Honey Candy: The “Honey” In Honey Candy Is Pretty Amazing (It’s Not Just A Cheap Candy Substitute Or An Old-Fashioned Candy Ingredient)

Let’s face it, Honey Candy Dot Net wouldn’t be much of a honey candy Web site if we didn’t talk about honey itself: what it is, where it comes from, and why it’s good stuff! Yes, you’ll find honey in old-fashioned candy recipes. Yes, you’ll even find honey in some types of cheap candy. But honey is also the world’s original natural sweetener, and while its most well-known applications is sweetening up a nice cup of tea or maybe as a snack for a certain silly old bear, making honey candy isn’t the only use for honey (it’s just the best one!).

Honey Candy - Silly old bear!

So Where Does The Honey In Honey Candy Come From? Old-Fashioned Candy Fans (And Even Cheap Candy Fans) Want To Know!

The honey in our beloved honey candy is made in a process that starts with honey bees who avoid the cheap candy aisles and go right for their own special brand of honey candy: flower nectar. Honeybees collect nectar in a specialized crop known as a “honey stomach” that stores about a tenth of a gram. They return to the hive and transfer their harvest to worker bees, who digest the nectar for about 30 minutes, using a special type of enzyme that breaks down the nectar into simpler sugars that aren’t as likely to be eaten by bacteria. Worker bees store the digested nectar in honeycomb and seal it with beeswax. The honey dries out and becomes the thicker, stickier stuff we all know and love (that eventually gets made into honey candy). Fun fact: this process lowers the “water activity” in honey, which is the reason why the honey in that old-fashioned candy that grandma used to make doesn’t spoil while sitting on the shelf, and is ready and waiting to be made into treats like honey candy (and unfortunately into some types of cheap candy as well).

Honey Candy - Bees straight for the flowers

OK, So Bees Make Honey, Which Is Only Good For Honey Candy, Right?

Wrong…honey is for more than just honey candy. It’s also used to make potent honey potables, like the ancient beverage of mead, which could be called “honey candy of a different sort,” depending on your definition. Yes, we’re not talking about cheap candy or old-fashioned candy…we’re talking about old-fashioned vino! Mead was originally created by fermenting honey with water and grains. (Just ask any Viking.) While mead was quite popular in Medieval Europe, other honey beverages are still around today…lots of them, in fact. Tej, a sweet wine made from honey and the bark and leaves of the gesho bush, remains a popular beverage in its native country of Ethiopia (see if you can score a bottle from your local Ethiopian restaurant or grocery if you’re lucky enough to have one nearby!). Finnish sima is a double-fermented honey brew that uses lemons, then raisins, to provide a spicy sweetness. Make no mistake, honey candy is great stuff, but when you want to wet your whistle, there are tons of honey-brewed libations out there as well!

Honey Candy - Vikings love their mead.

But Doesn’t Honey Have A History Beyond Honey Candy?

Yes, Virginia, honey does in fact have a history that goes beyond honey candy. It goes beyond those traumatic childhood memories of cheap candy toothaches and granny’s old-fashioned candy that no one wanted. Honey was collected by cultures all over the world, even before the days of modern honey candy, from ancient China to the ancient Egyptians, who harvested honey for its sweet taste. (Honey was even used as an embalming agent for making mummies! That’s a pretty far cry from a nice piece of honey candy…) However, honey has also been part of many religious rituals throughout history. You’re probably familiar with the Jewish Rosh Hashanah tradition of dipping a slice of apple in honey (how’s that for some holiday honey candy!) to celebrate the Hebrew New Year. But honey is also recognized in other religions, such as Hinduism, which treats it as an “elixir of immortality,” and in Buddhism, which celebrates a Buddhist parable of a monkey feeding a reclusive Buddha honey by commemorating the event, known as Madhu Purnima, by the practice of gifting honey to monks. (We recommend sticking to actual honey for this occasion, unless you know some very progressive monks who wouldn’t mind some honey candy instead.)

Honey Candy - A monkey offers the Buddha a pot of honey

OK, Aside From Honey Candy, Doesn’t Honey Have Health Or Medical Applications?

Yes, even though making honey candy is the best use for honey (wink wink), honey is associated with other health and medical facts. For starters, did you know that honey shouldn’t be fed to infants under 12 months? That’s because despite the fact that it’s a naturally occurring substance, it can also contain dormant botulism spores that a newborn’s fragile infant system can’t handle. That may sound scary, but honey is also being researched now as a potential wonder drug to treat conditions like wounds, since honey’s naturally antibacterial qualities can help injured folks recover with less risk of infection from antibiotic-resistant bacteria. (From honey candy to salve! Amazing…) It’s even being researched as a potential treatment for certain types of sinusitis! (To say nothing of the natural ability of honey and many types of honey candy to soothe a sore throat.) So honey isn’t just for old-fashioned candy recipes…it could be a recipe for better health. And if better health involves honey candy (and hopefully not cheap candy substitutes like artificial sweeteners), so much the better!

Honey Candy, Not Cheap Candy Or Old-Fashioned Candy? Who Makes A Whole Site About Honey Candy?

Honey Candy Dot Net welcomes you to the honeycandy.net Web site, your home for honey candy (no, not just cheap candy or boring, old-fashioned candy). My name is Drew, and I built this site. Why? For starters, I love all kinds of candy, expensive candy and even cheap candy, but I’m a huge fan of two special types of honey candy: Bit-O-Honey candy bars and Toblerone candy bars. (Yes, believe it or not, there are people out there who still enjoy old-fashioned candy like this.) Both seem harder to find these days, but they’re still out there, and they’re still delicious! Yet as much as I enjoy candy, I’m a father now, and these days, I need to concern myself with my health, and the health of my family. I actually read packaging labels now and try to avoid stuff made primarily with artificial ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup and saturated fats whenever possible. Or at least, I try to keep them in moderation. Of course, I still indulge my sweet tooth every now and again. So I figured, hey…if I am going to treat myself, or the rest of my family, I may as well do so with candy that contains natural ingredients. You know, avoid the really cheap candy and go for more-natural stuff like honey candy, which is, again not necessarily old-fashioned candy!

A classic honey candy - Bit-o-Honey

But…Honey Candy? Why Should I Care About Honey Candy?

You should care about honey candy because it’s delicious! Who cares if it seems like old-fashioned candy? Isn’t being delicious enough? No? OK, all kidding aside, you should care about honey candy because there’s more to it, and more varieties of it, than you might think. It’s easy to think of honey as being that golden drippy stuff that’s guaranteed to leave a sticky mess if your kids get within 100 feet of it, or even to think of it as a cheap candy substitute that no one wants. However! Honey is also the world’s original, natural sweetener. Honey even has unique properties that allow it to be stored safely without fear of spoiling. Honey also contains trace amounts of anti-oxidants for all you health-conscious candy fans out there (if there even is such a thing…?). And honey has even been suggested to have wound-treating purposes in modern medicine. (Don’t take my word for it, check out the benefits of honey candy on Wikipedia.) To make a long story short (too late), honey is good stuff, and honey candy is even better, at least in this writer’s humble opinion. So it’s not just cheap candy. Or just old-fashioned candy either.

Honey Candy - Made from the best stuff on Earth!

Honey Candy Aside, I’m Not Looking For Old-Fashioned Candy, Or Cheap Candy. I Want Good Candy!

Then you’re in luck, because there are several varieties of honey candy that are, in fact, not cheap candy, and are also quite modern, unlike that old-fashioned candy you also seem to dislike for some reason. At honeycandy.net, I plan to cover all the high-end honey candy products out there, including fancy gourmet items from specialty chocolatiers (yes, as in chocolate, because you’d better believe there’s some tasty chocolate honey candy out there), and mail-order honey candy from boutique beekeeping outfits.

Honey Candy’s OK, But I Do Kind Of Want Cheap Candy…

No problem there either, since some of the classic honey candy remains surprisingly cheap candy. Expect to see grocery store honey candy bars and such covered here as well.

Honey Candy’s Fine, But I Do Kind Of Like Old-Fashioned Candy…

That’s fine too, since there are plenty of great honey candy products that squarely fit the old-fashioned candy mold, and we’ll eventually cover them all here.

OK. So You Like Honey Candy. But What Is This Honey Candy Site Going to Offer?

Since you asked, I’ll definitely be writing reviews of various types of honey candy, including the over-the-counter cheap candy you can find at the supermarket, as well as specialty products produced by artisan beekeepers and candymakers, along with international honey candy confections from all around the globe. We’re not just talking about the boring, old-fashioned candy grandma used to make (and that we all politely pretended to enjoy, but secretly fed to the dog when nobody was looking). There’s some really tasty and really cool stuff out there, and I intend to find it, try it, photograph it, and report back to you with all the sweet details. I’ll even try to post video footage of the most interesting-looking honey candy I find. Just visit the honey candy reviews section to get updates there. I also plan to provide honey candy recipes, honey candy gift ideas, and interesting facts and tidbits related to honey and honey candy here.

Honey Candy Dot Net will definitely review Toblerone. Mmm, Toblerone.

Yes, But…A Whole Site Devoted To Honey Candy?

So an entire site devoted to honey candy sounds a little…weird? Well, consider the source. But seriously, there really is some great honey candy out there (and this stuff takes more forms than you might think). It’s not just terrible cheap candy, or old-fashioned candy for old-fashioned people! If you’re a honey lover or a candy enthusiast, this here Web site will make a honey candy fan out of you. And of course, I’m happy to take suggestions if you have any other ideas for cool honey-related stuff or new honey candy to try, or new honey candy recipes to make, or anything else you think might be cool to write about.