"And the only reason for making honey is so as I can eat it."

March 6, 2008 11:50 AM

What can I do with excessive amounts of honey?

At the end of the CSA season, we bought a half-gallon of local honey to get us through the winter. It seems we highly overestimated how much we would use, as we still have most of it left. I've searched the EatMe topics regarding bulk/individual ingredients but alas, honey isn't on there. I've made this scrumptious honey whole wheat bread , but it only uses 1/2 cup to make 4 big loaves, which hardly makes a dent. Obviously I don't expect to be able to use it all in one shot, but a variety of recipes would be greatly appreciated. So tell me, MeFis, what can we make with all this honey???

posted by spinturtle to food & drink (33 comments total)

Honey Candy
Honey Sesame Candy
Baklava
posted by Alison at 11:55 AM on March 6

Honey and peanut butter sandwiches!
posted by mustcatchmooseandsquirrel at 11:57 AM on March 6

Brew some Mead.
posted by caddis at 11:57 AM on March 6

Honey Cake
posted by rmless at 11:59 AM on March 6

It has a shelf life of about two years so I wouldn't worry too much about wolfing it all down.
posted by zeoslap at 12:00 PM on March 6

This mead recipe calls for something between a pint and two quarts of honey.
posted by Pants! at 12:00 PM on March 6

Do you drink tea sweetened with sugar? Honey tastes better.
posted by winston at 12:04 PM on March 6

Flytraps?
posted by unixrat at 12:07 PM on March 6

Seconding zeoslap. No rush to use it.
posted by desuetude at 12:09 PM on March 6

Besides the mead suggestion, and honey mustard dressing (one of my favorites), there's a number of books out there about honey: _Robbing the Bees_ and _The Hive_ are both recent ones that include recipes and other ideas: I know there's a honey based barbecue style sauce in there, for example.

Honey also has a lot of skin-care uses. It makes a great face mask or hair conditioner (the latter one, either by itself, or mixed 2 parts honey to 1 part olive oil. Wash out thoroughly in that case, but the honey washes off really easily by itself. It's hydrating and cleansing.
posted by modernhypatia at 12:13 PM on March 6

Honey can last centuries ^, so you don't need to be in a hurry with it. Honey butter on toast is close to perfection in my book.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 12:13 PM on March 6

You probably don't have enough honey to make a decent batch of mead -- what, like six or seven pounds? -- but if you're familiar at all with fermentation, make cyser instead. Like this one, except use decent apple juice/soft cider, don't use quite so much honey (because you don't have it) and pitch with champagne or white wine yeast instead of sherry yeast (Lalvin EC-1118 and 71B-1122 are both good for cyser).

If you don't want to make anything alcoholic, don't be in a rush to use it all. The worst it'll do is crystallize, and you can reliquify it by letting the jar sit in a pot of medium warm water for a while.
posted by cog_nate at 12:13 PM on March 6 [1 favorite]

You wouldn't happen to live in Lithuania, would you? (Wayward Anaconda????)

Seriously, the National Honey Board has all sorts of good recipes on their site and "will be pleased to send you an entire recipe meal planner, featuring outstanding recipes from our collection, all containing honey as an ingredient."
posted by miss lynnster at 12:27 PM on March 6 [1 favorite]

Oooh, this recipe for Honey-Soy Broiled Salmon is near perfection, and it uses a whopping 6 tablespoons of honey per batch for the sauce.

It's this amazing piece of fish with a crackly exterior and a hot-sweet-delicious sauce (wasabi and honey--sounds gross, but oh-so-good). Mmm. This recipe is why I buy my honey in huge containers at Costco.
posted by iminurmefi at 12:27 PM on March 6 [2 favorites]

Buy more and make mead?
posted by Carillon at 12:33 PM on March 6

I was going to suggest baklava and sweetened tea, but somebody beat me to it.

Around here, local wildflower honey is affordable and plentiful in season. I really enjoy making honey ice cream with it. The honey flavor in ice cream is wonderfully subtle, and helps to bring out all of the other flavors. I used that recipe, and it came out great, though I will admit that I cheated a bit and used vanilla extract (the real stuff, not the artificial) rather than the vanilla beans. Here is another honey ice cream recipe that looks great, this time with cardamom.
posted by vorfeed at 12:43 PM on March 6

You can do flapjacks using honey instead of golden syrup.

Honey and ginger sauces.. absolutely gorgeous.

But as others have said, what's the rush-- It'll last for as long as you need it.
posted by Static Vagabond at 12:46 PM on March 6

honey, lime juice, cumin, and chile make a good glaze for roasted or grilled chicken, pork, or fish. ditto honey and dijon mustard. honey and white wine/red wine/basalmic/sherry vinegar with salt, pepper, rosemary, and sage is a great glaze for chicken. i bet honey and thai chili paste would kick ass on steak.

honey butter is delicious on waffles or french toast with cinnamon. no syrup needed!

honey works well in baked goods. reduce your other liquids by a quarter cup for every cup of honey.

honey ice cream would probably be divine with swirl of peanut butter in it.

use it to sweeten smoothies or blend with fruit to make a sauce for ice cream or cake.

wow, do i have a sweet tooth. enjoy!
posted by thinkingwoman at 1:11 PM on March 6

I find honey makes a better condiment than ingredient. Simple bread + butter + honey is excellent and dare I say, more healthy than most breakfasts. Also, granola + plain yogurt + honey. Or just skip the granola.

You could also try your hand at making baklava.
posted by cotterpin at 1:17 PM on March 6

Apple Honey Bundt cake. I usually put an apple cider glaze on it.
posted by jerseygirl at 1:18 PM on March 6

Here's a sweet & sour lemon sauce I use for battered or sauted chicken:

3 TBS honey
3 TBS sugar
1/2 cold cup water
2 TBS white vinegar
1 TBS cornstarch
zest and juice of one lemon

mix until cornstarch is dissolved and cook until slightly thickened.

Although it doesn't use a ton of honey, we make this so often that I feel like I'm constantly buying honey.
posted by peep at 1:21 PM on March 6

The next time I have a windfall of honey, I'm going to make honey jelly.
posted by jamjam at 1:21 PM on March 6

Anecdotally, I hear that it works better than vinegar for catching flies.
The above is not just a bad play on a an old cliche. It has the necessary components of a good (fun) elementary school science experiment, though the best time to test this would be in the summertime (in my area at least).

Somewhat summarizing many of the ideas presented already, I would suggest putting your sugar jar away for a while and experiment with the use of honey as a sugar replaecment. If you bake cookies, cakes or other sweets with any regularity, you should be able to go through it at a nice pace. It sounds like honey could also be used in canning or preserving, something to consider when your favorite fruits come in.
posted by terpia at 1:32 PM on March 6

Put it on Cheerios. Yum.
posted by Area Control at 2:45 PM on March 6

Smoothies! Get some mixed frozen berries, some vanilla yogurt, and sweeten with honey. Great for after workouts, for breakfast, or snacks! I've used a lot of honey this way, and you can mix it up by experimenting with different fruit combinations.
posted by asranixon at 3:25 PM on March 6

You could make a lot of granola with honey. (I have not used that recipe myself.) Honey lasts a really long time, you don't have to use it up that quickly....and it might be rare one day, considering the dramatic reduction of wild honeybees.
posted by hooray at 3:42 PM on March 6

Honey and mustard chicken.
posted by edd at 4:08 PM on March 6

I'd make nougat, nougat and then more nougat. It's a lot of hard work (really) but an extremely simple process.
posted by _dario at 4:13 PM on March 6

Lebkuchen?
posted by jenh at 5:40 PM on March 6

Wow, thanks for all the phenomenal answers! I wanted to best answer them all, but that seemed a bit excessive. To clarify - it's not that I'm afraid of it going bad, it's more that it's a GIANT jar on my counter that's making me crazy (not having very much counterspace to begin with). That plus in approximately 6 weeks all of said wee counterspace will be ripped out, and all kitchen items put into storage while we try to create a more functional space. This makes me want to use up whatever I can so it doesn't have to be packed away for months.

We do already use it primarily for tea, yogurt, and honey butter.

The mead and cyser suggestions are intriguing, but not really feasible at this time (see teeny low-functioning kitchen issues referenced above).

miss lynnster - lol no, but I *am* half Lithuanian. wanna rassle?

_dario, do you have a nougat recipe that you've had success with?

Again, thanks to everyone, and keep 'em coming!
posted by spinturtle at 6:45 PM on March 6

seconding the skin care - used as is it makes good lip balm and a soothing face mask, mix with ground almonds or oatmeal for a gentle face scrub, or chuck some in your bath water. It is also useful dabbed on spots, sunburn, and any dry or sore bits in general

or add to cheap red wine with spices and mull

or flavour some by putting chunks of ginger or stems of rosemary/lavender in for a few months then give as gifts in fancy little jars

or package up and sell with "dip me in honey and throw me to the lesbians!/bears" stickers or badges at your nearest Pride/MardiGras/garage sale/PTA fundraiser
posted by runincircles at 3:37 AM on March 7

Win the egg-drop contest.

Get a mason jar, fill it halfway with honey, place egg in the center, fill the remaining portion and close. Fill another larger jar halfway with honey, insert mason jar into center to float, fill remaining of 2nd jar with honey and seal. Get an even larger outer jar, fill halfway with honey, insert middle jar containing floating inner jar containing egg, float it in the center and fill remaining space of outer jar with honey, and seal. And drop. And win. And clean up an awful mess.
posted by Quarter Pincher at 9:40 AM on March 7

This is a recipe for italian (actually sardinian) "Torrone" which I found extremely good:

You'll need:

a large stainless steel pot, possibly with a thick bottom, and a sturdy wooden spoon or (better) spatula.

A friend/partner to take turns mixing the damn thing, because it takes hours of ininterrupted mixing (you don't want to end up with blisters on your hands like I did the first time I tried this recipe - well worth it, though)

1 egg white every 400g (should be around 0,9 pounds) of honey

the same weight of honey in almonds, or walnuts, or... whatever nutty suits your taste

half a teaspoon of grated lemon zest (just the yellow part) every egg white (or 400g honey)

beat the egg whites with a fork for a minute. You don't need to have a firm foam, just break them a little and have a little foam on top of them, pour into the pot with the honey, and start mixing. Put on the stove and turn on the heat - say 200°F - you can use a double boiler, it will take just a little longer. The most important thing is that heat must be extremely low, otherwise you will end up with a caramelized mess.

(You may want to try out the entire process on a smaller scale before going for the real thing and make adjustments as you see fit).

Keep mixing continuously: you want the honey/egg whites mixture to be in contact with the bottom of the pot, without having it rest there for too long, otherwise it'll stick/caramelize. As soon as the honey feels the heat, it will liquify quickly, so it's not really hard as it is boring.

After about an hour, if everything's gone well, you will have a dense, snow-white, somehow stringy mass: to test if it's properly cooked, while mixing (this is why you should have someone assist you: it can't be left sitting for a second) pour a few drops of this mass into a glass of cold water: when ready, it should harden quickly and be quite brittle.

Add the shelled (and in case, peeled) nuts/almonds/whatever to the pot, and keep mixing: as they're at room temperature, you'll see that the mass will start to harden almost instantaneously, as it loses heat: keep mixing (this is where it gets a bit harder) until it gets detached from the walls and bottom of the pot, then pour on a slightly wet hard surface (ideally, a marble countertop) and shape it into a block/cake/whatever your fancy with one or two wet knife blades or metal spatula while it's still warm. It's sticky. Cover on all sides with wafer (see below) if available.

You can also pour it into a mold, such as a baking tray or some such, also lined with wafer (the kind of wafer used to make hosts, I don't know if it has a specific name in English, but I see from you post above you're of Lithuanian descent, so you might know Christmas Wafers) or you might not be able to take it off the mold.

Cut in pieces and store in a dry, airtight container. Nougat will keep for long, and it can also be frozen. Actually, it's almost better when cold than it is at room temperature!

(it'll probably take you less time to eat it than to make it)

Metafilter: your dentist will be happy.
posted by _dario at 3:28 AM on March 12