Food Know How - Honey Syrup

Honey Syrup

Looking for a cocktail sweetener that’s not sugar? Honey is liquid gold.

Working with honey in cocktails is as easy as making simple syrup. Take equal parts honey and water and heat them in a saucepan until the honey melts. Voila. You can even bottle, cap, and store honey syrup in the fridge. Just like simple syrup, you can play with the ratio to go from a mild-tasting honey syrup to something richer. Playing with herbs and spices infused in honey syrup as Annie Llew does in her Mango Passion Fruit Poblano Margarita makes for interesting, complex cocktail flavors.

A few things to note. Unless your cocktail is hot, honey on its own is too thick to mix with. Many vegans don’t eat honey and some people are allergic to it, so be sure to let folks know when you use it in cocktails. Honey ranges in flavor varieties so be sure to taste honey on its own to help choose one that complements other cocktail ingredients in flavor and aroma. Finally, respect the queen bee and her workers. Raw honey contains layers of flavor and pleasurable aroma that is indefinitely edible and has medicinal functions used throughout time.

Mango Passion Fruit Poblano Margarita

Annie Llew (IG: @anniellew) Lead Virtual Mixologist, Muddling Memories, PA/NY

INGREDIENTS

1 ½ oz. Aged Tequila 1 oz. The Perfect Purée Mango Passion Fruit blend, thawed ¾ oz. Charred Honey Poblano Syrup* ¾ oz. pineapple juice ½ oz. triple sec

PREPARATION

Add ingredients and ice to a cocktail shaker. Shake vigorously for 15-20 seconds. Strain into a rocks glass. Garnish with dried pineapple and charred poblano.

*Charred Honey Poblano Syrup

INGREDIENTS

1 cup honey 1 cup hot water 1 poblano

PREPARATION

Char the poblano with a Brûlée torch or open stove top until the poblano is black and charred nicely. Combine hot water and honey until honey becomes a liquid consistency. Chop up poblano and add to honey syrup. Let infuse for at least 45 minutes (the longer it sits, the better it gets!).