If you have been using herbal remedies and natural medicine at all, then no doubt you already know about the power of using honey.
Honey can be used in many ways to benefit your health. It can also be included in daily beauty routines and diy skincare products.
What you may not know is that you can increase the potency of honey. By infusing honey with different herbs the medicinal properties it provides increase. This is actually a simple process and can be done at home using herbs based on the remedy and need.
Let’s take a look at how to make herb infused honey in 3 simple steps.
Step 1 – Use Pure Honey
It is very important to start off with the right honey for your herb infusion. Just buying the little plastic bear from the store is not good enough.
Most store bought and commercially processed honey is actually not honey. These types of ‘honey’ are mostly a mixture of sugar and syrups with only a small amount of honey or honey flavor. As a result, they have little medicinal value and are mainly for flavor.
For medicinal uses you will need pure honey or raw honey. There are a couple of ways you can establish if you are buying the right type of honey.
The first is to look for locally made honey, preferably with the honeycomb still in the jar. Another is to buy raw honey that has not been processed, heated or filtered. This should be clear on the label.
The raw honey may have a cloudy appearance and be a little denser than your typical processed honey. Either of these options will work for herbal infused honey.
Step 2 – Infuse The Honey
While infusion naturally needs some heat to occur, in this case you don’t need heat from the stove.
In fact, if you heat the honey and herbs you could end up wrecking the whole process. This could result in the the honey or herb breaking down and reduce their medicinal value.
Instead, grab a mason jar and your clean, dry herbs. Put the herbs in the jar and pour the honey over them. Now, to heat the herbs and honey, place the jar in a window that gets direct sunlight for the vast majority of the day.
The natural heat from the sun will heat the honey without damaging it. If you want, you can bruise the herbs slightly to release their potency into the honey. Either crush them gently in your hands before putting them in the jar. Or once in the jar, press on them gently with a wooden spoon or rolling pin.
Once setup, the honey jar should be turned at least once per day to get an even amount of sun on the entire mason jar.
Step 3 – Storage, Filtering, and Bottling
You will need to allow the herbs to infuse into the honey for at least one week. If the herbs swell over the honey, add more honey and increase the time by an additional week.
Test the herbal infusion by tasting the mixture. If you can’t taste the herbs in the honey, add an additional week to the infusion time. Keep tasting the honey each week until you reach the desired flavor.
Once it tastes right, strain the honey mixture to remove the herbs. Do this into a mason jar (or other suitable container) using a strainer lined with muslin or cheesecloth. Store the honey in your kitchen and take it directly. You can also use the herbal infused honey in teas, cooking or foods.
These are the three simple steps to making your own herb infused honey for pain or medicinal remedies. Make it as needed or in larger batches. Remember to store the infused honey in a dry cool place to keep the potency.
