What’s the Deal with Honey and Garlic? Is It as Good as They Say?

If you have been on social media at all in the last few years, I’m sure you have seen the viral hack of fermenting garlic and honey to cure many ailments and boost immunity. So, is it true? Is it as magical as everyone claims? 

To start off, why do we ferment the honey and garlic combination? Fermentation is a natural process that causes the microorganisms in food to break down on a chemical level. Fermenting foods can have good bacteria that can benefit gut health.  This includes: 

1. Osmosis: Honey draws the water out of the garlic cloves. The honey becomes more liquid, which creates an ideal environment for the garlic’s lactic acid bacteria to grow.

2. Activation of Wild Yeasts: The increase in water content weakens honey’s antibacterial defense, allowing beneficial bacteria to enter and stimulating the wild yeasts that were dormant in raw honey.

3. Fermentation: These yeasts kickstart the fermentation process by consuming the glucose and fructose found in the honey (and fructose from garlic), producing alcohol, carbon dioxide, and acetic acid. This process is what preserves the food and creates amazing flavor.

4. Maturation: Over time, the honey absorbs moisture from the garlic and becomes more liquid. Then the bubbles become fewer and the garlic begins to sink to the bottom. The longer the garlic cloves are left to ferment, the more refined and “candied” they will become.

Remember, it’s important to use raw, unpasteurized honey and organic garlic for this process.

To ferment your garlic, you place raw cloves of garlic in a jar, cover them with honey and then leave the sealed jar in a cool space to ferment for at least a month (making sure to turn the jar upside down every other day to make sure the garlic is covered.) The fermentation process begins when the juice from the garlic mixes with the honey, breaking down both ingredients on a chemical level. 

Now that we understand the fermentation process let’s look at the claims being made by the many fans of the concoction. Both garlic and honey do have known health benefits of their own.

Honey is known to:

• Ease a sore throat
• Alleviate a cough
• Decrease inflammation
• Help reduce mucus secretion

Garlic is known to:

• Boost immunities
• Have anti inflammatory properties
• Heart health benefits helping expand blood vessels which makes it easier to regulate blood pressure.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t imagine how having these two in combination could be anything but good. Understanding everything about honey and garlic, I would say, integrating honey and garlic into a balanced diet may contribute to overall wellness, but they should be viewed as complementary rather than primary treatment options for colds.

In conclusion, while honey and garlic may provide some relief from the discomforts associated with a cold, individuals should approach these remedies with realistic expectations. A well-rounded approach to health – incorporating rest, hydration, and possibly over-the-counter medications – remains essential in overcoming a cold effectively. 

What do you think? Leave a comment and tell us how you’ve used your honey for your health!