in my quest to try more and more herbal remedies, last summer i discovered medicinal honey. i tried a batch with some of my bee balm plants (which i was so happy to discover in my yard last year- as it was our first year living here) and we've been using it to soothe our sore throats all year long. last year, i only tried making this with bee balm (mondarda), but other good herbs for medicinal honey that you may have in your garden are lavender (for good sleep), lemon balm (for upset stomachs), and chamomile (for headaches). we add a little to some tea, or just eat it by the spoonful.
start by picking a bunch of stalks and chopping up aerial parts--this includes stems, leaves, and flowers. for one pint of honey, you'll want about 1/4 cup of chopped fresh herbs (for dried herbs, use about half that amount). warm up one pint of honey in a saucepan over low heat. when it is fully warmed through, add the herbs and continue over low heat for another 15-20 minutes. store in a food safe jar. (this recipe is adapted from growing 101 herbs that heal by tammi hartung. one of my favorite herbal remedy books).
i'd love to hear if you try this, or if you have any of your own medicinal herbal recipes!
Medicinal honey sounds great.
ReplyDeleteI dry my own herbs and usually use as teas, but last year I made calendula infused in olive oil and added it to melted bees wax to make a very soothing salve. At the moment I am infusing St. Johns wort in sunflower oil and plan to infuse some comfrey in oil ( the recipe says to leave the comfrey 2 years infusing, wow! ).x
I didn't know lemon balm was good for stomach aches, that's so interesting. I would like to try this with lavender, just need to get to our co-op for some honey! Thanks Julia :)
ReplyDeleteI love this idea. I was just talking about how much raw honey we have and how we will never use it in a lifetime.. and how maybe I should try to use it medicinally instead. I hadn't though of infusing it with medicinal herbs though. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI have lemon balm, lavender, and other herbs in the kitchen garden, I have wonderful local honey, and I even have that book - but I never thought to make medicinal honey. Thanks for the inspiration! :)
ReplyDeleteHow long does the honey keep for? I get stomach aches all the time and and grew lemon balm for this specifically. I'm trying to decide if I should just dry all my lemon balm or put it in honey. Thoughts?
ReplyDeletelove this idea, julia!
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