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

The honey itself matters here. Because oregano has a savory edge, a mild and lightly flavored honey works best — clover or wildflower are good choices. A strongly flavored honey like buckwheat would compete with the oregano rather than let it come through. Use liquid honey rather than crystallized for the best infusion.

A Long, Solar Infusion

The method is simple and unhurried. Pack the oregano into a jar, pour the honey over it, and set it in a sunny windowsill for three to four weeks. You’re not doing much — just turning the jar occasionally to keep things moving. The gentle warmth of the sun does the work. You could speed things up with a double boiler but the slow infusion consistently produces better flavor in my experience.

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

Oregano honey makes a thoughtful and unexpected gift, especially for the cooks and home remedy keepers in your life. Tuck a small jar into a gift basket alongside some loose leaf tea or a jar of homemade tomato sauce for something genuinely useful. Label it clearly, not everyone will know what to do with it, but a little note goes a long way.