Honeycomb

Availability of honeycomb

Can be made whenever you have the ingredients and a source of heat.

Choose the best honeycomb

It’s all good unless the melted sugar is cooked for too long, when it will burn and the bitterness detracts from the acid-sweet pleasures expected. If you undercook it, it will not set properly.

How to store honeycomb

Use it as soon as you can. Confectionery honeycomb slowly absorbs moisture from the atmosphere, becoming limp and untrue to itself.

How to cook honeycomb

The most important thing to get right is the degree of caramellisation; the ideal temperature is hard ball stage, 250-265F/121-130C. Best results are obtained with white sugar rather than brown sugar, so you can more easily judge the colour if you don’t have a sugar thermometer. When you turn out the hot foam, work fast and it’s better to keep it piled high and thick.

When used in ice cream, in whipped cream for sundaes or as a cake filling/topping, in hot or cold custard or set in mousses and jellies, the honeycomb must not be broken up too small for it dissolves easily and you’ll lose the fun of the contrasting grainy texture and unique flavour.