Making Creamed Honey

This is the kind I started with for my "seed" or "starter"

I had beekeeping fever pretty bad this spring. People in the Niagara Region have really gotten into the full swing of beekeeping and I was feeling so left out. Most of the supplies I need can be bought online but I had too many things on the go this year to get it going.

So now I am patiently waiting for fall... honey harvest! At least I can buy some from the local farmers. It's not that long now but it's felt like an eternity. I got to thinking about all the tasty things I could make with honey. I drink it in my tea every day! It is great to add to baked goods as it works as a natural preservative. Breads sweetened with honey instead of sugar will stay fresh days longer!

But I LOVE honey on toast or muffins. I can rarely eat anything without getting covered in it and honey is no exception. What a mess! Honey all over my shirt then gets covered in a fine layer of husky fur. mmmm :s.

During one of these messy situations I got thinking about when I was younger and had creamed honey. It had a silky smooth texture and didn't run all over the place. Surely, I could make some. I can make anything...

I am not sure why I thought that creamed honey was "whipped". Its not like I don't have the internet. There was no reason to get my stand mixer covered in sticky, gooey honey before googling it. And, after cleaning the honey out of the whisk of the stand mixer, here I am covered in honey again...

Creamed honey is actually a lot more simple to make than I had planned for. You take a couple tablespoons of creamed honey from another batch and mix it really well into your new honey. That's the whole process. Seriously... It's like the yogurt of the sweetener world.

Creamed honey never crystallizes and gets stuck in the bottom of the bear the way that liquid honey does. That's because it is already crystallized in a controlled way. The crystals are small and round making it feel smooth on your tongue. When you add the creamed honey to the regular honey, you are training it to create crystals the same way. That means you want to use creamed honey that you love to eat. It sure have a texture and "mouth-feel" you enjoy because the batch you are making will turn out the same as the batch you start with.

Can you start creamed honey without creamed honey? Short answer: no? Long answer: spend some time on google and maybe something will work but basically you are best off to just buy some.


The process I used:

You want 5-10% of starter creamed honey to mix in. So for every cup (16 Tbsp) of liquid honey you have you will use about 2 Tbsp of creamed honey.

Gently heat creamed honey until soft but not liquid. (I used the microwave, don't judge me)
Stir it into liquid honey.
Make sure to mix it well so the crystals are evenly distributed.
Put the lid on, put it in the fridge and wait

Most directions online say to wait for up to a week but feel free to check on it every couple days after the first 4. Just don't stir it! It needs to sit. Mine took almost two full weeks to set. So be prepared for a bit of a wait (don't have your toast ready to go).

Once it has set, you can take it out of the fridge and enjoy. It can be store in the cupboard. Honey will almost never go bad as it is anti-bacterial. If your honey has gone bad, you are probably leaving crumbs and whatnot behind in it... so don't do that! :)

Don't forget to save a couple tablespoons at the end to add to your next batch!