Lemon Verbena Sugar - Wedding Party Favors or Christmas Gifts

Lemon verbena is one of my favorite herbs, with its bright citrus smell, it just smells like sunshine and a warm summer afternoon. I grew some in herb planters along my deck railing this summer, and every time I brushed passed them they released their fresh scent. 

When my sister returned from her honeymoon in Paris, she brought back some vanilla sugar.  She said that flavored sugars were everywhere.  I decided to try my hand at making some flavored sugar myself with the dried lemon verbena I grew this summer.

I used my fresh verbena several times in freshly brewed iced tea this summer, and I’m planning to use this lemon verbena sugar to dust over sugar cookies, in my tea and coffee and to give as gifts for Christmas. This is an easy homemade Christmas gift or party (wedding) favor that uses just two ingredients. You can substitute another herb, such as rosemary, to create other flavors of sugar. 

I made 8 of the small 4oz Ball jars full, plus about 12 oz for my own personal use. If you put it all into Ball jars it would make about 10 total. 

Lemon Verbena Sugar Recipe 

• 2 lbs organic cane sugar  
• 15 dried lemon verbena leaves 

Vitamix method: Place two cups of the sugar and the leaves in the Vitamix and blend until leaves are finely mixed with the sugar. Place in a large bowl and mix with remaining sugar. 

If you don’t have a Vitamix, try… Hand crushed method: Using a mortar and pestle, crush the dried lemon verbena using the pestle until all the verbena is smaller than the grains of sugar. Place the crushed verbena in a large bowl with the sugar and stir until well combined.  

To package the sugar: Pour into small 4 oz Ball jars using a funnel. I tied mine with bakers twine in green and made some leaf-shaped tags (Verbena has a saw-toothed edge on the leaves which is why I chose this tag shape.)