If you’ve never fermented anything before, but are interested in trying, this raw fermented garlic honey is the easiest and most approachable place to start!
What You’ll Need
- One head of garlic, peeled and lightly crushed
- Enough raw honey to completely cover the garlic and then some! A good reference point is about 8 ounces of raw honey for every head of garlic you use.
- A jar with a tight fitting lid.
The Process
Crush each garlic clove underneath your knife or a bench scraper to peel the garlic easily, but also to bruise each clove. The bruising of the garlic produces an enzyme that turns the alliin into allicin. In other words, by bruising the garlic, your end product will have concentrated garlic flavor as well as the antiflammatory, antibacterial benefits of garlic.
Once you’ve got a head of lightly crushed and bruised garlic, cover each of those cloves in raw honey. It’s important to have raw products, generally speaking, when you are fermenting foods. Fermented foods are “alive” with good bacteria and probiotics, any pasteurization or heat filtration is counterintuitive as it “kills” the food you’re fermenting.
After about five days to a week, your garlic honey is ready. You’ll know it’s done when you’ve got a runny consistency and fragrant, delicious, garlicky honey!
What are the best uses for garlic honey? Baste on chicken, use in vinaigrettes and marinades, brush on pizza crust, basically use anywhere you would use honey!
Got a sore throat? Take a teaspoon of garlic honey! Need an easy gift this holiday season? Package this into cute mason jars for a truly unique gift!
If you need more ideas for edible holiday gifts, don't miss The Chopping Block's Gifts from the Kitchen hands-on cooking class coming up at Lincoln Square on Wednesday, December 20 at 10am. You'll learn how to make and take home:
- Apple-Pear Butter with Ginger-Currant Scones
- Cranberry-Orange Conserve with Pumpkin Bread
- Fig and Red Onion Jam with Blue Cheese-Thyme Biscuits
