15 Ways to Use (not leftover) Honey

Many years ago my real man and I both had bad colds so I made us a honey and lemon drink and it was so delicious we have had it as our morning tipple ever since.   I don’t imagine it is doing us any particular good other than it makes us happy as I think the hot water destroys any health benefits.  Anyhoo, for this reason we get through An Awful Lot of Honey – maybe 3 small jars a week – and as there is always a lot of it about I use it in many other ways too.

This is not about “leftover honey” because that just doesn’t happen; apparently honey keeps forever although I would recommend keeping it cool and dark!  (Too cool and it may crystallise in which case just stand the jar in a pan of warm water and stir a bit till it clears again.)  This being the case anyone that puts a best before date on it is just having a laugh. 

This post concerns honey you don’t quite know what to do with or if you have too much - see the bottom of this post for a picture of when I had too much honey behind the wardrobe!

15 things to do with Not Leftover Honey

1.     Use instead of sugar for casual sweetening!  What I mean is don’t replace sugar with  honey in baking or other precise recipes as they are different consistency, sweetness etc., honey being somewhat sweeter.

2.    To use every bit of honey rinse out the jar with hot water, add a squeeze of lemon and enjoy the hot drink mentioned above.

3.    Drizzle over Greek yogurt, add almonds or walnut, sugared walnuts (recipe here) are delicious in this.

4.    Drizzle over ice cream – vanilla ice cream (easy no churn vanilla ice cream recipe in my ebook!) sprinkled with salted peanuts with a trail of honey snaking over it is deliciously different.

5.     Stir a little honey into freshly cooked carrots together with a knob of butter and shake to glaze.

6.     Honey plus a little whole grain mustard stirred into mayonnaise makes a great accompaniment to salads or spread in a ham sandwich.

7.     Toss a little in with butternut squash and red onion (recipe here) when roasting.  Not too much mind or the whole thing with caramelise before it is cooked.

8.    If you have just a spoonful of honey left in the jar add 6 spoonfuls of olive oil, 3 of lemon juice, salt and pepper and shake to form a great salad dressing.

9.    Brush a little warm honey gently over freshly baked cake, bread pudding and the like to glaze.

10.  Honeyed Blue Cheese on Toast - trust me, this is delicious.

11.   Stir a little into fruit salads.

12.  A spoonful over porridge might help it go down! I don’t really like porridge yet I instinctively feel that it should be served with light brown sugar, clotted cream and Drambuie, although I've never tried it!

13.   Stir together with a knob of butter till melted and hot and serve with pancakes.

14.   If you don’t want to eat the honey use it as a face mask – smooth onto warm skin, leave 15-20 minutes, wash off with warm water and then splash your face with cold water to close pores.  

15.   If you find yourself in possession of quite a lot of honey, and if summer ever arrives, then make this simple ice cream.

No Churn Honey Ice Cream

500 ml double cream

200 g condensed milk

200 g runny honey at room temperature

~   Whip the cream till thick.

~   Fold in the condensed milk.

~   Fold in the honey.

~   Freeze.

Once you have been gobsmacked by how easy and how delicious the ice cream is immediately check out my book “Luscious Ice Creams without a Machine” which gives over 100 similarly easy and yummy ice cream recipes plus others for sauces, syrups, inclusions and serving suggestions. 

Honey is also believed to have aphrodisiac qualities, by the way!

If I can think of all these ideas for not leftover honey don't you wonder what ideas I have had for the 450 potential leftovers in my book Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers?

Too Much Honey Behind the Wardrobe!

Speaking of honey look what I found behind built in wardrobes in Tortola once, after a couple of months away. I knew something was up as soon as I unlocked the door; the place was buzzing!