Fermented Honey Garlic: Is It Safe? A Safer Method
The popular method, peeled garlic cloves left in raw honey at room temperature for weeks, has no tested safe recipe, and extension food-safety specialists say they are not comfortable with it because of botulism. Garlic is a low-acid food that can carry botulism spores, honey often carries them too, and the moist layer where clove meets honey is the kind of place the bacteria can grow.
If you want garlic honey, the most cautious way is to acidify chopped garlic in citric acid for 24 hours, cover it with honey, keep it in the fridge and use it within 4 days, or freeze it. Never give it to a baby under 12 months.
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup (about 100 g), roughly 2 bulbs Garlic cloves, peeled and chopped into pieces no bigger than 5 mm (¼ in)Chopped, not whole: whole cloves don't take up enough acid in 24 hours
- 1 level tbsp Granular citric acidSold for canning and baking. Not ascorbic acid (vitamin C), and not lemon juice or vinegar, which haven't been tested for this
- 2 cups (480 ml) Warm water
- About ¾ cup (250 g), enough to cover Runny honey
Equipment
- Glass or plastic bowl with a cover (not aluminium)
- Sieve
- Clean glass jar of about 300 ml with a lid
- Kitchen scales
- Labels or a marker for the date
Method
Know why this isn't a room-temperature ferment
Traditional recipes leave whole cloves in raw honey on the counter for a month or more. No extension service has published a tested recipe for that, and an Oregon State food-safety specialist has said she is not comfortable with its safety. This guide gives a cautious fridge version instead.1,2
Make a 3% citric acid solution
Pour 2 cups (480 ml) of warm water into a bowl and stir in 1 level tablespoon of granular citric acid until it has completely dissolved.4
Chop the garlic
Peel the cloves and chop them into pieces no larger than 5 mm (¼ in) in any direction. In the tested method, whole cloves did not become acidic enough within 24 hours.4
Soak for 24 hours
Stir ⅔ cup (about 100 g) of the chopped garlic into the acid solution, cover and leave at room temperature for 24 hours. A few hours longer is fine. This is the tested step that makes garlic acidic enough to stop botulism bacteria growing in garlic oil; it hasn't been tested in honey.4
Drain well
Tip the garlic into a sieve, let it drain for a few minutes and shake off as much liquid as you can. Extra water thins the honey.
Cover with honey and refrigerate
Put the garlic in a clean jar, pour over enough honey to cover it, put the lid on and label it with the date. Put it straight in the fridge. The garlic flavours the honey within a day or so; cold honey is thick, so stir before using.
Use within 4 days, or freeze
Use it within 4 days. That is the fridge limit extension services give for raw garlic in oil, the closest tested comparison; no one has tested a storage time for garlic in honey. To keep it longer, freeze it in small portions straight away.4,5
Use it in food
Drizzle it over roast vegetables, halloumi or pizza, whisk it into dressings or use it as a glaze for chicken or salmon. Eat or cook the garlic pieces too.
Safety
- No tested, research-based recipe exists for garlic fermented in honey; extension specialists say they can't recommend it as safe1,2,3
- Don't leave raw garlic in honey at room temperature. Garlic is low-acid, honey's pH ranges from about 4 to above 6, and botulism needs pH above 4.61,3
- A good pH strip reading isn't proof of safety. Adding vinegar later won't destroy any toxin that has already formed2
- Never give honey, or garlic honey, to a baby under 12 months: honey can contain the bacteria that cause infant botulism6
- Throw away any jar that bulges, fizzes or smells bad, without tasting it6
- Get urgent help for blurred or double vision, drooping eyelids, slurred speech or difficulty swallowing after eating home-preserved food6
Variations
Skip the soak and stir a few chopped raw cloves into honey just before you cook with it, as a glaze or in a stir-fry sauce. Make only what you need for that meal.
Stir dried chilli flakes into the finished garlic honey. Use dried rather than fresh chillies: the tested acid soak covers garlic, basil, oregano and rosemary, not peppers.
Spoon the garlic honey into an ice-cube tray or small tubs and freeze on the day you make it. Honey stays soft enough in the freezer to scoop out a spoonful.
Does it actually work?
No study has tested fermented honey garlic for colds, immunity or anything else. On garlic, the NIH's complementary health centre says research on immune or cold-and-flu benefits is very thin: a 2022 review found only two small studies, both with weaknesses. Garlic supplements may lower cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar slightly, but those trials used supplements, not garlic in honey.
Honey has better evidence: a Cochrane review found it probably eases cold-related cough in children over 12 months, mostly from one-night trials. Garlic honey is a tasty condiment; it isn't a proven remedy, and the room-temperature version carries a real if small botulism risk.7,8
Evidence ratings for what goes in: Honey.
Questions people ask
Is fermented honey garlic safe?
Nobody knows for certain, which is the problem. No tested recipe exists, and extension food-safety specialists in Oregon and Kansas have warned against it because both garlic and honey can carry botulism spores and the garlic-honey boundary is moist.
The risk is small but the illness is serious, so we don't give a room-temperature method.
Does adding apple cider vinegar or checking the pH make it safe?
Not reliably. Botulism can't grow below pH 4.6, but in a safe ferment the acid has to drop quickly, ideally within 24 hours. A strip measures the honey, not the inside of each clove, and vinegar added later won't destroy toxin already formed.
Vinegar and lemon juice also haven't been tested for acidifying garlic; citric acid has.
How long does garlic honey last?
Nobody has tested it. We use the 4-day fridge limit that extension services give for raw garlic in oil, the closest tested comparison, and freeze anything you won't use by then.
Can I give garlic honey to my baby or child?
Not to a baby under 12 months: honey can contain the bacteria that cause infant botulism, whatever it is mixed with. For older children, honey can help a cough, but there is no evidence that adding garlic does anything extra.
Can I use whole garlic cloves?
Not for the acid soak. In the tested method, whole cloves didn't become acidic enough within 24 hours, so the garlic must be chopped into pieces no bigger than 5 mm (¼ in). Whole cloves sitting in honey are exactly the set-up food-safety specialists are worried about.
Sources (8)
- University extension Waite-Cusic J. Fermented honey. Ask Extension #822983, Oregon State University Extension expert response. 2023.
- University extension Oehler N. Is this ferment safe? Ask Extension #856241, expert response. 2023.
- University extension Blakeslee K. Honey Fermented Garlic May Be Risky. You Asked It!, K-State Research and Extension. 2020.
- University extension Abo B, Bevan J, Greenway S, et al. Making Garlic- and Herb-Infused Oils at Home. PNW 664. Pacific Northwest Extension (University of Idaho, Oregon State, Washington State).
- University extension Oehler N. Preserving garlic. SP 50-645. Oregon State University Extension Service. 2024.
- Health agency NHS. Botulism.
- Health agency National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Garlic: Usefulness and Safety.
- Cochrane review Oduwole O, Udoh EE, Oyo-Ita A, Meremikwu MM. Honey for acute cough in children. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018.
Educational only. Patch-test anything new on your skin, and stop if it irritates.
Reader notes
Experiences and questions from readers, read by an editor before they appear. They are personal accounts, not evidence, and are not medical advice.