Mixers

Honey

Honey is the sweetener bees make from nectar: under the Honey (England) Regulations 2015 at least 60% fructose and glucose, no more than 20% water, and nothing added. A sealed jar keeps indefinitely, but neat honey seizes in a cold shaker, so our recipes stir it straight into hot drinks such as Mulled Wine and use honey syrup for cold ones. The NHS advises not giving honey to babies under one year old.

Quick Facts

Legal categoryFood

Flavour Strengthmedium bold

Our keeping timeEffectively indefinite sealed.

Storage

Sealed at room temperature: the fridge only sets it faster.

Allergens

None of the 14 listed allergens.

The ingredient

About Honey

Flavour Profile

Primary Flavours

HoneyFloralWax

Tasting Notes

Sweetness with a signature: floral, waxy and faintly acidic, changing with whatever the bees worked, from mild acacia to loud heather.

Honey is sugar, a little water and nothing added

UK law describes honey as essentially sugars, mainly fructose and glucose, with acids, enzymes and fine particles from the hive. Blossom honey must be at least 60% fructose and glucose and no more than 20% water; heather honey may hold 23%. Nothing may be added except other honey, and honey for the table may not be heated so far that its enzymes are destroyed. Raw is a label word rather than a legal category, usually meaning unheated and lightly strained.

Too little water to spoil, too thick to shake

With so little free water, nothing can grow in a sealed jar, so honey keeps indefinitely at room temperature. Going solid is crystallisation, glucose falling out of solution, and warm water brings it back. The same thickness makes it useless in a cold shaker, where it sinks and seizes. For cold drinks it is thinned to honey syrup, honey and warm water at 2:1 by weight, which we keep a month in the fridge.

Our hot drinks and the Canchánchara take it neat

Heat does the dissolving in a pan: the Mulled Wine takes 75ml with the wine and spices, and the Guy Fawkes Grog stirs 150ml into hot water before the rum goes in. The Canchánchara is the cold exception, following the IBA: raw honey stirred with lime and water until it dissolves, and only then the ice and the aguardiente.

Honey neat in our recipes, against honey syrup

Mulled Wine

Honey: 75ml across the pan
What dissolves it: Heat, held at a bare steam
Served: Hot

Guy Fawkes Grog

Honey: 150ml for the bowl
What dissolves it: Hot water, before the rum
Served: Hot

Canchánchara

Honey: 15ml raw honey
What dissolves it: Lime and water, before any ice
Served: Over cracked ice

Honey syrup, for shaken drinks

Honey: 2:1 with warm water
What dissolves it: Made in advance
Served: Cold

Use	Honey	What dissolves it	Served
Mulled Wine	75ml across the pan	Heat, held at a bare steam	Hot
Guy Fawkes Grog	150ml for the bowl	Hot water, before the rum	Hot
Canchánchara	15ml raw honey	Lime and water, before any ice	Over cracked ice
Honey syrup, for shaken drinks	2:1 with warm water	Made in advance	Cold

Not for babies under one

The NHS advises against giving honey to babies under one year old, because it can occasionally carry bacteria that produce toxins in a baby's gut and cause infant botulism. The advice covers all honey, raw or not. It does not change anything about honey in an adult's drink, but a jar labelled for the bar can easily end up in a family kitchen.

Using it

Using Honey

Usage

Stirred neat into anything hot, where the heat dissolves it: 75ml across a pan of Mulled Wine, 150ml in a bowl of Guy Fawkes Grog. The Canchánchara dissolves 15ml with lime and water before the ice goes in. Cold, shaken drinks take honey syrup instead.

Pro Tip

Choose the jar for the drink. In a pan of mulled wine a mild everyday honey vanishes into the spice, while a heather or chestnut honey still shows; in a rum and lemon grog a darker honey stands up to the rum.

Top Tips

Warm the spoon before measuring. Honey slides off warm metal and clings to cold.
Keep the jar out of the fridge. Cold speeds up crystallisation rather than preventing it.
Stir a hot drink until no honey sits on the bottom of the pan. It sinks before it dissolves.
For a cold drink, make honey syrup first, at 2:1 with warm water.

Possible Substitutions

Honey Syrup: the 2:1 shaker-ready form
Maple Syrup: a different register, the same weight

Production Method

Made by bees from nectar, concentrated and enzyme-worked in the hive, then extracted from the comb. Runny and set honeys are the same product in different crystal states; gentle warmth returns set honey to pouring.

Go further

More to explore

Common Questions

What is honey made of?

Mostly two sugars, fructose and glucose, with water, a little sucrose, acids and enzymes. The Honey (England) Regulations 2015 set the outline: blossom honey must be at least 60% fructose and glucose and no more than 20% water, 23% for heather honey, and nothing at all may be added to it except other honey.

How is honey different from honey syrup?

Water. Honey syrup is honey thinned with warm water, two parts honey to one of water by weight in our house version, so that it disperses in a shaker of ice. Neat honey seizes in a cold shaker. Hot drinks take neat honey; cold ones take the syrup.

Can you put honey in a cold cocktail?

Not from the jar into an iced shaker, where it drops and sets into a lump. Either make honey syrup first, or dissolve the honey in the other ingredients before any ice goes in, as our Canchánchara does with its lime and water. Both get the honey into solution before the cold arrives.

Has my honey gone off if it has gone solid?

No. Crystallisation is glucose coming out of solution, a physical change rather than spoilage, and it happens faster in the cold. Stand the jar in warm water and it turns runny again. Boiling is unnecessary and drives off aroma. Honey that smells sour or foams has fermented, which is a different matter.

Does honey need to be kept in the fridge?

No. A sealed jar keeps indefinitely at room temperature, because there is too little water in it for anything to grow. The fridge only makes it set faster. Once you have mixed it with water, as honey syrup, we keep it in the fridge, a month.

Is raw honey different from ordinary honey?

Raw has no legal definition in UK honey law; it usually means unheated and lightly strained. Under the same regulations, ordinary honey cannot be heated so far that its enzymes are destroyed, and pollen may not be removed unless the label says filtered. Raw honey tends to crystallise sooner and keep more aroma. Our Canchánchara asks for it, as the IBA does.

Can babies have honey?

The NHS says not to give honey to a child under one year old. It occasionally carries bacteria that can produce toxins in a baby's gut, causing infant botulism, a very serious illness. The advice covers all honey, raw or not. Our drinks are for adults, but the jar in the cupboard is worth labelling in a family kitchen.

Sources.

Correct as of 17 October 2026.

legislation.gov.uk, “The Honey (England) Regulations 2015, Schedule 1”.

Make something

Made with Honey

Featured In These Cocktails

Canchánchara Mulled Wine Guy Fawkes Grog Spiced Rum Punch

Often Used With

Honey Syrup

Guide by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 17 October 2026

Back to Ingredients Guide