I wrote this article for my 2008 herbal honeys class.  Here I’ve added some recipes.  Honey is an excellent food and medicine all by itself.  It heals wounds and burns.  The conventional medical community has even started using it for treatment of burns.

Unlike vinegar, which mainly extract the minerals of the infused herb, honey also extracts the medicinal properties of the herb as well as much of the flavor. The honey essentially dehydrates the herb material.  You’ll notice that the herb becomes crispy in the honey.  The dehydative action is also how honey contains and kills bacteria.  It dehydrates the bacteria, and in the case of aerobic bacteria, honey cuts off the air, too.

Honey itself is a potent medicinal. Its uses as a wound dressing go back to prehistoric times. We have written records of the ancient Egyptians using honey for dressing wounds. Most recently science and the medical community have verified honey’s antibacterial and antiseptic properties. Honey acts in several different ways to kill and contain bacterial. It draws water out of bacterial cells through osmosis, is acidic enough to kill certain types of bacteria and also contains hydrogen peroxide. Doctors have started using honey to treat antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections and severe burns with honey.

Honey is also a nutritious food. In Healing With Whole Foods the author states “All types of honey, both raw and heated, work naturally to harmonize the liver, neutralize toxins, and relieve pain.” p. 191. Aside from containing glucose, fructose, and other carbohydrates, honey also has several antioxidants, Vitamin C, B Vitamins and trace minerals. Honey may even contain naturally-occurring probiotics. It’s an excellent preservative, too – edible honey has even been found in the tombs of pharaohs!

Many people feel that honey is best unheated and unfiltered. I’m personally a proponent of local honey.

How to Make an Herbal Honey

• Chopstick
• Jar (any size) & lid
• Knife
• Cutting board
• Labels & pen
• Honey, preferably local (must be runny)
• Fresh herb of your choice

Making an herbal honey is easy. Cut enough fresh herb to fill your jar. Chop fairly fine and put it into your jar. Fill jar with honey, poking and stirring with the chopstick to get all the air bubbles out. Cap your jar and label it with the herb and date made and date that it will be ready. Let sit for 6 weeks and then your honey is ready to eat!  The infused honey can be strained or you can eat the herb, too. It’s fine if it crystallizes also.

Ways to Use Your Herbal Honey

• Eat it by the spoonful (medicinal purposes or just because it tastes good!)
• Spread it on toast with or without the herb
• Use as a sweetener in an herbal syrup
• Sweeten your tea or use it as an instant tea:  one tablespoonful to a cup of hot water 

Other Honey Recipes

Nan’s Cough Syrup

• 1 Onion
• Honey

Chop onion, put on a plate, cover with honey & stir. Cover with another plate. Leave out for at least for hours or overnight. Take the juice that results. Dose is 1 tsp for an adult.  And, seriously, this is what my grandma used, along with the addition of bourbon whiskey, of course!

Another Cough Syrup Recipe from herbalist Heather Nic An Fleicher

• 1/3 cup Garlic honey
• 2/3 cup Lemon balm vinegar

Mix together & use at a rate of 1 TBS per cup of hot water for cold & cough relief (adult doseage).  Very warming.

 Lemon-Honey Cold Relief

• Juice of ½ lemon
• Honey to taste (plain or herbal honey)
• Hot water

Options:

• Pinch of sea salt
• Lemon balm or echinacea tincture
• Hot rosehip tea as the base instead of hot water

Juice the lemon into a mug (12 ounce mug works best). Add honey to taste. I add a lot; I like this sweet! Add the optional ingredients and fill with hot or boiling water.

This is really great if you feel like you’re getting a cold or already have one. It’s very hydrating as well as comforting and gives you a shot of Vitamin C (from the lemon) and all those good things from the honey. It’s best taken just before bed. If you use an herbal honey, I’d recommend lemon balm honey for its antiviral properties as well as flavor or ginger for its warming properties.

Garlic Honey - ready in 24 hours

• Small jar
• Unpeeled garlic cloves
• Honey

Stuff your jar with the unpeeled garlic cloves & then add the honey to cover. Put a lid on the jar & put the jar on a plate. It will ooze somewhat. This is ready in 24 hours. It’s yummy by itself but is also good for colds, flus, coughs, etc.

References

• Edwards, Gail Faith. Opening Our Wild Hearts to the Healing Herbs. Ash Tree Publishing, 2000
• Weed, Susun. Healing Wise. Ash Tree Publishing, 1989
• Weed, Susun. Be Your Own Herbal Expert part 8, 2006 at www.susunweed.com
• Pitchford, Paul. Healing With Whole Foods.
• Wilson, Ananda. Herbal Honey article from March 2006 Weed Wanderings E-Newsletter
• Honey   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey
• Downey, Charles. Sweet Solution; 2000;   http://www.webmd.com/content/Article/14/1668_50175.htm

This is modified from the article I hand out with my herbal vinegars class.  Vinegar leaches the minerals from the herb or weed.  Weeds are high in minerals as bringing up minerals from the subsoil is their action in nature.  Ever see how far down a root on a dandelion or burdock goes?  Really far!  Since herbs are basically weeds and they are full of minerals, too.  So, especially if you’re into Nourishing Traditions/Weston A. Price type of diet, herbal vinegars are for YOU!

Good health depends upon getting enough minerals in our diets. These days it is more difficult to get enough minerals by consuming foods - even organic foods. Our agricultural soils have become depleted. Herbal vinegars can help us get the minerals we need for good health. Herbs, many of them commonly though of as weeds, have deep roots and bring minerals up from the subsoil. Putting these weeds into an acid menstruum such as vinegar leaches the minerals and vitamins from the plant material making them very bio-available. Apple cider vinegar also acts as a vehicle for the medicinal components of the plant (alkaloids), often making the vinegar medicinal as well as nutritious.  ACV in and of itself is a nutritious food and acts as a digestive tonic.  Herbal vinegars charge your body with minerals giving you extra energy (or, maybe, the energy you should have!). And, let’s not forget that herbal vinegars are darn tasty, too!

• Any size jar with plastic lid (this is important)
• Chopstick/butter knife
• Kitchen knife for chopping
• Herb of your choice, amount depending on the size of your jar
• Vinegar: apple cider vinegar, rice vinegar (NOT white vinegar!) Pasteurized is best here, but unpasteurized will work fine. It just won’t last as long. 

Gather the herb of your choice, enough to fill your jar nicely full when chopped but not overly stuffed. Fill the jar with vinegar & poke with chopstick to release any air bubbles. Add more vinegar if you need to.. Cap with a plastic cap or layer several pieces of plastic wrap/wax paper between jar & metal lid. Label with herb, type of vinegar, & date made. Let it sit for 6 weeks away from direct light (indirect light is okay). Strain out plant material & enjoy!

 Using Your Vinegar 

Use your vinegar in salad dressings, marinades, condiment - anywhere you’d usually use vinegar.  I especially like it with kale or any green. You can also make a mineral energy charge drink.  Take 1 TBS herb vinegar and 1 TBS molasses or honey in 8 oz of water.

Here are some excellent herbs for vinegars:

• White pine needle - makes a “balsamic” vinegar
• Mugwort leaf
• Lavender leaf/flower - also use as facial toner or deodorant
• Comfrey leaf - high in calcium, chromium, manganese, niacin, potassium, riboflavin, selenium, silicon, Vitamin A & C
• Red Raspberry leaves - high in calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, niacin, selenium, Vitamin C & A
• Dandelion root & leaves - high in iron, manganese, phosphorus, Vitamin A
• Burdock root - high in chromium, iron, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, thiamine, silicon, zinc, Vitamin A
• Lamb’s Quarters - high in calcium, manganese, Vitamin A & C
• Nettle leaf - high in calcium, chromium, magnesium, cobalt, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, riboflavin, selenium, silicon, thiamine, zinc, Vitamin A & Vitamin C
• Yellow Dock/Curly Dock root - high in calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, riboflavin, selenium, thiamine, Vitamin A & C
• Catnip - high in chromium, manganese, potassium, selenium
• Peppermint - high in calcium, iron, magnesium, niacin, phosphorus, potassium, riboflavin, thiamine, Vitamin A
• Thyme leaf - high in calcium, chromium, cobalt, iron, magnesium, riboflavin, selenium, silicon, thiamine, sodium,
• Sage leaf - high in calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, thiamine, zinc, Vitamin A
• Rosemary leaf/flower
• Hyssop herb
• Chickweed herb - high in calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, silicon, Vitamin A, zinc
• Violet leaf/flower - high in Vitamin A, Vitamin C
• Red Clover Blossom - high in calcium, chromium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, thiamine, Vitamin C
• Yarrow leaf/flower - high in calcium, chromium, potassium, riboflavin, selenium, thiamine, Vitamin C

FRUITS - some fruits make excellent vinegars, too.

• Raspberry: Make raspberry shrub, an old drink. Make your vinegar & strain out fruit. Measure liquid. Add honey or sugar at the rate one half amount the amount of liquid (i.e. for 2 cups of vinegar add 1 cup sweetener) & heat until the sweetener melts into the vinegar. Keeps for 2 years with out refrigeration. To make the drink: take 1/4 cup of shrub & mix with 2 cups of sparkling water. YUM!
• Elderberry, blackberry - great for salad dressings

 ABOUT THE NUTRIENTS

As you can see from the above listing, most herbs are high in many minerals people are often deficient in today and in amounts that work synergistically together.

• Herbs high in calcium are often also high in magnesium. These two minerals work together for bone health.  Calcium alone doesn’t do it.
• Vitamin C is needed in your body so you can absorb iron. Most herbs listed above if high in iron are also high in Vitamin C. Note that of the herbs listed above, high chromium is listed for eight of these herbs.
• Chromium is needed in your body for efficient metabolism. A deficiency in chromium has been implicated in type 2 diabetes. It’s used in the production of insulin and if you’re even slightly deficient in chromium your blood sugar will be elevated. Many people eat chromium depleting refined foods - white sugar, white flour – while having no source of chromium in their diets. Most people today are deficient in chromium.
• Selenium is also a nutrient many people don’t get enough of. Selenium is an antioxidant, preventing the conversion of free radicals into carcinogens; acting much like Vitamin E does. It may also protect against cardiovascular disease and strengthen the immune system.

For further reading:

• Healing Wiseby Susun Weed
• Opening Our Wild Hearts to the Healing Herbs by Gail Faith Edwards
• Nutritional Herbology by Mark Pedersen

This herb - Is it food?  Is it medicine?  There seems to be some confusion with herbs; are they food or medicine?  Yes, I say!  What?  They’re both.  Here are some excellent examples, though I could go on & on…

The Elder (Sambucus nigra).  Think elderberries, mainly.  They’re tasty.  I used to eat them as kid, right off the bush.  You can use them like blueberries - make jam, jelly from the juice, add to pancakes, put then in ice cream (on ice cream as a sauce), put them in a smoothie, freeze them, make a cordial out of them etc.  Elderberries are also a potent medicine.  They contain compounds that help block viruses from entering cell walls by strengthening the walls.  Extract of elderberry (including syrup) also help reduce the duration of viral flu.   So, how would you rather take elderberry?  As a nasty commercial extract in grain alcohol or as jelly on a scone or a syrup over ice cream?  Elderberry pancakes?  Me?  At our house we eat up the jelly as fast as we can acquire it.  I haven’t found enough elder bushes to make my own jelly yet though I did plant four bushes last year.  We will use an extract (0ne that I make), but honestly, I’d rather have mine in pancakes. 

Nettles (Urtica diocia).  I like nettle as an all over tonic.  It’s great to build energy and  keep your skin,  hair healthy.  It’s full of magnesium from chlorophyll, the “green blood” of plants so it helps keep your bones healthy.  Good for building the blood,too as it contains iron and vitamin K (this helps with blood clotting - helpful during pregnancy to keep bleeding to a minimum during birth & for long/heavy periods).  So it’s pretty potent medicine.  You don’t take it as medicine, though, in those tiny little doses.  You must eat it or drink it as an infusion (1 ounce of dried herb in 4 cups of boiling water & let steep at 4 hours - overnight).  We go out in the spring, gloves on, and cut the little nettles as they come up.  They’re a lovely dark green and full of minerals.  Rinse them well to get the dirt off; put them in a pot with water (or chicken broth) to barely cover them.  Cook them for 10 - 20 minutes to deactivate the stingers.  Use like spinach or eat them on their own; sneak them into soups, casseroles, etc.  Susun Weed gives an excellent recipe for nettles with cheese & rice in her book Healing Wise.  It’s one of our spring favorites.  We eat the fresh nettles for several weeks.  The rest of the year I drink dried nettle infusion.

Just about any cooking herb or spice can be used as medicine- sage, thyme, parsley, cinnamon, turmeric, rosemary, ginger, cayenne, garlic.  Sage dries up secretions & eases sore throats.  Thyme acts as a decongestant when used as a steam or drank as a tea during a cold.  Turmeric reduces the inflammation response the body produces during a virus.  Cinnamon may help regulate blood sugar.  Rosemary is great for hair retention.  Ginger can ease a tummy ache and help bring on a period that’s delayed due to stress.  Cayenne can increase peripheral circulation (to the hands & feet) and is antimicrobial.  Garlic is antimicrobial and helps keep the heart healthy.  Some of these herbs need to be taken in larger doses for their therapeutic effect.  Others work in “normal” amounts that you’d eat with your food.  Ever have cabbage cooked with caraway seeds?  The caraway helps digestion & keeps the flatulence to a minimum.  Many traditional dishes from hot climates contain lots of spices (think Indian food or Thai).  Many of these spices contain powerful antimicrobials, killing bacterial contamination.  My guess is both on the food and in the gut. 

So, eat your medicine & stay healthy.