How to Make Lilac Infused Honey

Very Simple Ingredients

There are only two ingredients: lilac flowers and honey. You want to use the best of each that you can find.

Use the good stuff, the finest you can find in your local area for the best final product.

Lilac Flowers

Obviously, lilac is the main flavor and star here. 

You want to pick lilacs that are still vibrant in color, avoiding any brown flowers for best flavor.

The lilac flowers need to be plucked or snipped from the stems. The flower with none of the green stems is what you want for the best flavor. 

Snip the lilacs from the stem, give them a rinse through a fine mesh sieve to remove any dirt, bugs, etc. Then spin it through a salad spinner to remove the moisture. After that, spread the lilacs out onto a towel and let dry to remove as much surface water as possible. Too much water in the honey could lead to mold so let the water from rinsing dry off. 

The Honey

Use a mild flavored kind of honey so that the floral flavor can shine through.

Choose something local and light in color for the most lilac flavor, things like clover honey, wildflower honey. If you have your own hive, of course, use that and don’t worry about the particular honey variety.

For the best outcome, use a liquid honey, avoid any that has crystallized. The crystalized honey doesn’t infuse as well over time. 

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? You could heat the honey and lilac gently over a double boiler for a floral flavor but in my experience the slow method is better.

How to Use

In a nutshell, use lilac honey as you would any plain, sweet honey in your normal kitchen routine. Truly use the infused honey in any recipe that uses plain honey – cakes, cookies, sauces, dressings, etc. 

Add a little bit to a cup of tea for sweetening and floral punch at the same time.

Make lilac honey cake or lilac rice pudding.

Use it to sweeten cream cheese for spreading on crackers or bagels. 

Bake some lilac muffins for snacking.

Cool off on a hot day by using it to make lilac lemonade.

Warm up on a cold day by using it to make hot chocolate.

Definitely share it as part of a meaningful care package to someone you love. 

What to Do with the Discard Lilac

After the honey is finished infusing, the lilac has served its purpose. You can put it in the compost heap if desired.

The lilacs will likely lose their color as they infuse but will come out of the honey a bit on the crunchy, candied side.

You could toss those candied lilacs into cookies or cake. 

How to Gift

This is a great way to share your flowers with friends near and far.

Pack a pretty glass full of the honey into a gift basket alongside some loose leaf tea as the perfect gift for the tea lover in your life.

Make small jars and mail them to family far away for holiday gifts.