Sweet as Honey
Herbal Electuaries
Hello dear readers! I just cozied up with a mug of Tulsi tea and I’m enjoying the sunshine today. The days are getting longer. Can you feel it? I hope so! I’ve been dreaming about how my garden will look this season and what new additions I want to put in. So far I’m resisting the urge to start seeds. Much patience is required! But today, with Valentine’s Day right around the corner, I wanted to share a sweet recipe with you. This week I whipped up a delicious Electuary. Super simply put, an electuary is powdered herbs mixed with honey. I love this herbal preparation! It’s really easy to make and it’s a great way to incorporate herbs into your diet in a really palatable way! Electuaries can be spread on toast or waffles. They can be used as a dip for your favorite crackers. You can stir them into your hot beverages. Drizzle a bit over ice cream or snow cream! Pretty much any way in which you would use honey, you can also use an electuary!
For this particular one, I choose some of my favorite herbs for the heart. These herbs happen to also be great herbs for those chocolate/rose loving Valentine’s Day celebrating people in your life. I’ve previously shared how much I love Rose and Cacao. (You can find a great recipe using both of those here.) Another one of my favorite herbs for the heart is Hawthorn. (Crataegus spp.) The flowers, berries, and leaves can all be used but for this recipe I’m just using the berries. Hawthorn is an incredible cardiotonic. It protects the heart, it strengthens connective tissue, it stabilizes blood pressure, and emotionally/spiritually, it can strengthen the heart and encourage resiliency. It is an herb of both courage and grace. It’s one of the plants I work with most frequently. The berries are jam packed with vitamin C and flavonoids. I also chose to include Shatavari root powder in this blend because it is such a nutritive tonic and calming to the nervous system. It is also a bit of an aphrodisiac.
Ingredients
1 to ½ cups of honey
2 Tbsp Hawthorn berry powder (I ground dried Hawthorn berries in an herb grinder to make the powder.)
1 tsp Rose powder
2 Tbsp Cacao powder
1 tsp Shatavari powder
Instructions
In a bowl, stir together the powdered herbs. Drizzle the honey on top and incorporate well. When all the powdered herbs have mixed in with the honey, it’s ready! You could store in a honey jar or squeeze container, but I find I am less messy with this by storing it in a small, wide mouth mason jar. Electuaries will keep for 6-12 months in the fridge. I usually store my in the cupboard and they never last long enough for me to see how long it would actually keep without being refrigerated.
I hope you enjoy this recipe! And I hope as you’re learning more about the herbs, experimenting with recipes, and seeing what you love, you’re feeling creative and confident! You can add any number of different herbs to honey to make herbal electuaries! Even herbs that don’t taste great become easier to ingest in a bit of honey! If you make this one for a special Valentine’s Day breakfast, or for any time, I’d love to hear about it! Please be in touch if you have any questions! As always, thank you from the bottom of my heart for being here! Much love, my dears!
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*This is for educational purposes only and has not been evaluated by the FDA. This is not intended to diagnose, treat, prescribe, or cure.