Fermented Honey Recipe

By Tanita De Ruijt Patricia Niven
Published on July 29, 2019
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Honey is antimicrobial and antibacterial – a total rock star for your immune system. It’s great at soothing itchy/scratchy throats and at lasting indefinitely in your pantry. It’s a staple. And yes, you can ferment it.

Honey has been used as food and medicine around the world for thousands of years. Hippocrates, an ancient Greek scientist, prescribed a simple diet, favouring honey taken as oxymel (vinegar and honey) for pain, hydromel (water and honey) for thirst, and a mixture of honey, water and various herbs for fevers.

The east of Turkey is famous for an old-world mystery; a dark; honey made from the pollen of the opium poppy, known as Deli Bal or “mad honey.” The poppy, or rather opium, was highly valued by the ancient Greeks and Egyptians for its painkilling and sleep-inducing qualities. This nectar is fiery, mouth numbing and lightly hallucinogenic. Yet in Turkey, people consider it a type of medicine – a sleepy treat reserved for those in the know.

Ingredients:

  • Water (approx. 1 part water to 8 parts honey)
  • Raw, unpasteurised honey (the key is to find the minimally processed stuff – ideally with the crystallised crunchy bits of honeycomb still in it)

Method: 

  1. Stir a small amount of water into the honey and leave the jar on the kitchen counter, with the lid resting on top but not fastened.
  2. Give it a good stir every day.
  3. After two weeks, the honey should start to bubble like a sourdough starter and smell sour. You should be left with a honey that’s sweet and tangy with a thick, whipped marshmallow texture.
  4. Use it to sweeten your tonics.

Also from Tonic:

Stressed? Tired? Hungover? Sick? In Tonic, Tanita de Ruijt will have you pillaging your kitchen cupboards to make surprisingly effective – and inexpensive – remedies to cure whatever ails you. Inspired primarily by traditional medicine and wisdom from the East, these recipes have been carefully crafted to support your body’s natural defences, and keep you feeling good on a daily basis. Recipes include the immune-boosting Turmeric Tonic, to more eclectic Love Potions, Salvation Shrubs and Make-Your-Own Probiotics. Including a helpful ailment index plus an extensive medicinal guide to everyday herbs and spices, Tonic offers all-natural, effective ways to treat basic complaints quickly, safely, and effectively at home.


Recipes excerpted with permission from Tonic by Tanita de Ruijt, published by Hardie Grant Books January 2018, RRP $19.99 hardcover.

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