

| Subject: |
Re: Honey
|
| From: | apetail
|
| Posted: |
Sat Oct 8. 2011, 21:45 UTC
|
| Followup to: | "Honey" by VilVodka (Mon Oct 3. 2011, 17:38 UTC)
|
> Hello, new here. First time asking a bartending question oline in my
> 11 years experience.
>
> I learned a new drink recipe from a television show recently. It's
> called a Gold Rush and the recipe called for honey (not honey liquer)
> in an cold drink. Interesting that the honey poured easily on the TV
> show but not from the honey bottle at work or at home. Also, the
> honey keeps its consitency and doesn't mix well, no matter how hard
> or long I shake. I end up getting lumps that don't end up in the
> actual pour. I tried heating the honey, but when I pour hot honey in
> the mixer of ice, lemon juice, and boubon, the honey crystalizes
> (imagine a chewed up piece of candy floating in your cocktail).
>
> If there any methods or honey substitutes that I can try?
>
> Thank you
Reasons to use honey are it's lingering rich herbal flavour and sweet
sensation (slightly different sugar profile). You can not easily replace it
because any other sweetener would not adequately substitute the concept of
adding honey in place of sugar.
For it's mixing behaviour, you may regard honey basicly as a very thick sugar
syrup. The high viscosity/thickness are reasons why it pours and dissolves
badly.
You could try to turn the honey into a syrup* by mixing it with water before
starting your cocktail session (just like you would make simple syrup). Be
careful with high heat as it can change the honey taste by converting the
sugars and flavours.
Alternatively you could ignore the fact that honey pours and dissolves badly.
Add a spoon of honey to your shaker and just make sure to learn the proper
amount of honey to be added and the proper amount of shaking duration in order
to obtain the desired result. You can also sample the taste or smell of the
drink during shaking to see if the right amount of honey has dissolved.
To prevent small bits of honey in your drink get them out by using a fine
strainer in conjunction with the strainer part of the shaker.
The crystallisation of honey is a difficult thing as with many other foods
like for instance ice cream and chocolate. The basic idea is that you can have
different types of crystals (with differing strength and melting point) from
the same substance. During the production of foods the formation (or
non-formation as in clear honey) of the types of crystals is controlled very
precise to obtain desired product properties. When you start heating ans/or
cooling you risk the chance of destroying this nice composition. In your case:
your mixing of hot honey with a cold substance is what gets the
crystallisation going. For some types of honey it is actually a desired
property. If the crystallisation happens homogeneously you get very fine small
crystals resulting in a creamy texture (creamed honey).
*What makes honey so biologically stable is it's low water content and high
sugar content. The syrup would have a shorter shelf live.
--
"Question everything..."
Current thread (2 messages):
|
- Honey - 2011.10.03, 17:38 - VilVodka
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