By: Author Lisa Viger Gotte
Posted on Last updated:
Vegan Honey is easy to make with a few simple ingredients. It’s just as sweet and just as pretty as the real thing. Goes great on toast, in tea, or in recipes. It’s also inexpensive, with the ingredients costing just a dollar or two. Make it as simple in flavor as you like or add optional ingredients for even more complexity.
Why Use Vegan Honey?
Vegans don’t use honey because it’s an animal product. Additionally, this vegan honey is quite inexpensive. It’s delicious and can be used the same way as real honey. So win-win.
How to Make Vegan Honey
Bees have been around for about 30 million years. They’re fascinating animals with complex social structures. Worker bees collect nectar from flowers to make honey that will feed themselves and the young larva in the hive. Bees must collect 10 pounds of nectar to make a pound of honey. The nectar is stored in one of the bees’ two stomachs, regurgitated, and fanned to dehydrate it and make honey.
The nectar can be from a variety of sources and honey made with one blend of nectar may taste slightly different from honey made with another.
Complex Flavor
In this recipe for vegan honey, I’ve used a few different ingredients to get that same complexity of flavor that would be like what a bee might create after visiting various flowers for nectar.
The method is simple: just putting all the ingredients together and then simmering until reduced and thickened.
Use a vegetable peeler to get thin slices of citrus peel. A combination of orange, lemon, and grapefruit peel works really well. Leave the skins on the apples and chop them coarsely.
Ingredients in Vegan Honey
The ingredients in vegan honey are available at most local groceries and a few optional ingredients can even be sourced from your own yard.
Apples and Apple Juice: Apples and apple juice add their sweet tartness. This recipe doesn’t use a lot of apple juice to avoid vegan honey that tastes like apple syrup. Those are delicious, too, but I wanted something more subtle and like actual honey.
Chamomile Tea: Layering in the flavors starts with chamomile tea. Chamomile is sweet and meadowy and is a flower that bees would use for nectar.
Clover Tea: Here’s another ingredient that just makes you think of honey. It adds more of the sweetish, meadowy flavor. If you don’t have clover tea, just use a bit more chamomile. It’s all good.
Citrus Peel: Real honey has a slight tang to it. Citrus does that here without being overwhelming.
White Granulated Sugar or Coconut Sugar: This is the main ingredient that makes it sweet.
Light Corn Syrup: Corn syrup will prevent the sugar in the honey from crystallizing too much once it sits for a while.
Optional Ingredients:
These add more subtle layers of flavor. Use them if you have them and want to use them but just omit them if you don’t.
Buckwheat Groats: This is an optional ingredient. It adds a little bit of a subtle grassy taste.
Lavender: A small amount of culinary lavender can add a nice floral note. I used about 1/2 teaspoon but if you really like lavender add a tiny bit more.
Clover Blossoms: Again, optional. If you have access to clean, organic clover blossoms, toss a few in for an additional layer of flavor.
Pine Needles: I added a few pine needles to my mixture. Not a lot but enough to add just a little complexity and another layer of flavor. If you can find pine needles that you know are ok to use in food (no pesticides, etc) then add a few. If not, just omit it.
Orange Blossom Water: This adds a hint of floral to the vegan honey. I added about 1/2 teaspoon right at the end. It’s not overwhelming.
It’s so simple. Steep the tea first, then add most of the remaining ingredients, and then simmer until the mixture has reached the desired consistency. It can take between 30 and 40 minutes. It’s pretty and smells delicious. Add the orange blossom water, if using, right at the end of cooking.
Strain the Cooked and Cooled Mixture
The mixture will be extremely hot. Allow it to cool for at least several minutes. Them strain the cooked and somewhat cooled mixture through a wire mesh strainer, pressing to squeeze out as much as possible.
This Vegan Honey May Crystallize
Many years ago, before I was vegan, I got raw honey from a local beekeeper. Raw honey is not the same as the very liquid product found in the little bears. Raw honey is thick and may become thicker and even crystalize over time. This batch of vegan honey that I left at room temperature for several days did get really thick and crystallize. It was exactly like the raw honey I remember. I could have been fooled into believing this vegan honey was the real thing. I like it when it’s like that … it’s almost the texture of a fine sugar scrub but gooey. But if you don’t like it that way (try it, you might like it!), just pop it in the microwave for thirty seconds and it loosens right up into a gooey liquid. It doesn’t need to get hot, just slightly warm.
How to Store Vegan Honey
This keeps really well for the same reasons real honey does. It’s mainly sugar which isn’t hospitable to mold or bacteria. Store this in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to several weeks.
Is Vegan Honey Medicinal?
One of the things touted about real honey is that it’s medicinal and can even be used on wounds to heal them. That’s true. Real honey on a scrap or burn will help it heal faster … for the same reasons it doesn’t go bad on the counter. It’s inhospitable to germs. Harmful bacteria that may make a wound heal more slowly aren’t going to live in an environment full of sugar. This vegan honey would have many of the same mild antimicrobial properties as real honey, and for the same reasons. I do, however, suggest antibiotic ointment on wounds and this vegan honey on toast!
Vegan Honey Makes a Great Gift!
Vegan honey makes a great gift for friends and family, whether they’re vegan or plant-based or not. Just package the vegan honey in a small glass jar and wrap it with a pretty ribbon or bow.
Making Larger Batches of Vegan Honey
If you need more of this delicious condiment, then just double or triple the recipe. Simmer a larger batch for as long as needed to achieve the desired consistency.
Yield: 36 servings
Vegan Honey Simple Recipe
Vegan Honey is easy to make with a few simple ingredients. It’s just as sweet and just as pretty as the real thing. Goes great on toast, in tea, or in recipes. It’s also inexpensive, with the ingredients costing just a dollar or two.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time40 minutes
Total Time50 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon chamomile tea or 1 teabag
- 1 tablespoon clover leaf tea (optional) or 1 teabag (use another chamomile teabag if you don't have clover)
- 3 tablespoons thin citrus peel (orange, lemon, and/or grapefruit)
- 1/2 cup apples, unpeeled and chopped
- 1/2 cup apple juice
- 1/2 teaspoon dried lavender (optional)
- 2 tablespoons fresh clover blossoms (optional0
- 1 teaspoon chopped pine needles (optional)
- 2 tablespoons buckwheat groats (optional)
- 2 cups white granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup light corn syrup
- 1/8 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon orange blossom water (optional)
Instructions
- In a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat one cup of water to boiling. Add the chamomile tea and the clover tea. Let steep for several minutes.
- Add in the citrus peel, apples, apple juice, and the (optional) lavender, clover blossoms, pine needles, and buckwheat groats.
- Add in the sugar and the light corn syrup and lower the heat to medium.
- Add in the turmeric for color.
- Simmer gently over medium to medium-high heat for about 30 to 40 minutes or until the mixture has been reduced and you like the consistency. The longer this simmers the thicker it will be.
- This vegan honey will become slightly thicker as it cools so remove it from the heat when it's close but not quite your ideal texture. Add the orange blossom water just before the honey is removed from the heat and stir in.
- The mixture will be extremely hot. Let it cool for at least several minutes.
- Strain the thickened vegan honey through a metal mesh strainer to remove all the things that were cooked in it. Press to squeeze out as much as possible.
- Let cool completely and store in a lidded jar at room temperature for up to several weeks.
- Just like real honey, this honey may crystalize as it sits. This can actually be quite nice and is a characteristic of raw honey. If you like your honey smooth just heat it gently in the microwave for about 30 seconds.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Taylors of Harrogate Organic Chamomile Herbal Tea, 20 Teabags
Harney & Sons Herbal Tea, Tea Bags, Chamomile, 50 Count
VAHDAM, ORGANIC Chamomile Herbal Tea (100 Tea bags)
Red Clover Herbal Tea, 16 Tea Bags
Zarrin - Orange Blossom Water, 10 Fl Oz
Organic Lavender Flowers Dried | Perfect for Tea, Baking, Lemonade
Karo Light Corn Syrup, 16 fl oz
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
32Serving Size:
1 tablespoon
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 28Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 0mgCarbohydrates: 19gFiber: 0gSugar: 19gProtein: 0g
Lisa Viger Gotte
Hello! I’m Lisa, a vegan artist, photographer, author, Vegan Life Coach Educator, and RYT 200 yoga teacher. I love showing others how simple and delicious a plant-based diet can be. I draw and paint, cook, write, take lots of pics, eat lots of chocolate, and practice gratitude daily.
