SpOOn and LeVeL

Honey.

I love it. 

It's one of those foods, much like eggs, that you can't think too much about while eating and yet, if you think about it just enough, it's pretty amazing stuff.

In all the world there is nothing that tastes like honey. The mere phrase "sweet as honey" needs no explanation or further description and I often wonder who it was that first reached into a bee hive, pulled out some of the comb and decided to sample the viscous, golden liquid oozing from inside. I'm sure they knew immediately they had stumbled upon something revolutionary. But how they managed to subsequently talk anyone else into trying it I can only imagine.

"You want me to get what out of where...and eat it?"

A lot of the recipes I use rely on honey. And we go through quite a bit. It's the first thing I reach for when someone has a sore throat and on days when you're feeling crummy or yucky or just plain down nothing beats honey toast or a hot cup of strong tea, liberally sweetened with honey.

Now in case you are wondering the above photo is indeed a spoonful of honey. But not just any honey. Creamed honey. 

For months I have been OBSESSED with dark chocolate honey mints. Best invention ever, in my opinion. I buy them, locally sourced, from our health food store in town. Or I buy them from Trader Joe's.

And I got to wondering if they were something I could make at home.

They are not.

But creamed honey is.

 And it's pretty simple, really. As you can see from the picture the results are impressive. The end product is thick and white and not real reminiscent of the transparent liquid you start with.

All you need is a mixer and equal portions liquid honey to crystalized honey. 

Honey crystallization happens naturally over time. As most people find out. And it can be reversed with heat. As anyone who's ever melted a plastic quintessential-bear shaped honey container in the microwave can attest to. If you go through it too quickly for crystallization to take place on it's own, as is the case in our house, you can speed up the process by leaving some out in the open air, uncovered, for about a week.

Then simply beat the liquid honey and the crystalized honey together for anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes and store the resulting creamed or whipped spread in the fridge.

For a real treat mix a little with some coconut butter (or regular butter) and cinnamon and enjoy on soft, warm bread.

(A word of caution about the beating process. Make sure your bowl is locked in place. Mine wasn't and let's just say things got real interesting for a few moments. Honey was flying everywhere. E, who was helping out, literally ducked for cover behind the garbage can. I thought about joining her. I almost did. But a little voice inside my head reminded me that I had to be the responsible one and turn the mixer off. Which is actually quite a challenging feat when a metal bowl spewing honey is flying around, loose, on your countertop, getting in your way as you try to reach the off switch. )