Honey is very important and a very nutrient dense food. However it is fragile and should be treated with respect. In ayurvedic tradition, honey is sacred and shouldn’t be heated. Heating honey turns the honey toxic and the bees in the hive work extremely hard to make sure their honey does not reach 104. On a hot summer day, much energy is spent by the bees to cool the honey so it does not become toxic. Toxic honey is discarded by the bees.
Crystalized honey works well for some things but can be messy and difficult to work with for other things! If the raw honey you buy is crystallized, you can decrystallize it very simply, taking care not to overheat the honey.
There are a couple main rules to decrystallizing honey. Number one - never let it get above 104. Number two - make sure you decrystallize your honey completely. Otherwise it will recrystallize much quicker.
What you will need for this recipe: crystallized and raw honey, a thermometer to make sure your temperature is not getting too high. If your thermometer is touching the bottom of the pan, it may read incorrectly. Take care to check where your thermometer is.
You want to get your honey from a local farmer. One because they’re the best. Two local honey can help with allergies. When you buy your honey, ask the following questions to see how aligned your beekeeper is with your priorities of healthy honey: where are your bees located? This will give you an idea how close they are to pesticide areas and will give you an idea if your beekeeper is trying to avoid pesticide areas. How do you process your honey? Asking questions like is it cold pressed or raw can sometimes get a yes answer, even if the process is different from what you mean. The process they describe should include harvesting their honey, putting it in a cold spinner, and spinning the honey while filtering out pieces of beeswax and bee parts with a mesh filter. The honey then goes into buckets and is divided into the containers that you purchase. No heat, no processing, and only the basic filtering. Most people who do this process will do only small batches, which is ideal.
As you may have noticed, nearly all the sweets recipes on our blog do not use honey that is heated as the sweetener. It’s better to use dates or other fruits, or maple syrup if you are tolerating it for cooked recipes. Honey is best enjoyed cold and raw.
