A Taste of Yellow - Honeycomb

As soon as I saw the 'A Taste of Yellow' food event being hosted by winosandfoodies I knew I had to take part. This event is in support of Livestrong Day.

LIVESTRONG Day is the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s (LAF) grassroots advocacy initiative to unify people affected by cancer and to raise awareness about cancer survivorship issues on a national level and in local communities across the country. LIVESTRONG Day 2007 will occur on Wednesday, May 16.

My family has suffered the trauma of cancer. We were lucky and it has now gone from our lives. We give thanks for this every day.

The task is to cook something yellow. But what? Rather embarrasingly, the answer came from a morning in front of the television. I just happened to be watching 9am with David and Kim, a rather lightweight lifestyle show that is 'all about you' (apparently). The cooking segment featured an amazingly delicious looking honeycomb pudding with caramel sauce.

Well honeycomb is far and away my favourite confectionary and it's yellow. It couldn't be more perfect. What's more it looked to be exactly the type of honeycomb I favour. Super light, crispy crunchy and melt in the mouth. Time for another embarrassing admission - my favourite chocolate honeycomb is black and white brand from Woolworths. None of this stuff that almost breaks your teeth (cough** violet crumble **cough).

And it didn't disappoint. It is just so good. What's more it is remarkably easy to make. It just takes a bit of bravery on the first attempt. The most important thing is to have a large saucepan that will contain the honeycomb when it fizzes up. The second most important thing is to have the lined tin ready and as close by as possible. It will begin to harden quickly. You only need to very quickly (and gently) stir around two or three times and then tip out immediately. Your aim here is to preserve those bubbles.

Don't worry if a hardened coating is left in the saucepan. Fill it with water and it will dissolve away easily.

Honeycomb

Melt 1 cup of sugar and 4 tbspn of corn syrup in a pan for about five minutes, stirring gently. Increase the heat to boiling point and leave without stirring for ten minutes.

As soon as the surface turns a pale straw colour, (be brave and) sprinkle over 2 tspn of bicarbonate of soda mixed into 1 dessertspoon of water. Stir through quickly and gently. As soon as you start stirring it will turn a bright yellow and fizz up very quickly.

Immediately pour into a 20x30cm lamingon/swiss roll/slice tin (a bit smaller will be fine), completely lined with baking paper. Leave to cool and harden.


Chocolate Honeycomb

Tap honeycomb gently to break into shards or cut it into squares. Dip in melted milk chocolate and leave to set on baking paper.

Honeycomb Clusters

Break hardened honeycomb into large crumbs. If the crumbs are too small they will just dissolve. Gentle taps with a clean meat mallet or a rolling pin will do the job. Mix into melted milk chocolate. Place teaspoonfuls of the mixture on baking paper to set.


Honeycomb Pudding with Caramel Sauce

As I noted, on the TV show the honeycomb was used to make a honeycomb pudding with caramel sauce. I haven't tried making it, but it looked divine. If you are interested here is the link to the recipe section on the show's website. Scroll down and you will find it under April 2007.