Making Infused Herbal Honey

The Sassy Llama Way

We recommend making at least a quart’s worth at a time. The finished infused honey can be worked with in so many ways – from sweetening hot tea to soothing chapped lips or mild burns to tasty salad dressing, cough syrups and more.

For ideas of what herbs to work with, check our Kitchen Tidbits page.

Supplies & Ingredients

  • Pure honey, preferably local to your area

  • Fresh herbs or dried spices

  • Stainless steel pan

  • Glass jars

  • Fine mesh strainers

  • Wooden spoons

  • Silicon spatulas

Gather fresh herbs. Refer to this for details on how to prepare different herbs. Once ready to infuse, place herbs in jar. How much herb per jar depends on the herb. Fill jars ¼ full of heavier herbs, like berries or roots. Light herbs, like flowers and leaf can be up to ¾ full of herbal material.

Gently, very gently, warm the honey stove-top in a hot water bath. There are different ways to do this, depending on what equipment one has on hand. A canning rack is ideal, to hold a glass jar of honey aloft from directly touching the pan bottom. I have also put canning rings down and placed the jar on that. Placing the jar directly on the bottom of the pan can result in the jar cracking, which is a true honey tragedy.

Once the set up is complete, make sure the jar lid is firmly screwed on, set the jar of honey on metal platform, add water to just above honey level in jar and slowly simmer until the honey is liquified. One may get lucky and have honey that is fairly runny in the first place – in that case, just skip to the next step!

Once honey is liquid, pour over herbs in jar until nearly full. Push herbs down so the plant material is completely covered in honey. Leaving herbs exposed to air in the jar can result in growth of mold, rendering the whole jar inedible, which would be another true honey tragedy.

Let honey infuse in the jar for at least one week, though longer will increase the flavor and potency. Turn the jar once a day to ensure herbs stay coated in honey. Add more honey as needed, if space is created as the herbs soak up the honey.

It is possible to leave herbs in honey indefinitely. I prefer to strain them out as it is easier than messing with sticky herbs when it is time to work with it.

After the herbs have infused, gently heat honey once again as above. Pour warm honey through a fine mesh strainer into a clean glass jar to separate honey from plant material. This is the messy and delicious part!

Let the strainer sit over the jar for a length of time to get the most honey. Compost the herbal honey mash left behind, add it to a pot of hot tea or even just hot water right away to fully enjoy the bounty of this new creation.

I find it nice to label the jar with the herb added and date even though herbal honey lasts indefinitely. Store this delight on the counter or in a cupboard.