Today my son asked me about whether he could mix milk and honey. I hear about the land of milk and honey, there are dozens of blogs named milk and honey about cooking, cookbooks called milk and honey, a honey cookbook that I have on my shelf, and a medieval recipe book. None of them have a single milk and honey recipe -- unless you're looking for soap or enemas.
So I put myself to the task. Here's the recipe:
4c milk (skim, part-skim or whole)
1/4 cup honey
heat milk over medium heat (I used skim)
slowly add honey while stirring until dissolved
(coat measuring cup with a little milk to help the honey pour, or rinse with warmed milk to get out the remainder of honey.)
remove from heat before it boils (I removed it before it even scalded)
Makes 8 half-cup servings -- note that it's like candy. A full 8oz cup would probably be a lot.
This is VERY SWEET but it's also REALLY good. If you don't like things candy-sweet try less honey or add an extra cup of milk. Organic milk and raw fresh honey would probably be great -- I'd just remove it from the heat ASAP to keep the honey and milk from losing too much of their vital nutrients to the heat. Adding honey to cold milk doesn't do the same thing at all; the honey pools on the bottom of the cup.
I'm drinking it hot, and I'm chilling the rest to try it cold. My son is very happy with it. It feels like it would soothe a very sore throat.
May make a good substitute for eggnog for people who don't like the idea of drinking eggs :) I didn't try adding any spices to it, and I'm sure that using whole milk would make it thicker and of course more fattening (thus probably tasting even better). If I try adding spices I'll add them to the comments.
Note that milk and honey baths are used to prepare livestock for county fairs and shows. LOL
[tags]recipe,milk,honey,family,candy[/tags]
I actually got the same urge not too long ago and have tried it a couple of times. I did a glass of cold milk (a large glass, not sure of the size) and put about two teaspoons of honey in. I've not been exact. The first time the honey taste was pretty light and the second time was too sweet. It did mostly mix ok, although it took a lot of stirring. I've been glancing around for a recipe too and this is the first real one I've found. I saw something suggesting a bit of vanilla extract though. That sounded good. Thanks for the post.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. The milk & honey was still terrific cold -- I would suggest heating to dissolve the honey rather than mixing them cold. I have to try with vanilla, and less honey. :)
ReplyDeleteIf you think this is great, try honey butter!! Leave the honey and 1-2 sticks of butter to get to room temperature -- a few hours. Beat together equal amounts of honey and butter in a bowl with a fork until thoroughly blended. Serve with a GOOD loaf of bakery bread -- or better yet make your own fresh bread or biscuits to go with it. It's amazing! MUCH different from buttered toast with honey.
I use salted butter, some people swear by sweet butter -- so whichever you prefer.
Woah this is really good even without the vanilla, I tried it because I have a sore throat and it works like magic
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment and thanks for reminding me. I'll have to try it later: I have a cold. I also have an Earth Day celebration to attend to :/
ReplyDeleteI haven't tried it with the idea for vanilla yet, but since I make my own vanilla from brandy and vanilla beans, it might be worth a try, as long as I can hunker down under the covers after and make it all go away.
Good luck, Kenny!!
what is the benefit of taking milk and money ??
ReplyDeletesome one please tell me the benefits
ReplyDeleteHi, Sathish,
ReplyDeleteI don't know if there's any benefits, in particular, with this recipe. Warm milk makes people sleepy and is often recommended as a non-medication sleep-aid. There is much benefit to honey, which you can read about in connection to the longevity of beekeepers.
The reason I experimented with this is another thing. There are fables and tales that mention milk & honey, there's the saying about "the land of milk and honey" and I've heard of show-worthy animals being bathed in a mixture of milk and honey before being taken in front of the judges. I was curious about how it would taste, why it seemed to be so popular in ancient times as to talk about faraway beautiful lands as the "land of milk & honey" etc.
So I did a web search and couldn't come up with a real recipe to try for milk & honey. So I figured I'd have to try it myself. I do recommend that you use organic milk whenever possible, and I've done this with skim milk. I haven't tried it with vanilla as recommended by Ariff. Now that colder weather is settling in I may try the recipe again. I think it would be unbelievable with scones!
I don't know about other people, but I love warm milk with honey...is delicious, and relaxing...
ReplyDeleteI've been in dire search for something to take to help me sleep for the last month. I don't want to taek over the counter sleeping pills becuase I am nursing and they just creep me out. I have total insomnia latley and somene toldme to try Milk and Honey.. So I'll this recipe tonight and see if it helps at all. I wante dtoa sk if anyone else noticed it helping them get a good night's sleep?
ReplyDeleteRhianna -- warm milk actually helps the body produce chemicals (I think it's seratonin) that help you get to sleep. Adding honey may be OK, but you can do milk alone, too. I'd only be concerned about adding honey because it would technically give you energy (sugar).
ReplyDeleteYour brain and body absolutely need restful sleep or at least sleep. I imagine your baby is very young and still waking during the night -- if not maybe you're waking in the night because you're engorged!
With that aside, I can make many MANY suggestions for things you can do to help you sleep.
Here are some basics ideas for sleeplessness, and neo-natal sleeplessness:
1/2 hour before you'd like to go to bed, start your bedtime routine even if you're feeling too awake. Dim lights, brush your teeth, put on soft music, read a calm book. Stop overstimulating yourself -- no video games, movies, TV, Internet chats, phone calls, etc.
Try putting the baby near your bed if not IN your bed (search on "cosleeping" or "co-sleeping") so you don't have to get up and "wake up" to nurse in the night. Especially important -- don't use more than a night-light for middle of the night feedings -- or pumping -- too much light breaks your melatonin cycles and you may not be able to fall back asleep.
Nap when the baby naps.
If you're in a city, make sure there's no extra light entering your room. Darkness brings us melatonin, which is the other half of the brain chemicals we need for good sleep (with seratonin).
Try progressive relaxation techniques when you do get into bed. Rather than paying attention to racing thoughts, pay attention to relaxing your body starting at your toes -- tense & then relax the muscles in your toes, your ankles, your shins, your knees, your thighs, etc. -- slowly, up your body. Focusing on relaxing your body will help quiet your mind.
If you're religious, note the long standing tradition in MANY religions to pray before sleep. Recounting your day's blessings, and an overwhelming sense of gratitude combined with the trance-like stillness of the mind in focus probably help people sleep.
Never eat too close to bedtime.
I'm sure I can come up with more...but that's certainly a good bit to try out.
Note that while I'm an herbalist, a Reiki healer, and I once wanted to become a midwife, I am not a doctor and this is NOT to be taken as professional medical advice. Always seek a physician for legally binding medical advice!
Best of luck!!!!
I've heard of milk and honey in several books before. I tried mixing just some regular honey and milk... didn't work. This is the first one I have come across ever. I'm going to try it soon
ReplyDeleteI hope its good.
Warmed milk with honey is a great substitute for tea.. and it puts you RIGHT to sleep. I have moderate insomnia and it just puts me to sleep like a baby.
ReplyDeleteI warm a glass of milk ( 1%) in the microwave, until its just warm, and put a spoonful of honey in. So good, and so yummy.
i heard milk@honey
ReplyDelete10 ounces of whole milk
tea spoon of honey
3x daily
this will keep your body in usage mode
which will burn off fat constantly
your body is always in two modes usage @or storage mode, is this true?
I went to Germany and ordered "milch and honig" which was milk and honey. It was wonderful. I have been making it every since. Now I also add allspice to it. It tastes EXACTLY like chai tea. You just heat the milk in the microwave, put in honey to taste and then sprinkle in some allspice. Try it. You will be really surprised. It tastes great.
ReplyDeleteThis should almost be a sacrament. I'm using real milk, raw, unpasteurized, grass fed cows and raw honey! The taste should be of Biblical proportions! :D Thanks for the recipe!
ReplyDeleteI was experimenting with this and wondered who else was doing this. I added a cinnamon stick too and pore it after chilling on some ancient grain cereal with chopped dates. A royal breakfast of a bygone era.
ReplyDeleteYardsnacker you are correct this should be a a sacrament, milk and honey were believed to be used in rituals of Roma-Graeco deities, Druids, and Babylonians. It is also believed that the ancient Egyptians used it in burial rites.
I like adding a bit of cinnamon to this recipe, tastes great!
ReplyDeleteI had a sore throat, and I knew that honey and milk were both used in different ways to soothe it. So when I ran out of tea bags, I just took some milk and heated it up, and added honey to it. Very smooth and tasty. Feels good going down too.
ReplyDeleteI am a 10 year old girl. I love honey, and I love milk. I have heard of these combinations before and I wanted to see if it was actually as good as people say it is. I tried tea the other day, and didn't like it much, so I added honey. It started to taste better. I looked up on the computer "drinks with honey". I found this website, and looked at the recipe. I said "Mom, can we make this? We have all of the supplies." My mother agreed and now I can't wait to try it!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteMy results will come in later!
I made some today to warm up after playing in the snow with my son. I used creamed honey instead of regular, and added vanilla and cinnamon (my four-year-old's idea). It was delicious!!
ReplyDeleteyour crazy! haha ive been drinking honey milk or milk and honey since i was very young! all you have to do is put a mug of milk in the microwave heat it up for 1 minute and add in honey! me and my family where laughing at this post! people make things so complicated!
ReplyDeleteThanks very helpful, didn't have much that I wanted to drink around the house so I decided to do a search abbrlucky I found this. Satisfied :)
ReplyDeleteI like to make this in the mornings when it's cold, but I add a little cinnamon, less honey, teaspoon per class of brown sugar and a little bit of vanilla. And use a microwave this is a trade off for speed... I like to sleep in.
ReplyDelete