How to Make Oregano Infused Honey

Oregano infused honey is an easy and tasty way to preserve garden fresh herbs for use in baking, drinks, and even herbal remedies later.

Herbal honeys, like this one full of fresh oregano leaves, are sweet and useful pantry staples.

Make a batch of oregano honey to have herbal flavor in your baking and home remedies in your cabinet all year long.

When to Harvest Oregano

Like most herbs, for optimum flavor, harvest oregano before it flowers. Harvesting once it flowers can sometimes result in loss of flavor or even a little bitterness.

Harvest early in the day after the dew has dried but before the sun gets too high.

Bees and other pollinators love the flowers, however; so they’re not wasted at all.

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 oregano 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 oregano gently over a double boiler for an herbal flavor but in my experience the slow method is better.

Adjusting the Strength

The recipe below results in an infused honey that is sweet while also retaining savory herbal flavor from the oregano.

You can easily make it lighter or heavier as desired. Add more or less oregano to make the strength you prefer.

Make a batch this year, keep track of it in your journal so you know what to do next year when the oregano threatens to take over the garden.

How to Use

In a nutshell, use oregano honey as you would any plain, sweet honey in your normal kitchen routine. Because there is a savory undertone, this honey is great for sauces, salad dressings, and more.

If you have a tomato sauce that is a bit too acidic, a dollop of this honey could help tone it down.

It’s great inside homemade breads for a sweet and savory flavor. Try using it in an Oregano & Olive Bread recipe for the bread machine.

Because oregano does have some medicinal properties, use it to sweeten your oregano tea or other herbal teas for a bit of immune boosting punch.

What to Do with the Discard Oregano

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

The oregano leaves will come out of the honey a bit on the crunchy, candied side.

You could toss those candied oregano leaves into some savory muffins or bread if desired.

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.