Herbal honey is an easy and delicious way to get herbs into your diet and not only are you benefiting from the herb, but the honey is packed with healing properties itself. As long as your honey is raw (hasn't been heated or processed) it contains healing enzymes, vitamins, antioxidants and it is anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal. That means you can use the honey itself as a topical first aid healer for bug bites, wounds, burns, rashes and any skin issues. Adding raw honey to your food also enhances the absorption of nutrients, delivering the healing properties of the herb deeper into the body. You can use any herb or combination of herbs to make an herbal honey, today we are making Thyme Honey.
How to Make an Herbal Honey
You can used fresh, dried or powdered herbs. I will be using fresh thyme leaves and flowers from the garden. The flowers have the most medicinal properties when they are first opening, but you can pick and use them any time. You can also mix and match your herbs depending on the healing properties you want to utilize. Ginger is another great immune and respiratory herb to make a honey with and you could mix it with your thyme if you desire.
Separate your leaves and flowers from the stems and fill your jar half full. If using dried herbs fill it 1/4 full.
Separate your leaves and flowers from the stems and fill your jar half full. If using dried herbs fill it 1/4 full.
Next, warm your honey until it is soft enough to pour. You don't want to kill the healing benefits of the honey so only warm it over very low heat (heat over 110 will destroy the enzymes). It is pretty hot here in Utah, so I just put my honey outside for awhile and it softened right up to the pourable state.
Pour the honey into your jar until full, then stir with a knife to make sure the herb is completely covered. Let is steep for 2 weeks before using. The herbs will naturally rise to the top of the jar so you can scrape them out if desired, but I like to leave them in.
Now the fun begins. Add your honey to hot cereal, spread on toast, pancakes or waffles. Use instead of jam, as a syrup, in marinades and salad dressings or sauces. Bake into deserts and mix in smoothies. When feeling under the weather mix up an instant thyme tea by warming a cup of water and adding 1 tablespoon of thyme honey.
I was a little nervous having my first taste of thyme honey because I thought it would have such a strong taste but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it tasted like lemon honey. It is my new favorite and the only thing I put on my toast anymore.
I was a little nervous having my first taste of thyme honey because I thought it would have such a strong taste but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it tasted like lemon honey. It is my new favorite and the only thing I put on my toast anymore.
Related Posts
Medicinal Honey Blends
|
Healing Foods: Raw Honey
|
Raw honey can be found at the health food store, Amazon, Bulk Herb Store and most local farmers markets have it available, I also saw some at Costco the last time I was there. If you don't have herbs growing in your garden make sure to purchase organic, high quality herbs. I trust Mountain Rose Herbs and Bulk Herb Store for all the herbs I don't have available to me.
Shared on: Natural Living Monday, Mostly Homemade, The Gathering Spot, Frugal Days, Wildcrafting Wednesday, Encourage One Another, Homemaking Blog Hop, Natural Living Link Up, Thrifty Thursday, Simple Lives, Old Fashioned Friday, From the Farm, Real Foods Friday.
