Hot honey on everything: the sweet heat of the year

Chilli-infused honey has landed on pizza, roots, crostini and fried chicken. Here is why it works and how to make a safe jar at home in twenty minutes.

This year one jar has moved from the back of the cupboard to the middle of the table. Hot honey, which is simply honey that has been warmed with chilli, turns up on pizza menus, on Sunday roast potatoes and on more fried chicken than I can count. In my kitchen it sits next to the olive oil, and it goes on almost as often.

The reason is easy to taste. Honey brings sweetness and a floral note, chilli brings heat that builds slowly, and together they make salty, fatty and starchy food come alive. Think of the way a little mostarda or a spoon of jam lifts a cheese board. Hot honey does the same job with a spark.

You can buy it, of course. Making your own takes twenty minutes, costs very little and lets you choose how fiery it gets.

Where it shines

Pizza: a thin drizzle over a white pizza or a salami pizza just out of the oven. Add it after baking, because honey burns fast in a hot oven.
Roasted roots: toss swede, carrots or parsnips in a spoon of hot honey for the last ten minutes of roasting so it glazes without scorching.
Crostini: whipped ricotta or soft goat's cheese on toasted sourdough, a few mushrooms, then honey. Sweet, savoury and a little fiery.
Fried chicken: brush it on the hot crust right before serving, with a squeeze of lemon and flaky salt.
Cheese: over baked feta, a wedge of aged pecorino or a slice of Västerbotten.

Recipe: white pizza with roasted pumpkin chanterelles and hot honey

Recipe: porcini crostini with whipped ricotta and hot honey

My recipe, and the ratio to remember

For one small jar you need 250 g of runny honey and 1 to 2 teaspoons of dried chilli flakes, or two or three whole dried chillies, lightly crushed. Use dried chilli. Fresh chilli carries water into the honey, and water is exactly what you want to keep out. A teaspoon of cider vinegar stirred in at the end brightens it, and it is how many American versions are made.

Put the honey and chilli in a small pan over the lowest heat. Warm it gently until it is loose and just steaming, about 70 to 80 °C if you have a probe thermometer. Never let it bubble, because boiling darkens the honey and drives off its perfume. Take it off the heat, cover and leave it to steep for 15 to 30 minutes. Taste with a clean spoon. When the heat is where you like it, stop.

Then strain. Pour the honey through a fine sieve into a clean, dry jar and press lightly on the chilli. Leaving the chillies in looks pretty, but it lets the honey keep picking up heat and puts plant material in the jar for weeks.

Bella's tip: Make a small batch. A 250 g jar disappears in a few weeks in my house, which is the right speed for a homemade infusion.

Keeping it safe

Honey on its own is a very stable food because it holds so little water. Once you add plant material the picture changes. Dried chillies, garlic and herbs can carry spores of the bacteria that cause botulism, and while honey's low moisture makes trouble unlikely, it is the reason food safety advice treats homemade infusions with care. So I follow three simple rules.

Dry only: use dried chillies, never fresh chilli or garlic, and a completely dry jar and spoon.
Strain it: remove all the solids once the honey has the heat you want.
Fridge and finish: keep the jar in the fridge and use it within three to four weeks. If it ever smells odd, looks cloudy in a new way or the lid domes, throw it away.

Cold honey thickens and may crystallise. Stand the jar in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes and it flows again. And one more thing, which applies to all honey: never give it to a baby under one year old.