Black Pepper Honey Recipe {Honey with Black Pepper}
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Black pepper honey is a sweet and spicy treat with a long history! It’s the perfect way to incorporate two of the healthiest foods to add a kick of heat to your next piece of toast or cup of tea.
Why you’ll love this black pepper honey:
What is black pepper honey?
Simply put, black pepper honey is an infused honey. By adding freshly ground black pepper to honey, the honey begins to take on the flavor properties of the black pepper.
It becomes this sweet, spicy treat with layers of flavor from the peppercorns.
Benefits of Black Pepper and Honey
I prefer to use black pepper honey as a delicious condiment, but this flavor combination has been used since ancient times.
The benefits of black pepper are far and wide. It has antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties and may even help support better gut health and blood sugar regulation and even lower cholesterol (source)!
And that’s just the black pepper!
Honey has a wide range of health benefits of its own, but it’s especially known for its antibacterial properties and ability to soothe a sore throat and support your immune system (source).
Because of these many healthy benefits, this spicy honey would be great in a soothing tea!
In fact, black pepper and honey are often used in India as a home remedy to soothe a cough or dry throat.
Note: I’m not a doctor and don’t claim to have any medical knowledge. Consult a medical professional for any medical advice.
Equipment
This is a super simple recipe. I used a mortar and pestle to grind my black pepper, but you could also use a pepper mill or buy ground pepper at the store.
To store the honey mixture, you’ll need a glass jar. Once it’s finally done, you’ll want a second jar, a fine-mesh sieve, and a narrow funnel to strain out any large pieces of pepper. That’s it!
Ingredients
- Organic honey: I recommend using either organic raw honey or sourcing local raw honey from your local area. The less it’s heated, the better!
- Black pepper: Choose organically grown black peppercorns. Crush them at home using a mortar and pestle, or you can place them in a bag and pound them with a rolling pin.
Tip: Use the best spices!
The quality of your recipes hinges on the quality of your ingredients. The spices from Burlap & Barrel are hands-down the best quality you can find.
All of their spices are grown using organic methods on small family farms around the world. They’re never irradiated and have the absolute best flavor.
How to Make Black Pepper Honey
1. In a small jar, add your honey and ground black pepper.
2. Close the jar and turn it to let the honey and pepper mix together.
3. Allow the mixture to rest for at least 1-2 weeks. At this point, taste it. If you prefer a spicier honey, let it keep going.
4. When you’re ready to use the honey, place a small strainer into a small funnel and set them on top of the jar. Pour the honey mixture through the strainer to remove any large pieces of black pepper.
5. Enjoy!
Storing
Once strained, the honey will last indefinitely, but I prefer to use it within a year for maximum freshness.
Especially during cold season, you can easily go through a bunch in a nice herbal tea!
It’s best to keep the honey in a warm space away from sunlight and drafts, as these can cause the honey to crystallize, making it harder to use.
Don’t worry – if your honey crystallizes, it’d make the most delicious whipped honey!
How to Use Honey with Black Pepper
There are so many ways to use this delicious honey. You can use it any time you want to replace regular honey in a recipe, but these are my favorite uses for this easy recipe!
- Brush onto warm buttered toast or English muffins
- Mix into hot water with lemon to soothe a scratchy throat
- Use to glaze baked chicken
- Mix with soy sauce for a delicious stir fry
- Shake into a vinaigrette with lime juice and olive oil
- Make the best chicken with a lemon pepper honey marinade
Tips & Variations
- Feel free to use store-bought ground pepper. It may not have quite as much potency as the freshly ground stuff, but it’s convenient in a pinch.
- If you’re using finely ground black pepper, you don’t need to strain the honey at all!
- Want to use a different type of pepper? The sky’s the limit! Try using some of these beautiful & colorful peppercorns instead:
- white pepper
- wild timur peppercorns (tingly & numbing, similar to Sichuan)
- purple peppercorns
- To make your pepper honey even more savory, add a little kosher salt.
FAQs
If you’re using finely ground black pepper, there’s no need to strain the honey. Because you’re not straining it, your honey may actually be spicier than the honey I made.
The reason I strained my honey is because I had large pieces of black pepper. These would be unpleasant to crunch through on a piece of toast, and I don’t want to fight around them in a cup of tea. It’s much easier and more enjoyable to use strained honey!
Absolutely! Black pepper and honey are the perfect combination. The honey’s sweetness offsets the herby, spicy flavor of black pepper, and the two are just a match made in heaven.
In fact, black pepper and honey have been used throughout human history for their medicinal benefits.
If you love infusing honey with different herbs and spices, you’ll love the unique flavor of this black pepper honey recipe on your toast or in your tea!
How to Soften Crystallized Honey
Especially if you’re using raw honey, the last thing you want to do is heat it at a high temperature, as that can kill the beneficial nutrients and enzymes and change its texture.
But what should you do if your honey seizes up?
I find that this happens often if you infuse honey, so it’s good to know how to deal with this issue.
Although you don’t want to heat your honey too high, it’s totally fine to warm it gently. The rule of thumb is to avoid heating it past 116-118 degrees F.
Water Bath Method to Soften Honey
- Place your entire glass jar of honey in a saucepan.
- Add water until it goes about halfway up the side.
- Turn the pan to the lowest setting. This will allow the honey to gently warm up and soften those crystals without damaging the health benefits of honey. You’ll notice the honey softening and turning into a transparent liquid again.
- Give it as much time as it needs to liquefy all the way, keeping the temperature low the whole time.
- Remove the jar from the pan. Let it cool to room temperature before storing it in a safe, dry place away from sunlight.
Related Recipes
If you love infusing honey, you’ll love these honey recipes!
- Lavender Infused Honey
- Cinnamon Infused Honey
- Vanilla Honey
- How to Make Whipped Honey
- Cranberry Honey Mustard
- Honey Wheat Sourdough
Black Pepper Honey
Equipment
- 2 small mason jars half pint
- 1 mortar & pestle or pepper grinder
- 1 fine-mesh strainer small
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw honey
- 1-2 tbsp black peppercorns, crushed
Instructions
- In a small jar, add your honey and ground black pepper.
- Close the jar and turn it to let the honey and pepper mix together.
- Allow the mixture to rest for at least 1-2 weeks. At this point, taste it. If you prefer a spicier honey, let it keep going.
- When you’re ready to use the honey, place a small strainer into a small funnel and set them on top of the jar. Pour the honey mixture through the strainer to remove any large pieces of black pepper.
- Use and enjoy!
Notes
- Feel free to use store-bought ground pepper. It may not have quite as much potency as the freshly ground stuff, but it’s convenient in a pinch.
- If you’re using finely ground black pepper, you don’t need to strain the honey at all!
- Want to use a different type of pepper? The sky’s the limit! There are so many wonderful peppercorns out there, including white pepper, pink peppercorns, etc, and they all have their own unique flavor profiles.
- To make your pepper honey even more savory, add a little kosher salt.
Nutrition
How do you like to use black pepper with honey?
Share your favorite uses & tips in the comments! I’d love to see a photo of your honey jar too. Feel free to tag @milkglasshome on Instagram!
