Medicinal Honey from Recipe Renovator: perfect for cold and flu season!

Easy recipe turns honey into anti-inflammatory gold

I first came across medicinal honey through my friend Laura Plumb’s beautiful blog Food A Love Story. I had never heard of infusing raw honey with garlic as a medicinal recipe, but was intrigued.

I tried making it with whole cloves of garlic, but those proved too much for me when it came down to it. I wondered what would happen if I minced the garlic, and my garlic-honey toddy was born.

When I went on the Migraine Relief Plan, I stopped using this medicinal honey, as I wasn’t sure if it was high in tyramine, being somehow preserved in the honey. And then things settled down in my life, and I started thinking about it again late this fall when people started getting sick. I wondered what else I could add to the honey to make it as beneficial as possible for boosting my immune system and offering anti-inflammatory benefits. This time, I added a hot red jalapeño from my garden, fresh ginger root, fresh turmeric root, freshly cracked black pepper, and less garlic, so that it wasn’t too weird in hot tea. If you have a mini-chopper, use that. Making such a small amount, my big food processor gave me very finely minced results, but a puree would actually be even better I think. The black pepper helps make the anti-inflammatory component of turmeric, curcumin, far more bioavailable. You’ll also want to gently heat it (as in the tea), and add some healthy fat, like ghee, coconut oil, or full-fat coconut milk.

Make sure you let it sit at least 3 days before using. Start with 1/2 teaspoon in a cup of hot water. I love it with Celestial Seasonings decaf black chai tea and a little coconut milk.

It’s important to use raw local honey to get the most benefits for your immune system. Children under 1 year of age should NEVER have honey.

Suitable for:

vegetarian, gluten-free, celiac, paleo, low-sodium diets

Not recommended for:

vegan, migraine diets

You might also like:

Garlic honey throat, cold, and flu remedy from Nouveau Raw
Ayurvedic healing cold and flu remedies from Food A Love Story

Medicinal Honey from Recipe Renovator: perfect for cold and flu season!

Medicinal honey

3.60 from 5 votes
Prep Time 5 minutes
Total Time 8 minutes
Course Breakfast, Dinner, Lunch
Cuisine American
Servings 48 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 1 jalapeño red, or other small hot red pepper, top removed, in pieces
  • 1 piece turmeric root 2-1/2 inches long, washed
  • 1 piece ginger (fresh) about the same size as the turmeric root, scrubbed
  • 1 clove garlic one large or two mini cloves, peeled
  • 1/2 cup honey raw, local
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper freshly cracked (can use this in place of the jalapeño)

Instructions
 

  • Put the first four ingredients in a food processor or mini chopper and whiz until finely minced. Or mince by hand as finely as you can.
  • Stir into honey in a serving jar. Let sit at least 3 days before using. Does not need to be refrigerated.