Honey Garlic ferment

Ingredients

1 Jar

Raw Honey

Garlic cloves - enough to loosely fill 3/4  of your jar

A splash of Apple Cider Vinegar

Optional Extras

- Nigella seeds

- Onion

- chili

Steps

1. Peel and smash your cloves of garlic

2. Add to jar with optional extras

3. Pour in the apple cider vinegar and honey, leaving a few cm at the top of the jar for any fermentation bubbles

4. Pack in and remove any air bubbles as best you can

5. And now we wait.  Store this in a cool, dark place in your house.  Ideally somewhere that has consistent temperatures. 

6. For the first week, open the lid 1-2 times daily and allow any bubbles to come up and out.  This is known as burping.  You can reduce this to once every few days afterwards and eventually stop this completely

7. The liquid in the garlic gets drawn out, making the honey much more liquidy.  You’ll notice this more if your honey is crystalised to begin with

8. This can keep for up to a year with proper storage

Description

I quite like the taste and smell of this, though some around me ask how I can tolerate it.  I remember the first time I made it, I would love opening it up every morning just to get a smell of that honey garlic goodness. 

You’ll need to plan this one in advance, I find that after a few months its good to go, though you can of course eat it earlier.  Apart from the waiting, its very quick and easy to make.

Why you want it

Garlic is one of the most widely known antimicrobial foods by herbalists, naturopaths, nutritionists, cooks and pretty much everyone else.  Referred to as Russian penicillin, Garlic is a great food to use when sick, as prevention and even just for the flavor.

And let’s not forget our other ingredient Honey.  Like Garlic, its known to have antimicrobial effects and is quite t-t-t-t-t-tasty tasty.

I would take this if I’m sick, feeling run down, exposed to a lot of sick people or even if I feel my dish could do with some honey garlic goodness.  I find this mixture to also be a fantastic way of breaking up congestion in the respiratory tract due to garlic being an expectorant.

Here are just some of the ways to enjoy this

• Chop up the garlic and add to a salad

• Include the honey in a dressing.

• Take a spoonful of honey and/or a garlic clove as a stand-alone

When not to use

Social situations, unless of course you’d like to be left alone

Why the apple cider vinegar?

With garlic infusions there is the potential for botulism.  Botulism can’t survive in an acidic environment (below pH of 4.6).  Honey, on average has a pH of 3.9, but for some extra insurance add in the apple cider vinegar.

Get to it

Now is an excellent time to make this in preparation for winter.  Let me know how you go!