While honey has been used as a natural sweetener for centuries, it has recently been gaining popularity as a trend to watch in a number of categories, including the confectionery industry. Candy & Snack named honey as a naturally occurring sweetener flavor trend in 2023 and a real food ingredient that fulfills a sweet craving in a pure form. And according to Prepared Foods, candy that is naturally sweetened is a “key growth area” for 2023.
If this leads you to question whether or not to add honey
to your confections and chocolates, RCI member Hector
Camargo Jr. with ChocolatesU, LLC helps shed some light on the query. Keep
reading for an overview of the benefits of using honey in your confectionery
creations, as well as some potential drawbacks to keep in mind.
Drawbacks to Using Honey
Cost
Honey is expensive. You can expect to pay between four to
10 times more per pound for honey compared to other sweeteners like glucose
syrup and refined sugar.
Variability
Honey is a natural product, which means variability is the name
of the game. Physical properties (color, moisture), chemical properties (pH,
mineral content, impurities) and most importantly taste, can all vary with the
seasons and flowers the bees choose to visit. Your perfect honey ganache can
suddenly have an off, bitter note or your prized honey caramel could go grainy
and gritty at random intervals leaving you guessing at the cause. Mineral
content changed? Is the pH off?
Temperature Sensitivity
Honey is also temperature sensitive. Too hot and it flows everywhere;
too cold and you might as well take a nap and wait for the spring thaw.
Crystallization can occur during storage, especially if your storeroom is cold.
And while the crystallization is easily reversible with gentle heating, it
could put a kink in your production plans for that day.
Risk of Counterfeit
All this is assuming you are using real honey. That’s
right, counterfeit honey is a real thing. Without a reliable, trusted source,
you could be paying a premium for pricy sugar syrup.
Not Vegan Friendly
And finally remember, honey is NOT vegan (unless you know a
fair-trade bee colony that accepts purchase orders).
Benefits of Using Honey
Shelf-Life
Honey does not go bad. The oldest known sample of honey was
found in an ancient Egyptian tomb dated at 3,000 years old and is supposedly
still edible. Honey’s low water activity and low pH (around 4) makes it, and
the items made with it, resistant to spoilage and mold.
Invert Sugar
Honey is an amazing invert sugar syrup and can be used directly
as a confectionery ingredient. Like other invert sugars, honey helps control
crystallization and creates a smooth mouth feel. Honey is hygroscopic, so it
reduces the water content in confections while prolonging shelf life. Honey’s
humectant properties also keep chocolate fillings and fudge supple and baked
goods tender.
Flavor
Honey has a unique flavor, but that can be as prominent or
as muted as you wish depending on the type of confection you are creating.
All-Natural Sweetener
Honey is a customer delight. Sweeten with cane, coconut, or
palm sugar and patrons will respond with a yawn. Honey, however, connotes the
idea of “natural” to consumers. Even if honey is not the exclusive sweetener
in your products, it will hold a certain cache with your customers and
differentiate you from competitors.
Honey is costly and can be a challenging ingredient. It
requires some patience and experimentation to use successfully. Whether or not you opt to start using a spoonful of honey in your confections,
we hope this week’s blog post was insightful.
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