I am a big believer in using what nature has provided to help the body heal. Supporting health through delicious real food and herbs has changed my life for the better in more ways than I can count.

One of my favorite tasty treats to incorporate into my daily life is raw honey. I specify that RAW honey is a wonderful, healthy, beneficial addition to a healthy diet but not all honey is raw. Not all “honey” you find at the grocery store is honey! If you go to the store and read the labels, you may find some bottles of “honey” contain high fructose corn syrup, rice syrup, or other additives to stretch the “honey”. These are usually also heated which denature the healthy enzymes found in honey and making it harder for the body to digest. Unfortunately, these bottles can be labeled as “honey” with little oversight.

Raw honey is honey that has not been heated over 115 degrees and has not filtered the minute particulate matter like pollen out of the honey. Some raw honeys are more filtered than others, depending on the bee keeper’s preferences. If the raw honey still contains pollen, propolis, and beeswax it contains some wonderful immune boosting benefits that you won’t find in the clearer, more finely filtered honey. It will contain natural vitamins, live enzymes, and antioxidants (source). You can find raw honey at your local grocery store, or, better yet, you can buy local raw honey from your local beekeeper! You can find local honey from Honey Locator or Local Harvest.

Health Benefits of Raw Honey

• It is anti-microbial: Because of its low PH level (between 3.2 and 4.5) 1 and low water activity honey is highly anti-microbial. It has been used for thousands of years to treat external skin wounds, burns, ulcers (internal and external), to keep hold dressings on wounds, and as a great addition to common cold and flu remedies.
• Local raw honey has been used as a folk treatment for seasonal allergies. By getting local honey as close to where you live as possible(within 10 miles ideally) you will get low doses of the local pollen that may be giving you grief. This works kind of like an allergy shot, getting low frequent doses of your allergen until your body builds up immunity to it. Although no scientific studies have been done about the ability of honey to treat allergies, there is plenty of historical and anecdotal evidence to make it worth a try.
• The antioxidants in honey may be helpful to people with colitis according to the article “Could Honey Have a Place in Colitis Therapy”, Digestive Surgery 29:306-312
• Honey is wonderful for the skin. It is a nourishing moisturizer and is also known to reduce redness, swelling, and acne in the skin. When mixed with oil like olive, almond, avocado, or coconut, it is also a wonderful hair conditioner.

There are hundreds of uses for honey; these are just the most common. One of the ways I love to use honey is by infusing it with beneficial herbs. By combining the anti-microbial, enzyme rich raw honey with the medicinal benefits of honey, you not only get to enjoy a wonderfully decadent treat, but you can say its medicinal too!

A word of caution: The American Academy of Pediatrics says not to give raw honey to children under 1 year of age because of the risk of botulism. Adults can easily deal with any botulism spores that may be in the honey, but the new immune system of a baby may not be able to deal with it, which can cause severe paralysis and sometimes death. I always err on the side of caution.

First, a bit about Rosemary:

Rosemarinus officinalis is also known as Rosemary, is a widely cultivated culinary and medicinal herb. It is originally from the Mediterranean region, but can be grown year-round in warmer climates, and does quite well when brought inside during the winter in cooler climates. Rosemary is a very aromatic herb with a delicious piney flavor.

Rosemary tea is a wonderful remedy to turn to when you need to focus. This may be because of its tonic effect on the nervous system or because it helps to increase circulation in the body. It is also tonic to the digestive system and can help ease problems such as indigestion, flatulence, cramps, and intestinal spasms, especially those related to food-borne illness. It is a great herb to have on hand to prevent and relieve headaches. It also has a tonic effect on the lungs which is useful for relieving the symptoms of asthma, bronchitis, colds, coughs, and whooping cough.

Rosemary honey is a delicious addition to any tea but is equally delicious drizzled over homemade ice cream, made into a honey candy or lozenge, as a delicious addition to any tea, and as a wonderful sweet and savory marinade for pork or lamb. It is also wonderful for the hair when mixed in a 1:1 ratio with an oil that may encourage hair growth, moisturize hair and perhaps enhance high and low lights. It helps increase blood flow to the skin helping even complexion and revitalize skin as a skin mask. It can be used as an anti-microbial topical application on the skin for burns, scratches, and abrasions as both honey and rosemary are anti-microbial.

Rosemary should not be used in medicinal doses by anyone who has hypertension, seizure disorders or is pregnant.

Rosemary Infused Honey

Ingredients:

• 3 parts raw honey
• 1 part powdered or whole rosemary leaves
• Glass Jar
• If you are using whole leaves, then you will also need a mesh strainer.

Directions:

• Place your herbs in the glass jar. In my case, I filled an 8 oz mason jar 1/3 of the way with rosemary leaves.
• Fill the jar to the top with honey, leaving about a half inch on top to prevent dripping.
• Use a chopstick or butter knife to push the herbs down and help the air bubbles out of the jar, running it down the side of the jar as well to remove air bubbles. This may have to be repeated the next day.
• Allow the honey infusion to sit for at least two weeks and up to six.
• If you used powdered rosemary, use the infused honey as you would any other honey. You are done!
• If you used leaves then strain the honey through a fine mesh strainer (this takes a while so be patient). If your honey is not straining, you may need to place the glass jar in a hot, not boiling, pot of water and warm it up just a bit so it will pour easier. Don’t heat it too much or you will kill some of the beneficial enzymes!
• In the end, you will have a beautiful and flavorful herbal honey that you won’t have to feel guilty for enjoying, because hey, it’s medicinal.

Updated on January 23, 2018 - by Jessica Espinoza, CYT