Making Herbal Honey: Delicious Ways to Make Herbal Remedies
Making herbal honey is one of my favorite ways to make medicinal herbs taste delicious!
Now that fall has arrived, it's time for all things cozy! I love adding herbal honey in tea, on toast, or drizzled on cornbread. Yum! Check out my latest blog post where I walk you through just how easy it is to make herbal honey and a few recipes for electuaries.
You can use just about any safe medicinal plant to infuse your honey. A little bit of sugar helps the medicine go down, right?
Making herbal honey with fresh medicinal plants
Lavender is my family's favorite herbal honey, so we'll use that for the tutorial in this case. Go out to your garden and cut your lavender toward the base of the stem. Make sure the plant material you're using isn't damp from morning dew or rain. If it is damp, let it dry on the counter until all moisture is gone. Cut the entire stem, flowers, and leaves into small pieces, and fill your jar 3/4 of the way full. Pour your raw honey over the lavender, cover, and set aside for a few hours. When you open your jar after 30 mins, you'll see that the honey has settled, and you need to fill it again to the top of the jar. Repeat until the jar stays full to the top. When it's full, cover tightly and place the jar in a bowl or on a plate. Honey has a habit of leaking a bit!
If you are using fresh elderberries, store the bowl in the refrigerator to prevent fermentation. Infused honey lasts different lengths of time based on what plant material you used. Berry honey needs to be used within 3-6 months and always kept in the refrigerator, whereas willow honey lasts a year or two on the shelf.
If you'd rather use dried plant material, fill your jar 1/2 way up with dried herbs, fill to the top with honey, and give it a good stir.
Let your honey infuse for four weeks.
Strain your jar after four weeks. To strain my honey, I will usually warm the honey just enough that it thins a bit! You can do this by placing your jar in the hot sun for an hour or two. During colder months, place your jar near the woodstove or heating vent. This gentle heating method will keep the antimicrobial enzymes intact but thin it out just enough to strain easily through cheesecloth.
You can store your honey on the counter unless it’s berry honey, in which case you'll need to store it in the refrigerator to prevent fermentation.
Infused honey is delicious by the spoonful, on toast, in tea, and makes a beautiful addition to other herbal remedies.
My favorite herbs for infusing honey
You can try each herb alone or play around with combinations. Don't worry, it'll be delicious!
Physical/Emotional Heart
Hawthorn Berry, Rose, Rosehip
Stress and Sleep
Lemon Balm, Lavender, Catnip, Motherwort, Hawthorn,
Digestive
Ginger and Fennel, Peppermint, Spearmint, Lemon Balm, and Licorice Root
Cold/Flu Season
Elderberry, Lomatium Seed, Spruce Tip, Grand Fir, Elecampane, Sage, Cottonwood Bud (this one needs to sit for about six months)
Electuaries
What is an electuary you ask? It's a lovely and delicious paste made with powdered herbs and honey.
To make an electuary, I like to just eyeball equal measurements of powdered herb to raw honey.
Electuary history
Electuaries date back to ancient Arab culture, where they used honey as a way to preserve the plants for use throughout the year. Maswijah al-Marindi, who died in AD 1015, studied medicine and philosophy in Baghdad. He created what’s known as the gem electuary. The exotic electuary combined sapphires, emeralds, garnets and amber together with pearls, red coral, ivory and musk along with a range of herbal ingredients! Maswijah al-Marindi wrote many medicinal texts, but it was his materia medica, Grabadin, that became quite popular during the middle ages and was one of the first medical texts printed in Venice in 1471.
The list of ingredients evolved, using different herbs in each season. The electuary was popular on its own but also used in combination with other herbal preparations, right through to the mid-eighteenth century. During the Middle Ages, electuaries made up the majority of pharmacological remedies. They were often used as the first treatment for illness and helped patients keep up their strength during a long illness.
After many years of effective use throughout the Middle Ages, electuaries fell out of favor in the early 20th century with advancements in modern medicine. They're still popular in many areas of the world, hopefully, it's only a matter of time before we see a resurgence of popularity here in the United States!
How to make an electuary
Powder your herbs in a coffee grinder until finely ground. Place powdered herbs in a bowl and add an equal amount of raw honey. Stir well to combine. If you're happy with the consistency of your paste, then go ahead and scoop it into a jar; otherwise, you can add more powdered herbs or honey until the texture is right for you.
To use your electuary you can either scoop a spoonful into a steaming hot mug of water or milk or eat it right off the spoon!
A few of my favorite electuary recipes:
Rosehip Electuary
1/4 cup each powdered rosehips, hawthorn, and spearmint
1/8 cup powdered ginger
1+ cup of honey
Golden Milk Paste
1/4 cup each of powdered ginger and turmeric
2 Tbsp each of powdered cinnamon and black pepper
1 1/2 tsp powdered fennel, nutmeg, and cardamom
3/4 tsp powdered clove
1+ cup of honey
Cacao Electuary
1/2 cup cacao powder
1 Tbsp each of powdered Chaga, Marshmallow Root, and Maca
1 tsp vanilla powder
1/2 tsp each of cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and sea salt
1+ cup of honey
Eat by the spoonful or add to a warm cup of your favorite milk!
I'd love to hear from you! What is your favorite herbal honey or electuary?