It is easy to make a herbal honey.

Take a clean jar. Fill it up with a fresh herb of your choice. You will want an aromatic herb. Some good herbs to use are rose petals, rosemary, lavender, elderflower or lemon balm. You can also use spices such as cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Garlic honey is another idea.

When the jar is filled with the herb, pour some honey in, and let it settle. Pour in the honey and let it settle a few more times over the next hour or two, while you do other things. Until the jar is full of both herb and honey.

Then leave in a warm place- or just on your kitchen bench- for at least a week, but if you forget, it is fine to leave it for weeks, even months. If it crystalises, put the jar in some warm water until it liquified again.

When you are ready, strain the herbal honey through a strainer to take out the herbs, and bottle the honey with a pretty label. This can be used in herbal teas, or desserts, or straight off the spoon. Garlic honey is good medicine for sore throats. Spiced honey is great for chai.

Herbal honeys can last a long time on the shelf. However if you made your honey with a very moist plant like mint, it may be more watery and may not last as long.

And don’t underestimate the medicinal value of the honey itself- it has long been known to be a healing food.