Book of Days Tales

Today is the birthday (1886) of Karl Ritter von Frisch, Austrian ethologist and entomologist who received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1973, along with Nikolaas Tinbergen and Konrad Lorenz. His work centered on investigations of the sensory perceptions of the honey bee and he was one of the first researchers to translate the meaning of the honey bee “waggle dance,” a highly sophisticated method bees use to communicate the location of food sources to other workers in the hive.  His findings were largely dismissed or disputed when first published, but have since been confirmed.

I was going to find a nice honey recipe, but I am sure you already have plenty. Instead I decided on honeycomb, a childhood favorite, and still very much in my top 5 sweet treats. As a boy in Australia, getting a bag of honeycomb was the highlight for me of the annual family trip to the state fair. It is not actually made with honey, although I imagine you could use it. For those unaware of this ambrosia, honeycomb is a sugary toffee with a light, rigid, sponge-like texture. Its main ingredients are typically brown sugar, golden syrup (or molasses or corn syrup) and baking soda, sometimes with an acid such as vinegar. The baking soda and acid react to form carbon dioxide which is trapped in the highly viscous mixture. When acid is not used, thermal decomposition of the baking soda releases carbon dioxide. The lattice structure is formed while the sugar is liquid, then the toffee sets hard. You have to eat it quickly after making it (not a problem for me), or store it in an airtight container because it quickly absorbs moisture from the air.

Ingredients

200 g/7 ozs caster sugar

4 tablespoons golden syrup

1 tbsp bicarbonate of soda

Instructions:

Put the sugar and syrup into a deep saucepan (it bubbles and froths a lot), and stir together to mix. DO NOT stir once the pan is on the heat. At this stage the mix will be solid and lumpy.

Place the pan on medium-high heat. The mixture will first melt, then turn to a viscous liquid, and then to a bubbling mass. Cook for 3 or 4 minutes until it is the color of maple syrup.

Take the mix off the heat, whisk in the bicarbonate of soda and watch the syrup turn into a whooshing cloud of aerated pale gold.

Turn this immediately on to a greased 8” square baking tin lined with baking parchment or greased foil. Leave until set, about 3 hours, and turn out. Bash into lumps or break apart. Store in an airtight container