Honey is nice on toast. But did you know it can also relieve a multitude of medical issues — from taming a cough and alleviating allergies to healing cuts or burns? Because of honey’s low pH and hygroscopic properties, bacteria cannot survive in it. The pollen in the honey contains various minerals as well as enzymes and B vitamins, which impart immune-boosting properties that help the body fight infection. This is all good stuff.

Generally speaking, the darker the honey, the greater the minerals and antibacterial qualities.

The recipes that follow are all natural and contain no preservatives. That’s great, of course. But it also means these products have a limited shelf life, so be sure to keep unused product in the fridge to extend its useful life. Or just make what you need in the short term.

Although most of the ingredients are easy to find and you may already have them, I include some resources in Appendix B for obtaining the harder-to-find ingredients.

When selecting a honey to use in these recipes, be sure to use a honey that’s just as it came from the hive. That is, not having been heated nor pasteurized, nor ultra-filtered. These processes remove many of honey’s nutritional and health benefits. Unfortunately, product labelling will not reliably tell you this information. So I recommend avoiding the national brands found in supermarkets. Get your honey from local farmers’ markets or a neighboring beekeeper. See Chapter 13 for how and where to shop for the good stuff.

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