This is a cheater post for me. It’s so simple and I can’t take the credit for it, but want to share it with you! Some back story… I have a friend, who we are going to call The Alchemist. She has invited me to make Mead with her. It’s long process, that we initiated on October 31. Stay tuned for the post ,when the Mead is complete. So far its going very well. We racked it last week.
Mead is a honey based wine made from fermenting honey with yeast. It’s history can be traced back to many cultures ( Europe, Asia, and Africa) and is considered the first traceable fermented drink. I have heard it refereed to as the drink of the Gods.
Anyway, as The Alchemist acquired quite a bit of honey from her mentors apiary, she decided to to make a tiny stash of a Chili infused honey. The tip was was the brain child of beeboy on this wonderful site devoted to Mead. Bee Boy was making Mead with heat spiced honey. I bet that was incredible! The Alchemist infused her honey for only two days and the heat was intense and blended perfectly with the sweetness. A tip The Alchemist gave me was to turn the jar upside down so when you take a spoonful, it’s without the hot pepper slices floating. I wanted to figure out a clever play on words with this concoction.Honey Chile came to mind, but The Alchemist calls it Kiss Me Spank Me Honey. The title alone is going to bring a lot of weird traffic to my site as I already Googled the term (Laughing out Loud).
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Kiss Me Spank Me Honey (Chili Infused Honey)
Needed:
- 1 clean mason jar with lid
- Runny Honey
- A few of our choice variety of hot chili peppers (Piri Piri, Serrano, etc>). I suggest 2 peppers per pound of honey.
Process:
- Slice peppers with seeds.
- Add to honey in jar.
- Seal.
- Let sit and infuse for at least two days.
Applications:
- Makes cool gifts for the Holidays in your own special bottles.
- As a glaze for beef , pork, or chicken.
- On fried chicken.
- In salad dressings for some sweet heat
- In your hot cold remedy with lemon.
- Someone suggested Biscuits
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I can see where the traffic to this post would be interesting Coco. Flavoured honeys are a perfect solution to infuse flavours into anything from appetizers to dessert.
I’ve never thought of infusing honey before – what a great idea.
I wanna make MEAD!!! Can’t wait for that post – but this is a good teaser!
I love you “kiss me spank me” honey. Brilliant! Nice to learn about mead.
Our neighbor keeps bees (talk about local honey!!) and his hives/bee boxes/whatever-you-call-them were right next to his garden where he’s planted lots of Thai chili peppers.
The honey gave a slow burn, about 1 minute after swallowing. It was Awesome. I think your way takes less time, though, and I’m all about immediate gratification! 🙂
How cool. Peppers are so cheap right now– I’m definitely making some of this.
Does this need any special processing or does it keep the same shelf life as before infusion?
According to The Alchemist who made this, the honey kept fine. The Alchemist attributes this to the high sugar content in the honey. Honey has a high sugar content and bacteria don’t like it. Plus, bacteria doesn’t like chilis (which explains why so many tropical dishes co-evolved to be spicy, according to Michael Pollan/Omnivour’s Dilemma). Just Dont Add Garlic or something in which the bacteria will grow and then it will be very dangerous. Garlic and other ground type plants breeds botulism because they grow in soil.
Hope this helps. However when in doubt I always say refrigerate! With it being honey, you will have to bring it to room temp and some crystallization or cloudiness may occur. I would advise very small batches as well, so it will be consumed faster than a larger container.