Yesterday I was texting back and forth with my granddaughter who lives up in Torrington, Wyoming. She is a bit of a country girl, raises goats, chickens, bees and a couple of young boys. It started off with her asking if I had ever made “smoked honey”. My brain must have found the question foreign as it went right to smoking turkeys and needing to brine them.

She humored me along for a bit and then sent this text message;

“Oh I meant just the honey like smoking just the honey to add a.smokey flavor to it.”

I had been going on and on about smoking a turkey, subbing honey for the brown sugar in the brine, had a yada yada…….I hope I didn’t confirm that I sometimes outrun my brain and my typing finger! Senility? No, she wouldn’t go there…….I hope!

I took 3 good sized ramekins, each filled with about 1/3 cup of honey.

Started off with the smoker cold. I fired it up with pecan wood.

I tried to maintain a relatively low heat as I didn’t want to scorch the honey. Caramelized and a Smokey flavor was my goal.

Tartlet was 175 degrees F but ……. I am easily distracted and it approached 200 degrees F.

I mentioned above that I am easily distracted above and oops….about three hours later I shut off the smoker and brought the ramekins into the house.

Dark, I hoped smokey and fingers crossed……not scorched.

I let it sit overnight and it was very thick and caramelized with a hint of smoke flavor. Notes for future efforts.

1. Fire up the smoker well before placing the honey inside.
2. Set a timer dummy……that’s me talking to me. Check every 20 minutes for temperature and visual changes to the honey.
3. Try a wood that has a more robust smokiness……..maybe mesquite next time vs. the pecan I used.

I will try this as a glaze or as an added flavor when marinating salmon. Maybe warm it and drizzle over cheeses on a cheese board. Hmmmmm other ideas?

Drink Local and Drink Responsibly

Bishop

FYI- oops again – should have been in my garden blog……oh well……it might be senility.