How to Make Fermented Turmeric and Ginger Honey (and Why You Should!)

This fermented turmeric and ginger honey is a living, probiotic-rich elixir that supports your family’s wellness all winter long. It blends the incredible benefits of turmeric, ginger, and raw honey into one golden jar — beautiful to look at and deeply nourishing to use. In this post, you’ll learn about the health benefits of this tonic, how fermented honey differs from infused honey, and exactly how to make, use, and store your own batch at home.

Why Ferment Turmeric and Ginger in Honey

Each ingredient in this recipe is a powerful healing food on its own. Raw honey is rich in antioxidants, enzymes, and trace vitamins and minerals. Ginger is anti-inflammatory and improves circulation — wonderful if, like me, you tend to get cold hands and feet in winter. It’s also antiseptic and helpful for easing stomach bugs.

My understanding of medicinal herbs comes largely from the writings of Rosemary Gladstar and Rosalee de la Forêt. In Medicinal Herbs (p.79), Rosemary describes ginger as “a warming, decongesting herb used for cold-type imbalances such as poor circulation, colds and flus, respiratory congestion, and sore throat.”

Turmeric has gained fame in recent years thanks to curcumin, one of its key constituents, but its benefits go far beyond that. In Alchemy of Herbs (p.177), Rosalee de la Forêt writes that “if you saw the list of all the ways herbalists use turmeric to help improve people’s health, it would be so extensive you might think it unbelievable.” She explains that turmeric’s remarkable versatility likely comes from its ability to modulate inflammation — which lies at the root of many chronic illnesses.

By fermenting turmeric and ginger together with raw honey, we combine all of these benefits into one potent, probiotic-rich tonic to help keep your family healthy through the winter months.

What Happens When You Put Fresh Turmeric and Ginger in Honey

When you mix chopped fresh turmeric and ginger with raw honey, the honey begins to draw out their natural moisture, becoming thinner and more liquid. The wild bacteria and yeasts present in raw honey then start to transform the sugars into lactic acid, acetic acid, and smaller amounts of other beneficial compounds.

This gentle process, known as lacto-fermentation, is similar to what happens when cabbage turns into sauerkraut. Over time, the honey becomes richer in probiotics, develops a deeper, more complex flavor, and may even grow slightly effervescent — though fermented honey typically isn’t a bubbly ferment.

Fermented Ginger Honey vs. Fermented Turmeric-Ginger Honey

I already have a fermented ginger honey recipe on the blog, so you might be wondering — why add turmeric to the mix? While fermented ginger honey is wonderful for digestion and immune support, adding turmeric transforms it into a powerful anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and immune-boosting elixir.

Here’s a quick look at how the two recipes compare:

Feature	Fermented Ginger Honey	Fermented Turmeric-Ginger Honey
Appearance	Golden amber.	Deep golden-orange hue.
Flavor	Bright, zesty, warming, and lightly spicy.	Ginger adds brightness while turmeric a slight bitterness and more complex spice.
Aroma	Sharp, citrusy ginger scent that becomes mellow and sweet after a few days.	Earthy-spicy aroma with subtle hints of citrus.
Benefits	Traditionally used for coughs, sore throats, and boosting digestion. Anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and supports circulation.	Combines the anti-inflammatory power of turmeric (curcumin) and ginger. Excellent for joint pain, immune support, gut health, and post-illness recovery.
Best uses	Stir into hot tea or herbal infusions, drizzle on yogurt, or take by the spoonful for colds.	Ideal in warm milk or golden milk lattes, stirred into herbal teas, or used in savory dressings and marinades.

Fermented Honey vs Infused Honey — What’s the Difference?

When you add fresh turmeric and ginger to raw honey, their natural moisture activates the beneficial bacteria and yeasts already present. These microbes begin feeding on the honey’s sugars, producing mainly lactic acid and small amounts of acetic acid — transforming the mixture into a live, probiotic-rich fermented honey.

Fermentation also increases certain vitamins and makes the nutrients in the turmeric and ginger more bioavailable, meaning they’re easier for our bodies to absorb.

Infused honey, on the other hand, is made by steeping dried herbs (or fresh herbs with very little moisture, such as thyme or rosemary) in honey. The result is a delicious, herb-flavored honey that retains the benefits of both the herbs and raw honey, but it isn’t fermented — so it lacks the extra probiotic and nutritional benefits that come from fermentation.

Why Fermented Turmeric and Ginger Honey Is So Good for You

• Fermentation increases the amount of certain nutrients and their bioavailability (the ease with which our bodies can absorb them).
• Fermented honey is rich in natural probiotics and enzymes.
• Turmeric is anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant; fermenting it also increases the amount of bioavailable curcumin (one of the main active compounds in turmeric).
• Ginger is great for digestion and immune health.

Ingredients You’ll Need

Step-by-Step Fermented Turmeric and Ginger Honey Recipe

Storage, Shelf Life, and Safety

• This honey will keep up for a year (possibly longer) if kept somewhere cool and dry.
• I recommend storing your fermented turmeric and ginger honey in the refrigerator or on a cool pantry shelf. This helps prevent the small risk of overfermentation, which can cause the honey to start turning into alcohol — especially if you live in a warm climate (like I do!).
• Some people do keep their fermented honey at room temperature with good results, but a lot of those recipes use a lower ratio of herbs to honey. My recipe uses a 1:1 ratio, making it more potent and flavorful — but also a bit more active, so it’s best kept cool if you plan to store it for longer periods.
• Honey is self-preserving and as long as you keep it clean and sealed, it will last without spoiling for a very long time.

How to Use Fermented Turmeric and Ginger Honey

• Taken by the spoonful.
• Stirred into yogurt or kefir.
• In marinades and salad dressings.
• In warm teas.

Please remember that high temperatures will damage the probiotic value of the fermented honey, so if you add it to hot teas or glazes for roast veggies for example, some of its value will be lost.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to Remove Turmeric Stains Naturally

Once, I minced a large batch of fresh turmeric in my food processor — and, as you can probably guess, it turned the bowl bright yellow! Oh great, I thought, now I’ve got a permanently stained food processor. It stayed yellow for weeks… until one day I accidentally left it in a sunny spot on my counter. Voila! The sunlight completely lifted the stain.

In short, sun bleaching works wonders on turmeric stains. I’ve also found that turmeric stains on clothes are usually quite easy to wash out — much easier than stubborn tomato stains! So if you end up with something yellowed by turmeric, don’t panic — just try the good old sun cure.

Final Thoughts: Bringing Golden Ferments into Your Kitchen

I hope you enjoy making this beautiful fermented turmeric and ginger honey. It’s such a simple recipe, yet so powerful medicinally — like most ferments, the magic happens with very little effort on your part. The beneficial bacteria and yeasts do most of the work for you!

If you enjoyed this recipe, be sure to check out my fermented ginger honey — another easy, nourishing ferment to keep in your natural medicine cabinet.