Creamed honey once sampled will become a household favourite. Most people are used to seeing yellow or golden runny honey on the shelves or in our supermarkets and are slow to try different honey in case they don’t like it and it’s a waste of money. At the Shanballymore shop, you can taste test honey for free and you can also buy small taster sample jars at a minimal price to enable you to try new experiences. The majority of people who taste creamed honey absolutely love it.
What is Creamed Honey?
Creamed Honey is a soft set spreadable honey with the texture of butter and a taste that can almost resemble fudge. It is granulated honey but made where the crystals are so small they can not be felt on the tongue, hence described as Creamed Honey
Creamed honey is still 100% natural raw honey with all the goodness of the honey as it left the hive. It is neither pasteurised of heated meaning it is still a live food. It is generally single cold filtered the same as good quality Runny honey.
How is it made?
It is a simple but time-consuming process but worth the effort as the results are so delicious. Anyone can make creamed honey at home if they choose.
Take 1lb of runny honey (real raw honey not shop-bought honey). Store it between 12-15 degrees to encourage crystallisation. Once crystalised grind the honey and crystals in a pestle and mortar until it is not possible to detect them on the tongue when tasting it. This is your seed honey.
Add 10 lbs of running honey to the 1lb of seed honey and stir twice a day whilst keeping at a temperature between 12-15 degrees. As the honey starts to crystalise it will naturally do so at the same size as the seed honey crystals which are minute. It can take anywhere from 1 week to 3 weeks stirring twice daily to produce a creamy honey that is still runny enough to pour into jars where it will continue to crystallise until fully soft set.
You now have one of the best foods on the planet to spread on hot toast or crumpets in the morning or indeed any time of day
Note: You do not need to make batches of creamed honey in such large quantities. The ratio of 10 to 1 applies for runny honey to seed honey so you could make a single jar by producing 1oz of seed honey and adding it to 10oz of running honey and following the process instructions above
