We’ve had gorgeous weather this week, which means lots of swinging in the hammock, time in the mud and gallons of sun tea. I love sun tea, especially when mixed with lemonade for an Arnold Palmer. What I don’t love is when I mix in some sugar or honey and it sinks to the bottom because it doesn’t dissolve.

Ugh. #firstworldproblems 😉

Thankfully, when my brother-in-law was doing his culinary training, he schooled me in the art of making simple syrup. Since then, I’ve been a simple syrup-making maniac (ok, maybe I just make it as needed) and have had fun experimenting not only with making it with the traditional sugar, but honey as well.

Because we’re healthy like that (but mostly because my body just can’t handle normal sugar).

Sometimes, I even go all mad scientist and throw herbs or essential oils in my simple syrup, like lavender, lemon, cinnamon or even peppermint (put that in your mojito and drink it). Yeah, it’s super fun.

It’s definitely not something I recommend with every essential oil brand on the market – only ones that are rigorously tested for purity and free of any harmful additives, like doTERRA.

Ok, back to simple syrup.

We had an abundance of sun tea last week and no simple syrup. We also had no sugar and abundance of raw honey thanks to my recent VitaCost order and my parents’ generosity (score!). Obviously some honey simple syrup was in order.

The best part about this syrup? Not only is it healthy and delicious, but it is so inexpensive and easy to make, you’ll wonder why on earth people buy $12 bottles of simple syrup at the store (or is that just me?). Because all you need is a little honey, a little water and a little time.

Ready?

Easy Peasy DIY Honey Simple Syrup

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup raw honey (you could use other honey, but that’s what we buy so that’s what we use)

Directions

Put the water and honey in a saucepan on medium high heat and stir to dissolve. Turn off the heat just before the mixture starts to boil (my brother-in-law told me that the biggest mistake people make is letting it boil, so don’t let it boil. Earl said so!)

From here, you can store it in a mason jar, or in a cute glass bottle (I’m pretty sure it makes it taste better). You could could also clean out an empty wine bottle and put it in there. So many possibilities. Just make sure you have a good funnel for pouring the syrup into the bottles …

Add to your sun tea, coffee, cocktails or whatever else needs sweetened!

Enjoy!