Simple Ginger Honey

Difficulty level: *Super Easy

It’s honey harvest time! We’ve been super busy harvesting our local, organic honey and getting our bees ready for winter. We are happy to share that despite earthquakes, a tornado, and two bear attacks that our hives are thriving. We’ve seen no sign of colony collapse disorder that you’ve been hearing so much about in the news. We believe that’s because our hives are no where near any industrial agriculture and feed purely on wild flowers.  In fact if you draw a line north from where we are, there is nothing but forest till the north pole!

Here is a super easy project using honey that is well worth the time. The honey and bits of ginger are absolutely delicious. Ginger honey is a great thing to take on a daily basis to ward off colds, warm the body on a cold day, or to sooth a sore, dry throat. A spoonful of honey a day is also great to help prevent seasonal allergies. Add it to tea, drizzle it on pancakes, add to stir fries, or to a salad dressing – there are so many ways to use it. One of my winter favourites is in warm water with a bit of lemon juice. Children absolutely love ginger honey by the way!

Materials:

• About 1 cup of some nice local, organic honey.
• 1/4 fresh or 1/2 cup of dried Ginger (the fresher the better)
• A jar with a lid
• A pot to heat up the honey

Directions:

1. Add your honey to a pan and warm with low heat.
2. Add the ginger and heat for 15-20 minutes.
3. Pour into a jar and close the lid. You don’t need to strain the ginger, but you can if you want. (I wouldn’t, those bits of ginger taste incredible).
4. Don’t forget to label it when the jar cools.

The ginger honey will last for about a year and a half and the honey gets a stronger ginger taste the longer it sits.

You can make other types of “herbal honey” using the same method. Try it with:

• Lavender
• Violet flower
• Lemon balm
• Chamomile
• Spearmint
• Onions – great for colds!

Going further: Crystallize flowers!

1. Follow the procedure for making herbal honey above using flowers such as violets, chamomile, hyssop, or borage.
2. 2-3 days after making the honey, strain out the herbs (keep the honey of course).
3. Lay them out in a single layer on waxed paper on a baking sheet.
4. Cover with another piece of wax paper to protect from dust.
5. Allow the herbs to sit for one week.
6. After a week dust the herb with regular or icing sugar.
7. Then spread the herb out on a new sheet of wax paper and cover with a second sheet.
8. Allow it to sit for a few more days.
9. Store them in a glass jar in your refrigerator. They should last a couple of months.

Questions or comments, leave them below!