Fermented garlic honey combines raw honey and raw garlic along with a simple fermentation process in a mason jar to make homemade garlic fermented in honey.
I keep a jar of this recipe on hand for cold and flu season to help boost my immune system and soothe sore throats when the weather turns cold. Check with your doctor to see if this decision is right for you.
I grow garlic in my garden to make this recipe along as well as garlic confit for savory recipes. On a good harvest year, I have several bulbs of garlic leftover to make roasted garlic. Once you spread soft cloves of oven-roasted garlic on toast or slices of baguette, you will never go back!
⚠️ Warning: Honey garlic should not be given to babies under one year of age.
Benefits of fermented garlic honey:
- The fermenting process is done at room temperature in a dark place so no special equipment is needed.
- In addition to benefits of honey and garlic, the garlic infused honey can be used in other recipes such as salad dressings, drizzled over roasted vegetables or stir a spoonful of honey into a cup of hot tea.
- Honey offers an effective and natural alternative to over-the-counter cough medicine4. Though time is the most important healer of a sore throat, a spoonful of honey can help relieve the irritation4. source: National Honey Board
Ingredients needed:
- Garlic - Fresh, peeled and cloves separated
- Honey - Local, Unpasteurized, Raw Honey
Recipe Card?
To find the full printable recipe with specific measurements and directions CLICK HERE to go to the recipe card.
Notes on the ingredients
It's important to use unpasteurized honey (raw honey) to make fermented garlic in honey, as it will still have all the natural bacteria that bees leave in the honey as well as the wild yeast that is necessary for fermentation
Substitutions
If your grocery store carries pre-peeled garlic, mine comes in a bag in the produce section, you are able to use that garlic. It takes a little bit out of the prep work of peeling the individual cloves.
How to make garlic honey
- Fill a glass jar with raw, peeled garlic cloves.
- Cover the cloves of garlic with enough honey to completely cover the raw cloves.
- Close the jar, invert and store for a month.
How to make garlic fermented honey
- To a clean jar, add the peeled garlic cloves.
- Add enough raw honey to completely cover the garlic cloves.
- Place the lid on the jar and close the lid loosely, allowing the jar to have a bit of room to 'breathe' as the garlic ferments.
- Every day or two, tighten the lid on the jar and shake the jar to coat the garlic cloves with honey.
- Loosen the lid again when you return it to the upright position.
- You will notice tiny bubbles start to form on the surface of the honey and long the surface of the whole garlic cloves.
- The honey garlic will be fermented in about a month. The honey ferment flavor will continue to mature over time, the garlic will mellow in intensity while remaining crisp, and the honey will start to thin out and take on a more runny consistency.
- Store in a cool place for many months or even a year, if not longer.
Storage Tips
- Store in a closed container in a dark cool place.
- During the first month of fermentation, allow the jar to be slightly loose so that the gasses that escape the garlic as it ferments, can escape the jar.
- Store the jar on a plate or a paper plate during the fermentation process as a bit of the honey my 'burp' out as it ferments.
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Frequently asked questions, answers and tips:
Honey is naturally acidic and according to National Honey Board, the acidity of honey ranges from a pH of about 3.4, with an average of 3.9. The acidity of any honey is directly related to the floral sources that created it. Botulism spores can't reproduce with a pH of less than 4.6.
Ingredients
- 1 Cup (236 ⅗ ml) Honey Raw, unpasturized
- 1 Cup (136 Gram) Garlic peeled and separated
Instructions
- To a clean jar, add the peeled garlic cloves.1 Cup (136 Gram) Garlic
- Add enough raw honey to completely cover the garlic cloves.1 Cup (236 ⅗ ml) Honey
- Place the lid on the jar and close the lid loosely, allowing the jar to have a bit of room to 'breathe' as the garlic ferments.
- Every day or two, tighten the lid on the jar and shake the jar to coat the garlic cloves with honey.
- Loosen the lid again when you return it to the upright position.
- You will notice tiny bubbles start to form on the surface of the honey and long the surface of the whole garlic cloves.
- The honey garlic will be fermented in about a month. The honey ferment flavor will continue to mature over time, the garlic will mellow in intensity while remaining crisp, and the honey will start to thin out and take on a more runny consistency.
- Store in a cool place for many months or even a year, if not longer.
Mona Eastwood says
In the first section of the recipe, you said to invert the jar and leave it for a month. In the second section, you said to leave the lid, loose and burp it every day, by shaking the jar. Is there a reason for these differing practices?
Tracie says
QUESTION? Can I make this in a quart jar?
Doreen says
Can a diabetic take this?
Sarah Mock says
I am not a physician.Please ask your doctor.