This Homemade Honey Ginger Tea Will Make Cold and Flu Season More Bearable

‘Tis the season of pumpkin spice and flu and, while not a substitute for actual medical care, this honey ginger mix is so helpful. Honey has a bunch of antimicrobial properties as well as being soothing and the ginger adds a lovely numbing effect as well as helping unblock your sinuses. It’s the easiest thing in the world to make, plus you’ll feel like a medieval lady preparing for winter. No? Is that one just me? Moving on.

You need clear honey, a big chunk of ginger and a clean jar. I use mason jars and wash them out just before putting everything in it even though I already washed them after their last use just in case. Probably you should also do that. Probably if you were actually sensible you’d sterilise the jar but I like to live dangerously. (If you’ve used up enough of the honey already you can just skip the separate jar step, making this even easier). If you were doing this properly you’d use Manuka honey because its has even more antimicrobial properties than regular honey but I think it also tastes like it and so I will not. Sorry Mum.

Dice the ginger nice and small like I have in the picture. Thin strips or cubes work perfectly fine. Then all you have to do is fill the jar about halfway up with them and then fill it the rest of the way up with honey. Make sure you stir as you do so that you get the maximum amount of the honey into the jar. Then just pop it in the fridge and let it sit at least a day before using it. Supposedly you don’t have to put it in the fridge but my science teacher grandfather is convinced I’m going to get botulism if I don’t so the fridge is probably a good idea. I don’t know, I studied history and computers. Literally the only things I know about medicine are medieval. But you should definitely make my cold cure at home!

What’s the point of doing this instead of just dicing fresh ginger whenever you want it? So glad you asked. Letting the ginger sit in the honey turns it into a sort of thin gingery syrup so you get more out of the ginger. Plus it lets you make enough for at least two colds (or more if you have a bigger jar) when you’re not feeling like utter death and just want to lay under a pile of blankets with the lesbian comfort television of your choice. You can either drink it on its own with hot water or use it to sweeten tea, either way works fine, and you can also just suck it right off the spoon for an immediate hit.

Supposedly using garlic instead of ginger makes a really effective cough syrup and cold preventative but I just can’t bring myself to try it. My nurse friend swears by it though. Let me know if you’ve tried it in the comments and which one you think works best!

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Siobhan

Siobhan has degrees in information management and medieval history making her lots of fun at parties. She's written for Dirge, Biscuit and Diva and is currently working on a book on the supernatural women of Ireland for Wolfenhowle Press (and if you want to help feed her while she works on it you can check out her patreon here.

Siobhan has written 34 articles for us.

11 Comments

  1. This’ll get even better if you leave it out on the counter! No botulism! Stir it at least three or four times a day for around 3 -5 days and then enjoy. The natural yeast from the ginger (make sure you use organic) will eat the sugar from the honey, causing it to ferment and create all sorts of healthy probiotic bacteria. It’s good for your gut, where most of your immune system lives. Yay fermenting things forever.

    I’m super into the book Wild Fermentation and I strongly recommend it to everyone else forever. You too can ferment half your kitchen and make your girlfriend say, “Honey, why does our entire apartment reek like garlic?!” You can also make her say, “Honey, this homemade wine tastes delicious. Good job.” It’s also written by a queer man and half the book is a really beautiful essay on how queer life and fermentation are intertwined. Probably your library has it.

    • I am curious but still can’t bite the bullet on home fermentation. Is there anyway to know for sure your brew is not riddled with bad bacteria?

      I love bacteria 100% (yeah co-evolution!!) but worry about getting sick.

  2. Oooh. This is timely. I just made myself ginger tea by boiling fresh ginger chunks and then adding honey and lemon. I’ll have to try this to up my ginger honey tea game. ? ? ❤️

    When you drink it on its own with hot about how much of the honey ginger concoction do you use? Are we talking teaspoons, tablespoons or more?

    • I put three to four teaspoons in but I usually mix it with various teas or sometimes coffee if its morning and I need to not be homicidal so I’m not sure if that’s really a good amount.

  3. I think only babies get botulism from honey, don’t worry. It’s called infant botulism and is the reason you shouldn’t give under 1s honey. I think it isn’t as deadly as the adult kind. So I think you’re safe

    • He says he said salmonella not botulism. I think he said botulism but was thinking of salmonella but hey I once said hamster when I meant cheese, we all do weird word replacement things.

  4. Literally just left work early due to intense sick/allergies and this is the first article I see…totally fate. ? Headed to pick up some ginger!Thanks for sharing this.

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