Every now and then, I take a break from my typical recipes so I can share a food or herb -based natural home remedy. I’ve been meaning for some time to tell you about garlic honey, my favorite homemade sore throat remedy.
I just love remedies that feature natural ingredients you probably already have in your cupboard or refrigerator, don’t you? And this one is so simple to make.
As you may or may not know, garlic is a powerful immune booster. It is very effective against nasty bacterial, viral and fungal infections. Honey also has anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-fungal properties, so when you combine the two, you’ve got a great aid to help you fight sore throats, colds or the flu.
To be most effective as an antibacterial/antiviral/antifungal, though, garlic needs to be eaten raw and in rather large quantities. This is tough for most of us…maybe even impossible.
So here’s a tip: when infused in honey, raw garlic becomes far more palatable. Yummy even. So I like to keep a jar of this on hand at all times.
At the first sign of a sore throat (or a cold or the flu), I start popping my honey-infused garlic and try to eat one clove every hour or two, all day long. I decrease the amount the next day but continue to eat a couple of cloves a day until I’m all better.
So make up a jar of this and keep it in your fridge so you’ll be all set for next winter (or the next time you get sick). The garlic is ready to eat after a few days but tastes much better when it has hung out in the honey for a few months. I try to replace the garlic cloves with fresh ones whenever I’ve taken some out for use, so the jar remains pretty much full at all times.
Garlic Honey Sore Throat Remedy
Ingredients
- 3 heads fresh garlic peeled and separated into cloves (about 24 cloves)
- raw honey to fill your glass jar of choice raw honey is more nutritious than store-bought honey
Instructions
- Fill a glass jar with garlic cloves and then pour the honey over the garlic. Allow mixture to infuse for several days before using, then store in the refrigerator where it will keep for a year or more.
- At the first sign of illness, start eating a clove every hour or two. Aim for about 6 cloves per day. The honey can be taken on its own by the spoonful as a cough syrup. You could also mix a teaspoon of the honey with some raw apple cider vinegar and hot water and drink this as a tonic when you're sick; feel free to add a dash of cayenne pepper, too-this is excellent for your sinuses.
