When I’m planning a party, wedding, shower or any event that needs a little gift/favor, I like to try to find something that is a little different than what guests may have seen or received at other occasions.  Sometimes the ideas come easy…sometimes I thank the Pinterest gods for their help! This favor was a little combination of both.

As we planned for my daughter Lyndsay’s “boho” wedding shower at a local winery, I was trying to think of an idea for a favor that would both match her style, the style of the shower and something that was a little unique. I had seen infused olive oils as gifts and thought that might work! I then took to Pinterest and found some ideas and a great free printable for the tag.

You can infuse olive oil with any type of fresh herb or even garlic, lemon etc.
I used regular olive oil because I read that it rather than EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) was best for accepting the infused flavors.  I’m sure that EVOO would work just fine too. My tip is find the least expensive olive oil you can find.

I grabbed the glass bottles with corks at Michael’s stores, but you can find them online as well on sites such as Sav-On-Crafts.  Really any glass bottle will do…and you don’t have to have a cork top…we just liked the look of it. ( I ran the bottles through the dishwasher before filling too)

You will need to wash/rinse your rosemary and then let it completely dry. This is especially important for the rosemary sprigs that will go straight into the bottles (rather than the infusion) – any type of moisture allows for the possibility of mold.

Pour 1/2 your oil and 1/2 rosemary into a large pot and warm it on low heat for around 10-15 minutes. Turn off the stovetop and remove and let cool. Meanwhile if you decide you want to put a sprig of rosemary in your bottle (we didn’t), you can go ahead and put a sprig in each bottle while you wait on the oil to cool.

Once the oil is cooled fill the bottles with half of your infused oil and half of your remaining regular oil.  Doing this with the bottles on a foil lined cookie sheet will really save you some clean up if you are messy and not a very good aim like me. I used a funnel to fill the bottles but you could also use a small measuring cup with a pour spout too.

Cork well and let sit for 1-2 weeks for a full infusion. If you’re planning on gifting right away, the oil will still be deliciously infused after just a few days, but mention to the giftee that if they let it sit in the cupboard for a full two weeks the olive oil will reach its peak. If they plan on using the olive oil slowly over time rather than immediately, the fridge is the best place to keep it to prevent it from spoiling.

I found this step by step process on  this blog from a Pinterest link. They also shared a great free printable that I used with some twine to add to the bottles.  The free download is found here.

And that’s it. These would make great Christmas gifts with a loaf of crusty french bread with a cute tea towel in a basket too!

Enjoy!