Fermented Garlic Honey Recipe

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Fermented garlic honey is one of the easiest ways to get started in fermentation using your garden-grown garlic, and you only need two ingredients. Here’s how to make it. 

For those of us who have been growing garlic during winter, the time is almost upon us to harvest. Garlic cloves planted in March are usually ready for harvest in October/November when the leaves have died down. That’s 8 to 9 months spent growing, the time it takes to grow a human being!

One of the ways to put your harvest to use is to ferment garlic in raw honey. If you’re new to fermentation, or have had dubious successes with ferments, making fermented garlic honey is one of the easiest recipes to try. All you need is in the name: garlic and honey.

You may think it’s an odd flavour combination or you may find garlic too pungent to your taste. The end result will see the garlic cloves soften and mellow and the honey becoming thinner, darker as it is infused with garlic flavour. It really is delicious!

Fermented Garlic Honey Recipe

Ingredients

• organic garlic cloves, peeled
• raw organic honey

Equipment

• wide mouthed glass jar with tight lid
• glass jar for storage

Method

1. Peel the garlic and lightly bruise each clove with a knife.
2. Place the garlic cloves in a clean wide mouth glass jar.
3. Pour honey on top, leaving head room about one quarter of the jar. The cloves will rise to the top.
4. Cover the jar with a lid and place it over a small plate to catch any dripping.
5. Place the jar on a the kitchen bench away from direct sunlight.
6. Every couple of days, burp the jar by opening it and closing it to allow the gas to escape, then flip the closed jar upside down to ensure the garlic is well coated with the honey.
7. You will start to see bubbles form within a week which indicates that fermentation is taking place.
8. Leave to ferment for a minimum of one month but longer is better. See note below. Over time, the honey will become more runny, the garlic cloves will darken and the flavour will mellow.
9. Once it has reached the desired consistency, transfer to a clean glass jar and store in a cool place.
10. The fermented garlic honey will keep indefinitely.

Tips for Fermented Garlic Honey

• The time it takes to ferment is dependent on many factors including the ambient temperature. The cooler the temperature, the longer it will take. As I started the process in winter, I left mine to ferment for a minimum of two months.
• Organically grown garlic is best used for this recipe, however, non organic garlic will still ferment but will take longer.

How Does It Taste

Fermented honey garlic or honey fermented garlic, whichever you would like to call it, tastes like a garlicky honey and the garlic cloves have a mellow flavour. It is delicious on its own and is said to have health benefits such as combating cold and flu in the winter season.

Use it as a condiment when you want to add a honey-garlic flavour to a dish. In drinks, you could use it in a hot toddy with your favourite spirit. For a flavour sensation, and my favourite way to eat it is to drizzle it over blue cheese.

If you make this recipe, don’t forget to tag @the.gourmanticgarden on instagram.