Echinacea Flower Infused Honey

Make a tasty and easy immune boosting remedy with echinacea flowers and leaves with this simple homemade infused honey.

While the echinacea root is used most often in tinctures and pills found commercially and used by many home herbalists, it’s worth noting that the entire plant has medicinal energy that we can use in our herbal medicine chests.

Infusing purple coneflower leaves and blooms in honey gives a sweet bit of immune boosting power to add to our other herbal teas and cordials later in the year. Use this simple remedy to help fight flu season and sweeten up some of those medicinal teas to keep the body healthy. 

Using Echinacea

While most modern herbalists talk about using only the root of the purple coneflower (echinacea purpurea), the entire plant has been used by indigenous folks since before written history. Native Americans historically used every part of the plant in different applications from smoking to teas to chewing on the roots and more. 

Many books also talk about the fact that while the roots might have been concentrated properties, the aerial parts are also useful for teas and more. Echinacea has been studied and found to activate the bodies immune system making it an ideal choice for fighting colds. 

Harvesting Purple Coneflower

Harvest the flowers when fully open and brightly colored. The leaves should be green and beautiful – unwilted and without brown spots.

Bring the stems into the kitchen and remove the flower heads and leaves from the stems. Compost the stems. Wash the flowers and leaves well under running water to remove any dirt and insects. Remove excess water by running the flowers and leaves through a salad spinner.

Let the flower heads and leaves airdry by spreading them out on a towel until all the surface moisture is dry.

A Long, Solar Infusion

As in most things, I choose to take the slow route when making infused honey.

Your honey will need to infuse for a couple of weeks. While the total time seems long, you as the maker aren’t doing much – you’re just letting it sit.

Use the direct sunlight on your windowsill as your friend for a gentle warming and infusing process.

Are there ways to speed this up? I imagine, you could heat the honey and echinacea gently over a double boiler for 30 minutes or so but I haven’t tried and feel like the slow infusion is probably a better option.

How to Use

Use this herbal honey in much the same way you would use unflavored honey but know it has some extra immune boosting energy contained within.

Add a teaspoon to your favorite immune boosting tea for a little sweetening and extra oompf.

Use it instead of plain honey in your homemade oxymels.

Add some to homemade lip balms for a sweeter flavor and know that sometimes echinacea can help soothe skin irritations like chapped lips

How Much to Make

Make only as much as you will use in a year. For me, that’s about a 4 ounce jar, go bigger or smaller depending on your needs.

You could make extra for gifts if you’re so inclined.

Gift Giving

If you are inclined to make a big batch, consider giving some of the honey as a gift.

Package it up in a small jar alongside some herbal tea as a get well gift. Or simply include it in your homemade gift baskets as a part of a bigger package of homegrown gifts that are sure to please.