Did you know, that you can make your own herbal honey right in your own kitchen? Follow me today as I show you how to make infused honey using fresh fireweed flowers.
The type of infusion that we are going to do today is not the cold infusion type that you see online, were people place beautiful herbs inside a jar of honey and allow it to sit for a few days. Nope, girl, I ain't got time for that! I dont feel that this way produces a very flavorful honey at all, however, it does produce a really nice and pretty looking jar for your countertops. Me, I like practicality and usefulness. I prefer to use the low heat method. You can use a crack pot if you have one, but with all of my experience making honey, I feel that using the stove on the lowest setting is just as good, so long as you are super careful not to overheat it.
You can make infused honey with almost any herb that has medicinal benefits that you can put good use to. I make a few different honeys every year, including red clover, sweet clover, fireweed, and horsetail honey so far. You can use kitchen herbs as well! Whatever your heart desires, you can infuse!
Something that I learned is using fresh versus dried. For fresh herbs, I would recommend using within a month. Because of the water content in fresh plants, the shelf life for infused honey becomes unstable and can spoil quickly. If you use dry herbs, the shelf life becomes more stable, since honey consists of sugar, and can last for up to two years.
For this recipe, using fresh fireweed, I am only using the flowers. This will produce a very sweet floral taste to the honey. Fireweed flowers can be used for sore throat, pharyngitis, and laryngitis, and combined with the leaf for insomnia, and relief of headaches caused by nervousness and tension, as well as relief of migraines. The flowers fresh can be used fresh as a lovely addition to salads and as garnishes. Fireweed truly is an amazing plant. After a wildfire, fireweed is the first plant that will pop up, to help restore the soil and prepare the forest for regeneration. Many bee keepers actually plant fireweed crops, so that their bees pollinate the flowers and in return they make some of the most delicious floral honey you have ever tasted!
To prepare your infused honey, first cut up your flowers. I am using fresh, but you can use dried as well. If you chop and dice them into small pieces, more surface area will be covered with the honey, allowing for a more potent infusion!
Now that your flowers are all nicely chopped and diced, grab your honey ! Now this is super important. You cannot use the cheap, yellow clear honey that has been pasteurized and processed. There are no health benefits in this honey and you are literally just eating a spoonfull of processed sugar. Sounds yummy doesn't it ? Great for feeding cancer cells, that's about it! Purchase honey that has been unpasteurized. This means that it still contains these 4 science backed elements:
Antioxidant properties. Antioxidants combat free radicals in the body, Free radicals are chemicals produced through bodily processes such as metabolizing food or from outside sources like pollution. In large quantities, free radicals can damage genetic material and cells, possibly increasing one's risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease.
Lowers cholesterol- Another benefit of honey is that it may reduce cholesterol levels, specifically LDL levels, which are the bad kind of cholesterol.
Soothes coughs and sore throats- Due to its anti-inflammatory properties, which makes it a great way to help children's cough symptoms. That being said, raw honey is not recommended for babies 1 and under, due to the risk of botulism.
Promotes wound healing- This is a great reason why we use raw beeswax in our salves. the wax and honey contains antibacterial properties that help promote the healing of cuts, scrapes, bites and rashes.
Now back to the fun stuff!! For this post, I bought a few tubs of honey, I choose what was available to me at my local store, natural unpasteurized creamed honey. All of the other options were pasteurized, so this was the best option for me this time.
1 kg tub of honey will result in exactly 1 pint sized jar of infused honey. Dump the whole tub into a small pot or crock pot, and allow it to slowly warm up. They key word is WARM , not heat. If you heat it up, you will kill off all the important enzymes that we had talked about earlier!
Now you can add in your pant material. As your honey warms up longer, if you used creamed honey like me, then your honey will turn to a clear liquid. Again, be so careful not to heat it up, just allow it to very slowly warm up. As it gets warm, stir your flowers around, gently mixing them into the honey. The smell is intoxicating!
Now that everything is in, and the honey is warm, the best part happens........... The infusion! You can leave this to infuse, on warm, for anyweres from an hour, up to 24 hours. You may be able to leave it longer, however, I have only left it for a total of 24 hours. In this case, I infused for a full 24 hours.
The smell of sweet floral and honey should fill your kitchen with delight! After the time period is up, you are now ready to filter out the flowers. Your honey needs to be warm liquid in order to freely fall through a cheese cloth or metal sieve, so don't let it cool of before you are ready to filter.
This phot shoot was quite difficult, I am sure that with two hands you will make less of a mess then I did, thats for sure! Just pour your infusion through the filter of choice and allow it to pour into the jar. You can choose to double filter it again through a cheese cloth if you want to make sure all particles are removed. Anything left behind will perish after a month of being on a shelf. But really, who has this kind of honey last longer then a month anyways ??!!
Ok, all joking aside, this is what your creation should look like-
Wow ! is this not magical ? Heres another photo-
Oh my goodness, the smell, the texture,the taste!! Wild herb infused honey is just TO DIE FOR!! My family uses this in coffee, the kids use it in their tea, I add it to iced tea, and we also use it when we are sick- great for sore throats and dry coughs.
Another use for our infused herbal tea, is when I have to break out the nasty disgusting tasting USNEA tincture. This is brought out when we get the first symptoms of that dreaded flu virus. At the first signs, for two days we load up on usnea tincture mixed with a spoonful of honey. Honey makes it easier to give to the children, and a tastes damn better too! To read more about why you should be taking usnea when you get sick, and a easy way to make a long lasting tincture, click on the blue link above!
Now for the finished product....... I held it up to the sun so you can drool over my delicious fireweed infused honey ! Hehehe!
Have you tried to make infused honey before? Wat did you use? Let me know in the comments below! Stay tuned for my next update on another batch of herbal honey- Sweet Clover!
*This information for educational purposes only. This blog post is not intended to cure, diagnose treat any type of disease or condition whatsoever, or replace any prescription medication you are currently taking.
Always make sure to check with your doctor before choosing herbal teas or salves for remedies, as some herbs may not work for all people and may react to certain medications.
This post is not intended to treat, diagnose, cure or prevent any disease or illness. It is not intended to represent or replace professional medical advice or prescription medicine. It is not intended to give medical advise either. **
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