast that is necessary for fermentation.
When liquid is added to honey, it jump starts the fermentation process. The small amount of juice from the garlic will create just enough liquid for fermentation to happen.
COVER AND FLIP
Cover the jar loosely with a lid to let the gasses escape, and put it in a dark place to ferment.
It’s a good idea to put a plate or something similar underneath the jar as it’s fermenting, as it will likely bubble up a bit and a little honey could possibly drip out.
In a few days to a week you will notice some bubbles forming on the surface of the honey. Hooray!
The honey garlic will ferment for about a month, but you can eat it at any time during the process.
The flavor will continue to develop over time, the garlic will mellow, and the honey will become much runnier.
Occasionally the garlic cloves turn a blue or green color due to a reaction during the fermentation process. While it may be a bit alarming, it is not harmful and the honey garlic can still be used.
Honey garlic will store well in a cool place for many months, or even a year or longer! I’ve kept some for over two years and it is still good.
USING FERMENTED HONEY GARLIC
Now, how do you use this fermented honey garlic? That’s a good question, and it can be used in a variety of ways.
Both garlic and honey have strong medicinal properties, so it makes sense to use it as an immune booster or if you feel a cold or flu coming on.
Pop a whole garlic clove, or take a spoonful of honey (or both!).
As you can probably imagine, honey garlic also makes a wonderful food!
It’s a natural in marinades and sauces, and would make a really tasty glaze for meats or veggies. Basically anything where you would normally use honey and garlic together.
