Are you looking for an easy to make immunity booster that combines the wellness powers of garlic and honey? We’ve got something for you to try. This also makes a great mixture for treating a cough.

In our house we of course love honey, and Holly and I also consume quite a bit of garlic. Here is a quick overview of the individual benefits of these two items.

Garlic

Garlic has been an important ingredient for 1000’s of years. It has been celebrated by the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Chinese, Japanese and in India. Garlic contains a host of powerful antioxidants and a compound called allicin. It is believed that allicin can help lower cholesterol and prevent blood clotting. In addition, this powerful member of the lily family has been used for anti-bacterial and anti-microbial purposes, it is consumed to ward off biting insects, and provides vitamins such as B6 and vitamin C. While these are all tremendous properties, we use it for its immunity boosting power. It can help your body fight infection and there are studies showing not only can it help prevent colds, it can help get rid of them faster. One study of 146 volunteers showed those that consumed garlic were 63% less likely to get a cold and those that did get sick got better 70% faster.

Raw Honey

We’ve talked before the benefits of honey, but we are happy to recite them again here. It is important to note that to truly get all of the wellness benefits from honey it must be raw (unheated as heat damages its beneficial properties) and unfiltered (so it still contains trace amounts of pollen).

Raw honey is packed with antioxidants (some of which are only in honey), vitamins and minerals. It contains iron, zinc, potassium, selenium, calcium, vitamin B6, niacin and the list goes on! The benefits of honey (in moderation) are numerous but for this discussion we are focused on its immunity boosting capabilities. The antibacterial properties and antioxidants help to give a kick to your immune system and it tastes delicious! If you’re not a huge fan of garlic, honey will help it become more palatable.

Now that we’ve shown you the why, here is the how:

Garlic Infused Honey

There are two options here depending on how much you like garlic. You can either leave the cloves unpeeled (remove papery cover but leave the individual skins on the cloves), or you can peel and smash the cloves. We prefer to leave the skins on and let it sit for 5-7 days before we eat it.

Ingredients

3-4 heads of garlic (approximately 15- 20 individual cloves)

1 cup (12 oz) of honey

Glass jar with a tight fitting lid

Remove the white papery cover of the garlic cloves but leave the skins on. It’s ok if some of the skin pulls away as your removing the covering. Place 15-20 cloves into the empty jar. Pour honey into the jar of garlic cloves and stir to hep remove air bubble as needed. (Tip: Honey flows better when slightly warm. Either leave your honey in a warm spot in the room for an hour or so before making, or set it in a cup or bowl of warm water from the tap for 15 minutes. This will allow the honey to pass through the cloves and get air our quicker.) Let the honey and garlic cloves sit for 5-7 days Enjoy a teaspoon a day as an immunity booster or use as a cough medicine as needed. (Plain honey works for coughs as well)