Why does honey ruin melted chocolate?

Melted chocolate is a suspension, not a solution

Melted chocolate is solid sugar and cocoa particles suspended in liquid cocoa butter. The particles stay separate because there is nothing for them to dissolve into. Add a small amount of water — from honey, from a wet spoon, from steam — and the sugar at the particle surfaces dissolves, turns sticky, and glues the particles together into clumps. That is seizing, and it happens with a few drops.

Counter-intuitively, adding a great deal more liquid un-seizes it, because there is then enough water to dissolve the sugar properly and form a smooth emulsion. That is exactly what a ganache is.

How to combine them properly

1. 1Warm the cream and stir the honey into itThe honey dissolves into the liquid phase where its water is no longer a problem.
2. 2Pour the hot cream over chopped chocolateLeave it a minute before stirring, so the chocolate melts evenly rather than in patches.
3. 3Stir from the centre outwardsThe emulsion forms in the middle and spreads. Beating it from the start incorporates air and dulls the shine.

For a bar of chocolate and a spoon of honey with no cooking involved, do not combine them at all — eat them alongside each other. The pairing works on the palate rather than in the pan.