If you love herbs and you love honey, these recipes are for you. This delicious, aromatic and even medicinal blend of plants and bee effort is called an infused honey, and it's an incredible way to take your medicine or just enjoy the fruits of your (and the bees') labor.

Infused honeys are honey remedies made by infusing (soaking, steeping, brewing, extracting) herbs (flowers, stalks, seeds, leaves, bark, or roots) into pure honey, creating a sweet, mild remedy that can be taken by the teaspoonful for the medicinal qualities of both the herbs and the honey. It can also be mixed with vinegar (infused or not) to create an oxymel, so it's a double-duty herbal remedy with loads of possibilities.

By the way, this is not a fermented honey. This honey is infused, meaning it has extracted the herbal properties from the herbs and is a straightforward, non-fermented honey that can be spread on toast and biscuits, drizzled into oatmeal, and stirred into tea. It can also be taken by the delicious spoonful. It's a great way to take herbs that are overly bitter, such as motherwort, when a tea would taste too yucky or you want to avoid an alcohol tincture.

Herbal Infused Honey Recipe

Step 1: Choose your herbs. Fragrant herbs are best: lemon balm, lemon grass, lemon verbena, lavender, spearmint, peppermint. Bitter or pungent herbs also work well in honeys, as the honey makes them more palatable: motherwort, garlic, horseradish, or yarrow are good choices. Nettle works very well, too. I haven’t tried sweet herbs such as licorice because I think it would make the remedy too sweet, but feel free to experiment with whatever herbs you like.

In this recipe, it's okay to use various parts of the plant. Flowers and leaves work the best, but you can also use bark (such as wild cherry inner bark) or roots (such as Echinacea roots). Chop the herbs coarsely and place them in a saucepan. It's important to make sure there is no extra water or moisture in the herbs, as excess water will spoil the honey. This means don't wash the herbs prior to using, or if you do, ensure they are completely dry when you add them to the honey. It also means you should wilt fresh and juicy herbs first. Regarding berries such as elderberry: they're so juicy so you'll want to use dried berries or plan to use the infused honey within a very short period of time.

Quantity: you want to use enough herbs to cover the bottom of the pan.

Step 2: Choose your honey. Any pure, thin honey will do; avoid overly processed honey or honey with sugar water added. Avoid thick honey such as buckwheat honey. Pour the honey over the herbs in the saucepan. Important tip: you want to cover the herbs completely plus about one inch of honey in the pan.

Step 3: Place the saucepan on the countertop, cover it with a lid, and let it sit overnight.

Step 4: In the morning, place the saucepan on the stove and turn the heat on low. The goal is to liquefy the honey just enough to pour it through a strainer. The goal is not to cook it. Do not simmer or boil the honey, just warm it.

Step 5: Pour the honey and herbs through a strainer; use a cheesecloth or not. You may need to let the honey/herb mixture strain for an hour or more. Prop or hang the pot or strainer in a place where gravity can do its work for you. After an hour or so, squeeze as much honey as you can from the herbs, composting the herbs (or eating them) and preserving the honey.

Step 6: Pour the now-infused, fragrant honey into a container such as a glass canning jar, and label it with the herbs, type of honey, and date you infused them together. Because there is no water added, this infused honey should be relatively shelf-stable and will keep on the counter for several weeks. Alternatively, store the honey in the refrigerator.

To use: Take infused honey by the teaspoon, or stir it into your favorite tea. Spread the honey on toast or biscuits, and use it when baking granola. Caution: babies under 1 year old are advised not to have raw honey to avoid the risk of botulism.

If you want to take this a step further and create a new remedy--an oxymel--whisk roughly equal parts with apple cider or balsamic vinegar. For more recipes and a deeper-dive, check out my books:

Excerpted/adapted from Llewellyn’s Little Book of Herbs by Holly Bellebuono

An Herbalist's Guide to Formulary

And of course, the ultimate guide to using nourishing and healing herbs in the kitchen: The Healing Kitchen by Holly Bellebuono:

 All of these and more can be purchased from me (and autographed!) at this link:

https://www.hollybellebuono.com/books