Fermented honey with elderberries
My elderberries are ripening and I found a fantastic-sounding recipe for some of them: Fermented honey with elderberries. So quick to make: 1 cup elderberries, 1 1/2 cups honey (organic and unfiltered,of course!) Rinse the berries, put in a clean jar. Top with the honey. If using a mason jar, use a clean sheet of parchment paper between the jar and the metal lid. Let sit upside down for 30 minutes so the berries on the top get coated with honey. Turn right side up, and put in a cool dark place. Turn a couple of times a day for about two days, and you should have bubbles forming and the honey becomes a little runny. Set aside in the pantry for about two months, stir once in a while, then strain and use (or just keep letting it ferment until you;re ready to use). I've had my berries fermening for two days, now - they're bubbly and the honey is turning purplish. Can;t wait to try in the fall when cold season rolls around! Just a spponful of honey makes the medicine go down... :-)
Comments
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Cool! I've never heard of fermenting honey. Thanks!
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@Suburban Pioneer You can do the same thing with fresh garlic. Makes an excellent cough syrup and throat soother. Your post made me think of combining garlic and elderberries in a ferment as elderberries are a good immune support as well as garlic and honey.
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I love the sound of this. Garlic is my absolute favorite immune booster! I'm going to try a jar of both individually and then do a combo!
Thank you!
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@ltwickey glad to hear you like the idea. Let us know how it turns out, as I have no elderberries to try it myself.
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My berries must be LOADED with lactobacillus, because the honey was definitely full of little bubbles on top within 24 hours. Thee recipe said that would take two days! Anyway, so far, so very good. The bubbling has slowed down, but there's still a satisfyingly vicious response when I turn the jar over to keep all the berries on the top covered. I started a second jar a few days after the first and, same response, except a fair amount of leakage around the rim because I overstuffed the jar a little. A nice aroma of ferment is emerging from both jars. They should be ready around the end of September. They should be potent. So far, I'm thrilled!
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Oooooooohhhh!!! WHAT an idea!!! Our elderberry is being very generous this year, and I have plenty of harvested garlic to spare, so guess what my weekend project is going to be? :-) And, I'm going to incorporate a cinnamon stick, too, per monica197. Cinnamon bark and leaf oils are potent anti-virals, and although of course I have no access to the leaves, using the bark will still provide a lot of benefits. Hey, can we all keep talking and trying different recipes and comparing results? Maybe we'll come up with a few "super recipes" that can be added to TGN's storehouse of medicinal preps? The really good thing about the fermented honey, at least for me, is that it's such a quick and easy way to make medicine. Drying, canning, tincturing, etc. are great, but often take time, room, special ingredients, special equipment, etc. Fermented honey takes almost nothing. Let's compare notes and recipes as the year progresses! I'm pretty stoked!
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My son is making mead, which is essentially the same. Just using 3lbs honey to one gallon of water. And using a brewing valve on top to prevent fermentation explosions. He made one the other day with added black tea and orange. It was truly the best thing i had ever tasted.
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Oooooohhh, although we don't drink (no moral issues, we just personally don't like the taste and effects of alcohol), your son's mead thing sounds really good. And a bit like my favored "brew" - kombucha - with the black tea added. Does he have a specific recipe (i.e., amounts of added ingredients used, or particular brand of black tea?) Is the orange added in fresh pieces, or rind only, or dried, or prepared in some other way? How long does he let it ferment for?
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@AngelaOston and @Suburban Pioneer Mead is an alcoholic beverage made with honey where as I don't think putting garlic, elderberries, cinnamon etc into raw unfiltered honey that is undiluted will ferment the same way as mead. When I did the garlic, there was no off gassing, like that I associate with alcohol formation. We also don't drink alcoholic beverages for a number of personal reasons and as much as I like fermenting things and have honeybees and lots of honey, I have never ventured into mead because of the alcohol in it. Love Kombucha but it doesn't have enough alcohol, if any, to notice. I have tried other things through the years like a ginger ale. Wasn't supposed to be alcoholic, but after about a 4 ounce glass I decided that it would be a treat for my father in law who enjoyed the buzz it gave him
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@tomandcara I did the same thing with my ginger ale! I add tons of ice to a glass to lower the content & strength. I think I overdid the amount of ginger I was supposed to use 😂 as it is almost as strong a eating raw ginger straight! I have done the honey over garlic and have used the garlic in many different dishes I make. I even used the honey in a stir fry sauce. Great medicinal & culinary uses.
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WOW- fermented honey with garlic in a stir fry sauce! Now THAT'S getting my mouth watering! Thanks for the suggestion :-) How did you make the ginger ale? From honey fermented with ginger? I grow a little bit of ginger on our sun porch and would love to turn it into a real ginger drink - not like the bottled soda. Yuck!
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I'm setting my sights on FINALLY getting honey bees next spring. We've got sufficient floral infrastructure now to support them, pus still have plenty to feed the wild bees, too. One of the things I experimented with, and which seems to be working reasonably well so far, is Japanese perennial buckwheat. I found the couple of studies which did, indeed, show that honey made from this buckwheat has approximately 100 times the antioxidant activity of most other honeys. We also have a ton of oregano, thymes, sage and lavender for the girls to indulge in. They use the herbal pollen much as we do - for the essential oils that they incorporate into the propolis to kill deleterious bacteria and fungi. I also have a lot of bee-friendly roses, as well, because rose oil interrupts quorum sensing among bacteria, preventing the formation of biofilms. I figure the herb garden should be medicine for all! Anyway, looking forward to eventually discovering what our honey will taste like, and how it will compare with the 'off the shelf" raw, organic honey in terms of both taste and "activity". I'm going to try fermenting honey with elderberries plus garlic, next. I have a feeling it's going to be very appealing as a cold/flu fighter, and also as a stir fry sauce as tomandcara suggested.
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These are some great ideas. I will be making some fermented honey soon!
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@Suburban Pioneer if you harvest honey at different times and different hives during the sason, you will probably see great variances in color and taste from the different honeys,
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Good point - I hadn't really thought about that! I figured it was just kind of all mixed together, but you're right, if harvested at different times when different varieties of plants were in flower, I suppose it WOULD taste different! My goal is to have two hives, because that's probably what we have reasonable room and resources for. Do you have a favorite "flavor" of honey?
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Great ideas, I will have to try them soon.
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I have made Elderberry elixir using brandy and honey. This sound very good too.
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I am thinking that one might be able to ferment like this by using some kind of a weight to keep the berries or garlic submerged in the honey. That way, perhaps one wouldn't have to turn the jars upside down? What do y'all think? Also a question - what ratios of garlic to honey would be good?
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So far, my jars don't show any signs of problems without being weighted, and for me, it's easier to just turn the jars over once a day for the first few days. But, there's probably nothing wrong with weights, either, The original recipe I saw didn't specify the use of weights, so I didn't even think to ad them, myself! As of a couple of days ago, the honey had become pretty watery looking and runny, just as the recipe said it should. Now I just wait until the end of October, and then I can start sampling!
Re: the garlic, into the batch I started on Monday, I've added two cloves of homegrown garlic, sliced into thirds. That's a pure guess on my part. So far, so good, it seems. As an experiment, 1/3 of the honey (of the 1 1/2 cups total) that I used, was a very stiff variety with bits of the comb/propolis floating on top. The REALLY raw, unprocessed type! Some of it is finally liquefied, but some is not, yet. The other honeys I used were all thick, or even solid, but they liquefied pretty quickly. This honey is taking its time. Not sure what the difference is, but I'll report back when it's reached that state, too. I'm wondering if it's so packed with something that the lactobacillus is having a hard time eating it all? I wonder if that's a sign of good quality? Or something else? Ideas?
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Recipe, please?? :-)
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@Suburban Pioneer 2 hives is a great goal. Linden (Basswood) is a wonderful light honey. Buckwheat is a wonderful dark honey.
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I just fill a jar with the elderberries, and pour in the brandy to half fill the jar. Then add honey to fill the jar the rest of the way. It may take some time for the honey to perk down through the berries and may take a few additions of honey. You want to get the jar as full as possible with the brandy/honey mixture. But beware that it will probably bubble over. Make sure that the berries stay submerged in the liquid by gently turning it over and back daily. It should be ready in about a month. Then drain and strain the elixir from the berries. So tasty and great medicine. I will put a couple of teaspoons in a glass of water, or sparkling water. Also good in tea.
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This was an awesome thread!!! Off to the honey guy I go!!!
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I don’t have room to plant a linden tree, butI’ve got perennial Japanese buckwheat with tiny pink flowers. The Japanese buckwheat is also a deer magnet, sadly. But I’m looking forward to finding out what type of honey it produces. It’s super antioxidant rich, the research has shown, but as to flavor, I’m just going to have to wait and see! I’ve got a lot of thyme, oregano and lavender, as well, so whatever I get should be pretty medicinal.
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LOL! I’ll get the brandy! Seriously, my mom said that when grandma felt a cold coming on, she would drink a cup of half tea and half brandy, and she was never sick. Imagine having the elderberries, too 😄
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@Suburban Pioneer Your venturing into being a beekeeper should be exciting. Keep us posted.
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@marjstratton Thanks for the elderberry brandy recipe. I'm definitely making that!
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Thank you!! Will do! My next step is having a landscaper over to construct a level stone “bee patio” in a preselected spot on our pasture slope. The leveling will allow the hives to sit firmly on the ground, and the stone will allow the chickens to forage around the hive for dead bees without scratching up the soil. That will keep the hive area clean, suppress mites if they show up, and provide free protein for the hens. The stone will also suppress weeds, reducing my workload. Around the edges of the patio area I have already planted lavenders and dwarf catnip. I have an open space to the side where I’ll plant lemon grass every year. Research has shown that certain plants with strong, relaxing aromas (lavender, catnip and leman grass are believed to be the most potent) help keep the bees calm. And I’d prefer calm bees, especially as I’m not going to be especially sure of what I’m doing for a while!
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@Suburban Pioneer Have you found a local bee mentor? You could volunteer to help them now to get some experience prior .to having your own hives. Also consider looking to see if there are local beekeeping clubs. You might find your mentor there and you will learn a lot. It is apparent you are a good planner. Have fun
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A bee mentor> Now THERE'S a good idea! And, thank you for reminding me about the clubs. Yes, there is a naturally bee keeping club locally, I'll get more info and see if they meet during the fall and winter. Would be good to get some training beforehand, absolutely! Right now I'm still swamped with keeping the place running, but the landscaper who's going to put in the bee patio will be here next week to get the job specked out. In the meantime, I'm keeping an eye on which of my trial plants for this year the bees like, and, fortunately, they seem to enjoy the edible cock's comb which are thriving in our dry heat and can supply non-bitter cooked greens for us all summer long. A win-win! One more step forward!
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