Eating to good health

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Herbal Honey

Herbal Honey

I love eating my medicine and recently I have started to enjoy herbal honey. It is easy to make, delicious, nutritious and medicinal. What more can anyone ask for? I add it to my oatmeal, spread it on my toast,  and I love peanut butter and honey sandwiches. The possibilities are endless.

The first herbal honey I made was with fresh elecampane root. I harvested the root after its second year of growth, since they start to lose their medicinal qualities after 2-3 years. Elecampane is excellent for all respiratory ailments and honey is wonderful for calming coughs. Honestly, elecampane root is not a great tasting herb and honey helps make it palatable. All and all, it’s a winning combination.

My next herbal honey endeavor was with Ashwagandha root (known as Indian Ginseng).  It is a wonderful energy builder, it increases the body’s ability to adapt to and resist stress, along with dealing with tension and anxiety. It helps increase memory, facilitates learning, promotes general well-being and enhances stamina. It is also a great herb in helping the body recover after chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Again, not the best tasting herb, so combining it with honey makes a lot of sense to me.

Making herbal honey is very simple. All you need is a pot, clean jar/lid, chopstick, raw honey and herb.

How to make herbal honey:

1. Fill jar ¼ – ½ with herb (I use fresh sliced Elecampane root and dry powdered Ashwagandha root).

2. Fill clean/dry jar with raw honey

3. Fill pot with about 2 inches of water

4. Put jar of herbal honey in pot with water

5. Simmer water, temperature should never get higher than 110° as it will kill the medicinal qualities of the raw honey.

6. Stir honey with chopstick to disperse herb in honey.

7. When the honey develops a frothy top, it is done.

Some people strain the herbs out before eating but I leave them in and take pleasure in the herbs along with the honey.

Enjoy honey in tea, oatmeal, on toast or however you want! Honey should keep for a couple of years but rarely lasts that long since it is so delicious. If the honey starts to crystallize as raw honey often does, simply reheat as in the above directions.

All information is shared for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose or treat any condition.

 

Ginger the super root of health

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When Mathew was 6 months old, he woke up in the middle of the night with a bellyache. My mommy instincts told me ginger tea would settle his stomach. So, I took some fresh ginger root, peeled and chopped it and then poured boiling water over it. After it steeped and cooled down, I put the tea in an eyedropper and let him try it. He sucked it down and within 20 minutes, fell asleep until morning. This was Mathew’s first non-breast milk nourishment of his life.

Mathew is still a big fan of ginger. He continues to drink ginger tea when he has a bellyache or when he gets a runny nose from a cold or allergies. It is quite amazing how quickly his body responds to ginger, as his nose dries up shortly after he finishes a mug of ginger tea. No big surprise, he loves ginger beer and crystallized ginger as well.

I am personally crazy about the taste of ginger and love the medicinal qualities. I have just about every type of ginger root in our home at all times, fresh, crystallized, powder, jam, pickled, ginger beer… I don’t think it is possible to have too many types of ginger.

In my book, ginger is a miracle root as it alleviates nausea, it’s antibacterial, antiviral, a circulatory stimulate, anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, anti-fungal, anti-clotting, it helps to dispel gas and prevent bloating, anti-arthritic, analgesic, and promotes sweating. Plus, ginger really helps with coughs. It is an expectorant as well, and helps thin mucous so you can move it up and out. Since it is antibacterial and antiviral it helps with respiratory infections. Basically, you really can’t go wrong with adding ginger to your food and drinking it daily.

All information is shared for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose or treat any condition.