If your honey is already warm and 'runny' and you use warm water then you probably won't need to heat further, just shake the squeeze bottle (with a finger covering open end) to encourage the two liquids to combine. Then I pour in my desired amount of honey followed by 1/3 as much again (by weight) of water. To make a small quantity, I place the empty squeeze bottle on a set of scales and zero the scales. I also recommend balancing the bitter tannins in a mug of black tea with honey syrup. I only make small batches of syrup that I'll use within a few days, either in cocktails or on my breakfast cereal. I use raw honey from a local beekeeper, and I mix this in a chef's plastic squeeze bottle which is a convenient dispenser for the mixed syrup. I prefer and recommend 3 parts honey to 1 part water as this achieves the desired fluidity while retaining mouthfeel and viscosity. Opinions on the proportion of water that should be added to this vary from 1:1 honey to water, to 2:1 and 3:1. Given all the above, it's fair to assume that your honey, whether artisanal raw honey or supermarket 'honey', contains 18% to 20% water. However, even these sterilised honeys will be susceptible to microbes in your kitchen or bar environment once water is added. These industrial honeys are less likely to ferment due to their natural yeasts being killed during pasteurisation. Sadly, this is not the case with supermarket 'honey' from large scale producers who heat their honey to pasteurise it and make easier to blend. Artisan honey producers are careful not to heat their honey to above the natural hive temperature, as above 36☌ / 97☏ honey starts to breakdown and lose delicate flavours. Raw honey sourced directly from a local beekeeper is preferable but, whatever your quality of honey, it's important not to 'cook' the honey whilst making syrup. Honey naturally consistsĨ0% natural sugars (of which circa 70% is glucose and fructose)Ģ% pollen, minerals, vitamins and protein How to make honey syrup Due to honey being hygroscopic, meaning it will absorb water from the air, there is no safe amount of water to add and even a small percentage of additional water may be enough to allow yeast and other microbes to grow and fermentation to start.ĭue to the above, you should only mix enough syrup to last a few days and ideally, you should store your syrup in a refrigerator. Honey with a water content of less than 20% is so concentrated that yeasts and bacteria are prevented from growing. This is the natural level produced by bees when they concentrate flower nectars, which can be as much as 70% water, into honey as a winter food store for the colony. Honey sold in the UK must be a maximum of 20% water, and ideally it should be just 18% water. However, diluting with water upsets honey's natural sugar/water balance. Honey also has a low pH so is too acidic for most microbes. This impressive natural preservative-free shelf life is due to honey containing so little moisture that there is almost no free water for microbes and moulds to live on. Indeed, it can last for hundreds of years and remain entirely stable. Properly stored natural honey will last years without any loss of flavour. This shouldn't be confused with honey sugar syrup which is either honey bulked up with sugar or just honey flavoured sugar syrup with little or no actual honey. Mixing honey with water to make honey syrup (AKA honey water) makes it easy to pour, measure and integrate with other cocktail ingredients.
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