Honey has been considered the food of the Gods for thousands of years. If you love honey, you will love the taste of it when it’s been caramelized. With the addition of a little water, lemon juice and low heat transforms honey into a delicious blend of complex flavors. It’s rich in color, slightly nutty and lightly sweet. It’s perfect over ice cream, on buttered toast, in tea/coffee, or any other recipe that calls for honey.
HOW TO CARAMELIZE HONEY
Ingredients
- 450 g (1 lb) honey*
- 1 tablespoon water
- ½ teaspoon lemon juice
* I used raw, organic honey
Method
1. In a saucepan, mix together the honey, water and lemon juice
2. Heat over low heat, stirring with a rubber spatula until the mixture starts to simmer.
3. Once simmering, do not stir again, but leave to simmer for 1-2 minutes, no longer.
4. Once the honey is darker in color and has a nutty aroma, remove from heat and pour into a clean bowl, bottle or jar.
5. Allow to cool before using.
Why do you add water? Can’t you just caramelize the honey as is?
CElliott
Hello CElliott, from what I’ve read, the water is added to prevent scorching.
What if you don’t want to keep the carmelized honey as a liquid? I am looking for a way to drizzle a honey-based syrup, much like carmelized sugar, over honey butter cookies. I don’t want to make frosting – more like the spun sugar stuff – only with honey. Help? Thanks!
Hi Virginia,
Although I’ve never tried this, the only way I think about it is to heat the honey to the hard crack stage (~310F) (just as you would with sugar to make spun sugar). I’ve found a website that may be useful: http://sensebynonsense.com/2011/05/09/honey-spoon-how-to/
Let me know how it turns out, and thanks for visiting!