Creamed honey

Definition

A small quantity of finely crystallised honey is stirred into liquid honey as a seed, and the mixture is held cool while it sets. The seed crystals template the rest, producing a uniform fine grain instead of the coarse random crystals an uncontrolled set would give. Nothing is added and nothing is removed — it is the same honey with its crystal size managed.

Where the word gets used loosely

'Whipped honey' suggests air has been beaten in. It has not; the name refers to the stirring during seeding.

Honey records that discuss this

• Clover honeyWarm, mild and rounded — sweet with a faint cinnamon-and-hay note underneath. The taste most English-speaking readers picture when they read the word honey.
• Rapeseed honeyVery sweet, very mild, faintly cabbage-like when fresh and cleanly bland once set. Texture is what it has instead of flavour.
• Pōhutukawa honeyMild and creamy with a faint salt-and-mineral edge from the coast, and a butterscotch note that emerges as it warms on the tongue.
• Ethiopian white honeyClean, sweet and faintly herbal, with a smooth dense texture that dominates the impression more than the flavour does.
• Kiawe honeyVery mild, clean and faintly vanilla-like, with a texture that does most of the work — smooth, buttery and dissolving rather than sticky.
• Tibetan highland honeyDense and strongly herbal with a resinous depth and a faintly smoky finish — a concentrated honey that reflects both a short intense season and traditional processing.
• Miombo honeyRich and warm with a distinct woody, faintly smoky depth and a caramelised sweetness — the smoke comes partly from the harvest method and partly from the woodland itself.
• Spring blossom honeyMild, creamy and clean, with a faint cabbagey note where rape dominates. An easy honey and a spreadable one.

Guide records that discuss this

• Creamed, set and whipped honeyCreamed honey has nothing added and nothing whipped into it. It is ordinary honey whose crystallisation has been controlled instead of left to chance, and the technique is a hundred years old.
• The best honey for breakfastThe breakfast jar is the one you will finish, which makes reliability and texture matter more than sophistication. This is where mild honeys earn their reputation.
• Honey and cheeseThe pairing with the deepest tradition and the widest gap between doing it well and doing it at all. Salt, fat and acid are what the honey is answering, and each wants a different answer.