Garlic Infused Honey

 

I plant a lot of garlic. I've been asked "What do you do with all that garlic?" A lot of garlic goes into pickles around here - and I cook with garlic a lot - and, of course, I need seed for the next year. Last year I didn't have enough garlic because I had planted the garlic I bought at Costco that had sprouted, and planted it at the wrong time. It really needs to be in the ground in September or October. I planted in early spring, and it was California garlic.  My daughter-in-law rescued me last fall and gifted me some absolutely lovely Spanish Roja bulbs. They are more suited to this climate, and look amazing. So this year I should have enough garlic.

In the meantime, I just bought another bag of Costco garlic, and found that it was mostly sprouted and needed to be used right away. Nature's antibiotics - garlic and honey, make an amazing potion for control of colds and flu. It is a big job to peel enough garlic, but so worth the effort. 

It seems like everything I do becomes an assembly line of sorts. So first step, peel off the papery outside hulls from the garlic bulbs. Then separate into cloves. Next step, use the flat side of a large knife to whack each clove to loosen the hard inner hull. Since it takes 4 or 5 full bulbs to fill a pint jar, there is a lot of debris (compost).

Two different friends from high school each gifted me a bucket of honey recently! (Never too much honey or too much garlic around here) I separated the honey into quart size jars for ease of use, and now I have the garlic ready for the honey.

The garlic will liquify the honey as it ferments. This concoction will keep forever and is something to have on hand for so many uses. At the first sign of a cold take a tablespoon full in a glass of water. (I actually take it as a preventative nearly every day, and have not had a cold or flu in many years.)

I also use a couple of cloves in any sauce I make - spaghetti, marinade, BBQ sauce, etc.  The cloves plump up nicely when heated in the sauce. Once my assembly line project is done (A couple of hours this morning) I have enough garlic and antibiotic for years and to enough to give away to the few people who are into home remedies. :)