Sleepy Time Honey: Herbal Honey for Sleep

How do you use honey in your kitchen? In whatever way you eat or drink honey, you can enhance its medicinal qualities by adding herbs to it. Making herbal honey for sleep is easy, and you can use it to make a tea to help clean out the day and pave the way for a good night’s sleep.

Let’s take a closer look at what’s in our herbal honey for sleep…

Lavender

The queen of nerve tonics, lavender (Lavandula spp.) is a relaxing stress tamer that can soothe you when you are mentally or physically worn out. This herb helps with restlessness, calms agitation, and invokes a feeling of well-being. “Tranquility,” “serenity,” “stillness,” and “repose” are all words used to describe the results of lavender consumption.

Chamomile

German chamomile (Matricaria recutita or Matricaria chamomilla) is famous for its ability to relax and calm the nervous system even during the most stressful times. It helps with irritability, insomnia, and restlessness, and is the herb of choice for relaxing after a stressful day. Chamomile is also a great herb for kids.

Note: Chamomile is in the ragweed family. Use with caution if you have an allergic sensitivity to plants in the ragweed family. If you’re making the herbal honey for sleep recipe, you could simply omit the chamomile.

Lemon Balm

Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) relaxes and uplifts at the same time. It has a palliative effect on excessive mental activity and it moderates the intensity of mood swings and mild depression. Lemon balm is an herbal companion of choice in the face of anxiety, stress-related fatigue, and tension. It helps to resolve anxiety and emotional unrest.

Nutmeg

I have seen nutmeg (Myristica fragrans) help many people who suffer with insomnia. Nutmeg helps to relax the muscles and nervous system. Though nutmeg can be toxic if taken in large doses, it can be added to food and drink sparingly. The amount used in this herbal honey for sleep is perfectly safe.

Ready to dive into turning your spice rack into an effective home apothecary? Check out Herbal Kitchen Remedy Solutions

Making Herbal Honey for Sleep

The best honey to use is one that is local to where you live. Try to find a beekeeper in your area that sells honey, and purchase honey that is raw and has not been heated. Heating can destroy the healing enzymes in honey. And remember to give thanks to the bees!

When making herbal honey, all of the herbs need to be dried and finely powdered before being mixed into the honey. Many herbs can be powdered in your kitchen using a blender or coffee grinder. It’s also easy to purchased powdered herbs at Mountain Rose Herbs.

Herbal honeys are very stable. Because they are made with all dried ingredients, they can easily last for one year outside of the refrigerator. Sometimes the herbs settle a little and the honey needs a good stirring.

To use the honey honey for sleep, stir a spoonful into a cup of hot water to make a calming tea.

I would love to hear from you! Have you ever made an herbal honey? What herbs help you relax and get ready for sleep? Please share in the comments below.

Print Recipe

Sleepy Time Honey

Author: Kami McBride

Ingredients

• 1 cup honey
• 2 tbsp powdered lavender
• 2 tbsp powdered chamomile
• 1 tsp powered lemon balm
• 1/2 tsp powdered nutmeg

Instructions

• Put honey into a sterilized jar.
• Put the jar into a double boiler over low heat.
• Gently heat for 15 minutes, or until it is warm. Do not boil or overheat the honey, just warm it up until the herbs can be easily mixed in.
• Stir the herbs into the honey while it is still warm.
• Remove jar of honey from double boiler and let cool.
• Store the honey in a cabinet for 2 weeks before using.
• Occasionally stir the contents, mixing herbs thoroughly into the honey.
• Just leave the herbs in the honey as you use it. There is no need to strain the herbs out at any point.
• To make a tea, stir a spoonful of the honey into hot (but not boiling) water.