Category: Honey Recipe

Beekeeping experiences have also proved very popular, after 2020 when we couldn’t run many courses 2021 seemed a welcome change and we ran well over 50 sessions. It’s looking like 2022 will be just as busy and as many have asked for them we have listened and are now providing full day introduction to beekeeping courses for those wishing to take on beekeeping as a hobby.

One of the most exciting things about this year has been the return to markets and shows. As a small business a lot of our revenue is earned at farmers markets and shows and we have been so lucky that so many of you have come out and supported us and fellow stall holders, especially in the run up to Christmas.

We now have a small winter break from markets, we will only be attending Market Bosworth Farmers Market this month which is on the 23rd January.

This Months Recip-bee

Bee Berry Breakfast

And just like that we are into 2022, with this in mind, we have chosen a recipe that will kick start your year and give a twist on the classic consumption of crumpets. We used frozen berries for this breakfast recipe and found that the juice really helped to deliver a great flavour when paired with the honey drizzled on top! As always, please share feedback and photos!

Ingredients

• 2 Crumpets
• A handfull of berries (We used frozen raspberries from the garden)
• 2 Tbsp Almond/Peanut Butter
• 1 Tbsp Holt Hall Apiary Runny Honey

Method:

1. Toast the Crumpets until golden brown and spread the Almond or peanut butter generously over them
2. Place your chosen berries on top of the crumpets and drizzle over the honey!
3. Enjoy straight away while warm for a delicious start to your day!

Back to our new room, my grandpa stopped milking in 1991 and since then, the milking parlour has mainly be used for strorage. The first job was to strip out all of the old electrics and take out the large ceiling that was used to house the feed that would drop down to the cattle while they were being milked. Taking the ceiling out really made a mess and it was hard to see just what it would become, but the next job was just as big. The milking parlour trench had to be uncovered and filled in with the new floor drains fitted.

The insulated panels arrived next, and with some help we managed to get the panels and roof up in around three days. We knocked through to our existing honey room and the flooring company were then in for a few days to level the floor and put down the new flooring!

This Month’s Recip-bee

Honey Honey Comb! (Adapted from BBC Good Food)

Happy November! We have decided to go for a classic this month relating to Bonfire Night, which is known for Cinder Toffee. In a true Holt Hall Apiary style, we have shaken things up by literally putting the honey in honeycomb. This recipe was made with our warming Cinnamon Honey, but would work with any of our honeys! As always, please share pictures of your creations to info@holthallapiary.co.uk

Ingredients:

• 200g caster sugar
• 5 tbsp Honey
• 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method:

• STEP 1 – Butter a 20cm square tin. Stir the caster sugar and Honey together in a deep saucepan over a gentle heat until the sugar has melted. Try not to let the mixture bubble until the sugar grains have disappeared.
• STEP 2 – Once completely melted, turn up the heat a little and simmer until you have an amber coloured caramel (this won’t take long), then as quickly as you can, turn off the heat, tip in the bicarbonate of soda and beat in with a wooden spoon until it has all disappeared and the mixture is foaming. Scrape into the tin immediately – be careful, the mixture will be very hot.
• STEP 3 – The mixture will continue bubbling in the tin, simply leave it and in about 1 hr-1 hr 30 mins the honeycomb will be hard and ready to crumble or snap into chunks.

The honey comes to us in 30lb buckets, although in the next couple of weeks we will be expanding so we can take barrels of honey. Barrels of honey are standard amongst big producers and hold 300kg of honey.

As soon as we get the honey, we put it straight in the warmers, they allow us to carefully warm the honey to around 40 degrees being careful not to go over 40 which would impact the taste and quality of the honey.

In the photos above you will see:

Top Left: The buckets of honey sat waiting to be jarred, each one is enough to fill around 60 jars.
Top Right: Inside the warmer, our warmer holds 15 buckets, 5 on each level. there is a heater above and below to ensure they all warm evenly
Bottom Left: The jarring machine uses gears to push just the right amount of honey out into the jars! It can take any size jar, we simply tell it how much to dispense and then calibrate it with the first few jars, we check every 10th jar to make sure nothing has changed and the jars are being filled properly!
Bottom Right: The jars packed into boxes and palletised ready to go out to the customer!

Soft Set Honey 227g (8oz)

£6.00

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As honey naturally crystallises the buckets are sometimes solid, it can take just hours to get the honey runny enough to jar and other times it can take several days to a week. We will check the honey several times everyday and jar it as soon as it’s clear so that we aren’t warming the honey for longer than we need to!

The honey buckets are emptied into a tank that holds about 75kg and it’s piped directly into the jarring machine. We push the jar under and it automatically dispenses the correct amount of honey, we add the lid and make sure its on tight before adding the anti-tamper labels, best before dates and main label.

The other type of honey that’s very popular is Soft Set, it’s a silky-smooth white honey that is perfect to spread. This honey is a bit trickier to get right. We can start with any sort of honey, we warm it up so it is completely runny there can’t be any granules, we then add around 10% of soft set honey to the runny honey. Over the next few days of stirring, the runny honey starts to set like the soft set honey we added. We then jar it and the honey sets over the next few days, ready for you to enjoy on your toast!

Ingredients:

I LOVE a scone, I think they are super simple to make and are perfect for elevenses or with a cup of tea in the afternoon! In a perfect world I would make these to share with family, however I will have to sit and indulge myself with a cup of tea and a film! This recipe lends itself to Holt Hall Apiary’s Runny Honey, but for an extra Ginger kick for the fiery ginger lovers out there, feel free to use Ginger Infused Honey . Or this will give a beautiful flavour if you used the newest development – Lemon Infused for the perfect pairing of Lemon & Ginger!

Method:

Step 1 – Preheat the oven to 190°C/180°C fan. Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.

Step 2 – Sieve the flour, baking powder, sugar and ground ginger into a mixing bowl. Using your fingertips, rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in the pumpkin seeds.

Step 3 – Add the honey, beaten egg, grated ginger and milk to the bowl and mix to make a soft dough (you may not need all of this, save it for brushing the tops of the scones).

Step 4 – Turn out onto a lightly surface, and gently press with your hand, until the dough is 4cm thick (it’s thicker than you realise! My first attempt was too thin!!). Stamp out with a 7cm cutter (your choice on smooth or crimped edges). Any trimmings, bring together to form more scones (waste not want not!).

Step 5 – Brush the tops with milk, or a little egg if you have any left, and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

Step 6 – Delicious warm, with butter or more honey!

Would love to see pictures, please share them to info@holthallapiary.co.uk.