Herbal Honeys

[feranaja]

Anyone else make herbal honeys? I've kind of obsessed with them right now. Just made one I call "Winter's End" - features star anise, orange peel, cloves, cinnamon and ginger, and a whole vanilla bean. Gorgeous stuff...

Also did an Immune honey with reishi, astragalus, echinacea and elderberry...weird tasting, but it's medicinal!

Last/recent creation is white pine, and it is gorgeous! I made it to drizzle over a barberry/orange quick bread (if you haven't tasted barberries, they are sooo delicious) but the honey is wonderful with my cold/damp lungs, always have that issue at the end of the winter, so I admit to just spooning it now and again.

can't wait to make more this summer as the plants come back....

[Nocturnal~Witch]

I made some lavender honey to go with a bread I made last year for Lammas! It went over REALLY well and now I believe I have a hankering for making another batch (of both- the honey and the bread)!

For use in herbal teas (which I consume daily) are there any other herbs or combo of herbs you can recommend to enhance the taste of the teas?

I'm assuming you start w/clover honey?

[feranaja]

Hi NW - actually I use three different local honeys according to what's available, seasonally - dandelion, goldenrod(my favorite) and wildflower. They all come from an apiary down the road from me, all raw/unpasteurized - they have quite distinct flavour so I use them each a little differently, my stronger tasting honeys - like the blend mentioned above with star anise, orange peel, cloves, cinnamon and ginger, etc, I used goldenrod - I'm making a few this week with wildflower (bee balm, sage, thyme, rosemary) all using fresh herb, which is a little trickier and I do use some heat. With dried plant matter - spices, for example, or chamomile which I LOVE - I don't heat much more than to liquefy the honey to mix thoroughly. This fall I'm making elecampane honey for sore throats/coughs - you really can use whatever herb you like the taste of or want the medicinal effect from. I always make slippery elm pastilles over the winter and so, instead of using plain honey I prefer elecampane or thyme or sage. you are only limited by your imagination - and access to honey!

For taste, I love bee balm, any of the so-called culinaries (thyme, lemon thyme rosemary, sage or any warming spice, alone or in combination, like ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, star anise... chamomile is beautiful infused into honey - and hyssop, one of my alltime favorite plants for many reasons - may be an acquired tastes but I adore it.

Have fun, let us know what you make, and how it turns out.

[feranaja]

I don't know how I could have forgotten rose petal honey. Absolutely, one of my favorites.

http://mountainroseblog.com/herbal-infused-honey/

[Brigidrose]

I am saving my rose petals to make that one. I have a rose bush that was my Mom's and I am so excited to be using it.

[Nocturnal~Witch]

Originally Posted by feranaja

Hi NW - actually I use three different local honeys according to what's available, seasonally - dandelion, goldenrod(my favorite) and wildflower. They all come from an apiary down the road from me, all raw/unpasteurized - they have quite distinct flavour so I use them each a little differently, my stronger tasting honeys - like the blend mentioned above with star anise, orange peel, cloves, cinnamon and ginger, etc, I used goldenrod - I'm making a few this week with wildflower (bee balm, sage, thyme, rosemary) all using fresh herb, which is a little trickier and I do use some heat. With dried plant matter - spices, for example, or chamomile which I LOVE - I don't heat much more than to liquefy the honey to mix thoroughly. This fall I'm making elecampane honey for sore throats/coughs - you really can use whatever herb you like the taste of or want the medicinal effect from. I always make slippery elm pastilles over the winter and so, instead of using plain honey I prefer elecampane or thyme or sage. you are only limited by your imagination - and access to honey!

For taste, I love bee balm, any of the so-called culinaries (thyme, lemon thyme rosemary, sage or any warming spice, alone or in combination, like ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, star anise... chamomile is beautiful infused into honey - and hyssop, one of my alltime favorite plants for many reasons - may be an acquired tastes but I adore it.

Have fun, let us know what you make, and how it turns out.

I LOVE chamomile!! I can't believe I didn't think of that today when I made my batch!! I used lavender and rose petals.

Originally Posted by feranaja

I don't know how I could have forgotten rose petal honey. Absolutely, one of my favorites.

http://mountainroseblog.com/herbal-infused-honey/

Yep, I'm making this combined w/lavender right now. I might make a separate one just for the chamomile. Maybe a mint one too. I'm thinking of what will make certain herbs I use in teas more palatable, lol...and I usually use mint or more honey to combat those ones. That's why I love herbal honeys! At least the main reason.

Originally Posted by Brigidrose

I am saving my rose petals to make that one. I have a rose bush that was my Mom's and I am so excited to be using it.

Awww that makes me so happy and slightly nostalgic. My mother had a rose bush (actually my father still has them since he still owns the same house and she had several rose bushes in the back yard). I completely meant to go over there and collect all the petals, but I plum forgot. Sometimes I take loose rose petals and sprinkle them on her grave- and this last time I left an opal stone on her grave as well.


Oh but back to the honey- I made a stupid mistake and used one of the bottles that already had a little bit of honey in it to make my new batch. The problem is that I put too many herbs in the bottle and I should have used a jar bc the bottle isn't wide enough IMO. The herbs either stay stuck at the top, while the rest of the honey sits at the bottom, or vice verse if I flip the bottle upside down....grrrr.

[feranaja]

NW - stick your jar in hot water, that should thin it and make the herbs easier to move. You really should sterilize all jar before using them again - especially with raw honey/fresh herb, you can get all kinds of spores growing in there. I'd thin that batch in hot water, strain it, heat the honey to 140 degrees and then re-do it - in a sterile bottle.

With your teas - are they loose tea blends? Sometimes just adding a little of a new herb will offset any bitterness etc. I like to add dried licorice root (just a smidgen, it's incredibly sweet/strong) a 1/4 tsp lavender (especially nice with earl grey) some dried ginger or cinnamon sticks - fennel seed adds a lovely flavour and is so nice for digestion as well. Just an idea. I made 9 versions of my partner's Lung tea (based on elecampane, mallow and echinacea root, so strong stuff) before I got it to be tasty enough he'd drink it. (Fennel, ginger, licorice and cinnamon did the trick, and of course they all have medicinal value too).

Have fun!

[Nocturnal~Witch]

Originally Posted by feranaja

NW - stick your jar in hot water, that should thin it and make the herbs easier to move. You really should sterilize all jar before using them again - especially with raw honey/fresh herb, you can get all kinds of spores growing in there. I'd thin that batch in hot water, strain it, heat the honey to 140 degrees and then re-do it - in a sterile bottle.

With your teas - are they loose tea blends? Sometimes just adding a little of a new herb will offset any bitterness etc. I like to add dried licorice root (just a smidgen, it's incredibly sweet/strong) a 1/4 tsp lavender (especially nice with earl grey) some dried ginger or cinnamon sticks - fennel seed adds a lovely flavour and is so nice for digestion as well. Just an idea. I made 9 versions of my partner's Lung tea (based on elecampane, mallow and echinacea root, so strong stuff) before I got it to be tasty enough he'd drink it. (Fennel, ginger, licorice and cinnamon did the trick, and of course they all have medicinal value too).

Have fun!

Thank you for the suggestion. The herbs are dried, but I still need to correct the mistake or else it won't turn out well.

They're loose blends. Yeah ginger I can do. I even make an herbal tea from time to time w/ginger, a smidgen of red pepper flakes, roobios and orange peel.

You sound a lot like me! I'll take my daily "allergy/general health" blend and add shit to it that I feel is necessary for the day. Like if I'm bloated some dandelion leaf and/or red raspberry leaf, or if I'm congested or my throat hurts, some mm root (I've been using it a lot lately cause I forgot how good it tastes, he he), or hibiscus bc it helps improve the taste of some of the really bitter ones (to me).

It's really awesome having someone on here to talk herbs with~

Oh and it seems like I'll add lavender to just about anything, lol

[Fethenwen]

Omg herbal honeys I have made rose petal honey, pure heaven in a jar. I always make too small batches of rosehoney, heh.

[feranaja]

If it ever stops raining I am out to gather sage, thyme, and rosemary to make honey. Weirdest year ever here for plants. White pine, one of my favorites..and monarda, yum yum.

Making elecampane root honey here this year too, isn't that a great idea for colds and bronchitis?