How To Make Fermented Honey Garlic For Immune Health
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This Fermented Honey Garlic is so easy to make and is a powerful home remedy for cold and flu season. Make it now and keep it in your cabinet so it’s on hand whenever someone in your house is feeling under the weather.

Fermented Honey Garlic is a natural remedy to help with your immune system and fight off sickness during cold and flu season. It’s something we make every year so it is available whenever we need it! All you need are a few simple ingredients and a jar to get started.
Three years ago a good friend of ours bought a gallon of honey and a lot of bulbs of garlic from our farm. We were really curious about what they would be doing with so much honey and garlic, so we inquired what they would be doing with it. They told us about this natural remedy for cold season where you combine honey and garlic and let it ferment. They shared this recipe with us, and over time, we refined it to include the thyme for its added health benefits. We know that garlic and honey are both amazing for our health but the two combined make perfect sense in this remedy.

You can purchase everything you need from us here at Pleasant Grove Homestead including fresh raw honey from the bees on our farm! You can purchase directly from our farm, through local co-ops, or at farmer’s markets in the area. Learn where you can buy our products here.
Natural remedies for colds
In our experience, if you have a healthy diet to prevent illness or begin natural treatments at the moment you start feeling sick, you can almost entirely avoid over the counter treatments. That’s the power of using food as medicine! Another remedy we always use is creating a big batch of Homemade Healing Chicken Bone Broth. It is perfect to sip on for its immune boosting benefits or to make a homemade soup to eat when you’re not feeling great. You can find the recipe for our easy method here!

How does it work?
The combination of garlic and honey creates an immune boosting fermented concoction. The small amount of juice from the garlic mixes with the beneficial bacteria in the honey and starts a fermentation process. The natural sugars in the honey help make the garlic much more palatable and easier to eat than raw garlic on its own. Plus, the process helps mellow out the flavor of the garlic and then you have essentially combined the benefits of both items and created a very powerful home remedy for colds and flu!

Health benefits of garlic
Garlic has been used in traditional medicine for a very long time for a variety of reasons. It has antiviral properties, and anti-fungal properties and is great for heart health and immunity. Garlic’s health benefits are good for those with hypertension, or high blood pressure. Garlic can help lower cholesterol levels and can reduce the risk of heart disease. You can read more about the benefits of garlic here.

Health benefits of honey
To get the benefits of honey you will need to use raw, unpasteurized honey. Regular honey found at the grocery store does not have the same beneficial compounds as raw honey. If honey is heat treated, it will lose many of its health benefits. Raw honey has numerous health benefits including anti-inflammatory properties, and antibacterial properties, and is high in antioxidants. You can learn more here about the health benefits of honey. It is important to note that honey is not safe for babies younger than one because of the risk of botulism.

Health benefits of thyme
Did you know that many regular garden herbs have immune-boosting properties? We love adding thyme to our fermented honey garlic for added health benefits plus a little extra flavor! The medicinal properties of thyme help boost immunity and also help with coughs. Thyme has anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties that make it a great addition to your home remedies for colds and coughs. You can learn more here about the health benefits of thyme.

Ingredients for fermented garlic honey recipe
Raw garlic – Raw, peeled cloves of garlic. You will need enough to fill a pint jar. Be sure to buy local or organic garlic as many garlic bulbs are soaked in bleach to help it store longer.
Thyme – one sprig of thyme. Thyme is anti-inflammatory and disinfecting. It’s the perfect ingredient if your cold includes a cough.
Raw honey – Use local and raw honey. Many people ask us for unfiltered honey, but most honey is lightly filtered to remove wax and dead bees from the extraction process. The thing you should be asking for is raw, never heated honey.
How to make fermented garlic honey
To make the fermented garlic honey, first take a pint glass jar and fill it with peeled fresh garlic cloves. This will take multiple garlic bulbs to fill the jar. Depending on how many cloves there are per bulb, this could take up to 6 or 7 garlic bulbs. If you want to use less garlic, feel free to use a smaller jar.

Next, add a sprig of thyme on top of the garlic.

Finally, fill the jar with honey. Fill it all the way full, about an inch from the top. Be sure that there is enough honey to completely cover the garlic and thyme.

Then add a loose lid on top and store it in a cool dark place at room temperature.
While it ferments, leave the lid loose for a week. Stir or flip it over once in a while (less than daily) to make sure garlic cloves are covered. Once you see tiny bubbles on top you can seal the jar fully and start using it.

How to use fermented garlic honey
To use fermented garlic honey, at the onset of a cold or cough, we take about a teaspoon every hour for a day. You can use a spoonful for minor cold symptoms or sore throat. Zach sometimes eats a clove straight from the jar to really nip a sickness. If it’s too strong for you, you can also add a spoonful of honey garlic to a tea and drink it that way.
Can kids take fermented garlic honey?
Yes, fermented honey garlic is safe for kids. It can be pretty potent for kids but we found if we add it to water to make it like a warm drink our kids can drink it. In our kid’s opinion, it tastes better than traditional cough syrup and they would rather take the fermented honey garlic – so that’s a win. However, it is important to note that babies younger than one should not take fermented honey garlic because it is not recommended to give young children honey because of the risk of bacteria that can be found in honey.

Can you cook with fermented garlic honey?
We have a friend who really cannot stand the taste of the honey and garlic on its own but he actually cooks with it all the time! You can add a drizzle over savory dishes, or add it to your cooking as a boost of flavoring. You can even use it as the base for salad dressing! Keep in mind though, if you cook with honey and heat it, it will lose some of its beneficial properties.
How long is fermented garlic honey good for?
Honey never expires or goes bad, so this home remedy is shelf stable and will last a long time. However, we like to make a fresh batch each cold and flu season because we tend to use a full batch for our family every year.


Fermented Honey Garlic
Equipment
- 1 Pint Jar
Ingredients
- Raw garlic – Raw peeled cloves of garlic. You will need enough to fill a pint jar. Be sure to buy local or organic garlic as many garlic bulbs are soaked in bleach to help it store longer.
- Thyme – one sprig of thyme
- Raw honey – Use local and raw honey.
Instructions
- To make the fermented garlic honey, first take a pint glass jar and fill it with peeled fresh garlic cloves. This will take multiple garlic bulbs to fill the jar. Depending on how many cloves there are per bulb, this could take up to 6 or 7 garlic bulbs. If you want to use less garlic, feel free to use a smaller jar.
- Next, add a sprig of thyme on top of the garlic.
- Finally, fill the jar with honey. Fill it all the way full, about an inch from the top. Be sure that there is enough honey to completely cover the garlic and thyme.
- Then add a loose lid on top and store it in a cool dark place at room temperature.
- While it ferments, leave the lid loose for a week. Stir or flip it over once in a while (less than daily) to make sure garlic cloves are covered. Once you see tiny bubbles on top you can seal the jar fully and start using it.