Ginger & Turmeric Honey Bomb

We don’t have a fever thermometer in our house. It’s not necessary. Instead we measure the weirdness-level in our daily activities. So when someone does something exceptionally weird, we know he/she has got a fever (we have a separate scale for Elsa, since she does exceptionally weird stuff all the time). For example, Luise is pretty certain that I had a fever two days ago. Why else was I cooking ginger caramels, completely off-holiday season and with our book manuscript deadline only 90 hours away (yup, we’re counting hours here)? It’s typical hallucinatory behavior. I even tried to justify my actions by claiming that my caramels actually were medicin. Which only had Luise suspecting that I was in urgent need of medical attention.

All members in our family have spent the last 10 days sneezing, sniffling and coughing from a nasty cold. So when I on a recent visit to our local Asian market found small Chinese ginger caramels that were eye-tearingly and sinus-clearingly fierce, I thought to myself that this was exactly what we needed. I started experimenting with my own recipe and actually got a pretty good batch on the first try. They were oozing with ginger and still very sweet and soft from the honey. It was a nice accomplishment, but I admit that my priorities were unexpectedly weird. And looking back, can I honestly call them medicine? Nope. They were just very tasty caramels. Perhaps I’ll share the recipe with you anyway, a bit closer to Christmas.

Yesterday Luise took the very same ingredients that I used for my caramels and instead created this immune boosting honey. It is filled, not only with a very large chunk of fresh ginger, but also turmeric, lemon and some black pepper. We call it Bomb because it hits you like one, but it’s really just a flavored honey. It tastes incredible in tea or just on it’s own, dissolved in hot water. It would probably also be pretty nice to use in cooking or on a piece of bread. I have been adding a large spoon of this in a cup of peppermint tea and am already back to my normal medium-weird myself, so this stuff really helps.

Here are Luise’s explanations of the science behind the magic:

Ginger is a marvelous root that you can purchase in almost every supermarket in every country. It has antibiotic effects and can help digestion, detoxification, infections, inflammation, joint pain, circulation, nausea (also pregnancy nausea) and motion sickness. It tastes great in juices and smoothies and adds a hot and fresh flavor. It goes very well in curries, fruit compotes and desserts and is one of my absolute favorite herbs.

Turmeric is a very strong antioxidant and has been used as traditional Ayurvedic medicine throughout history. It is considered a herb that cleanses the whole body, especially the liver. It is used to support digestion, treat fever, infections and inflammations. The active ingredient in turmeric is called curcumin and has been proved to have similar effects as anti-inflammatory medicine. Turmeric and black pepper is a great pair to match. The black pepper helps to enhance the bioavailability of curcumin by a thousand times. Turmeric has a slight bitter taste but blends very well with other flavors.

Ginger & Turmeric Honey Bomb
Makes 1/2 cup

1/2 cup / 120 ml honey (prefereble organic unheated)
2-4 tbsp freshly grated ginger (or ground ginger), depending on how strong you prefer
2 tsp ground turmeric (or freshly grated turmeric if you can find it)
1 organic unwaxed lemon, freshly grated zest
2 pinches ground black pepper

Stir together all ingredients in a bowl. Taste and add more ginger or turmeric if needed. Aim for a really strong flavor, you’ll only add a few teaspoons to a cup of water. Store the Ginger & Turmeric Honey Bomb in a glass container. Boil a cup of water and let slightly cool (to keep the benefits from the honey intact), stir in a few teaspoons of the honey mixture and drink. You can of course also add this to your favorite brewed tea.