Honey recipes over a wood fire: four autumn favourites

The schools have gone back and I think pretty much everyone in the UK is suffering from a horrible cold at the moment. I know I certainly am, and all I've wanted to do is come up to the forest and create some nice syrups and things from the wild to help soothe my throat, of course with lots of honey. So that is the plan today. We're going to get the fire going, we're going to create lots of sweet treats to help soothe your cold if you're struggling, and we're going to do it outside in the forest. Well, I love the idea of doing it in there, Zane, but I know once that sun comes out it is going to be impossible to film, so I'm thinking If we kind of kick away some of this grass and get rid of the leaves and stuff and build, build a little surface here, we can get the fire here looking out and it should be good. Yeah. So we're going to flatten it out. I've got a nice big piece of slate over there. We'll put some stones around it to protect that fire from going anywhere, and then we will get cooking.

That's some technique there, Lawrence.

Zane was laughing in the background there. I was thinking this is just like standard technique.

No, like proper caveman stuff, that.

It's effective though, isn't it?

Yeah.

So this is what I was thinking of moving, Zane. It is a huge, probably like a 40mm thick piece of slate, it's very heavy, but if we can get it up there, a few stones around it, it should stop any of those embers spreading.

Looks heavy.

It's really heavy, yeah. Luckily it comes in a special design that makes it much easier to lift.

Like flat pack?

It's kind of flat pack, it's called a crack pack. It's true, look, splits in 2 like that, but it goes back together quite neatly, which— do you want to get the heavy one?

Yeah, yeah, thanks. Cheers for that.

See you up there. Woo! I just smashed it into the side of the car.

Yeah, that's, uh,

buff out.

Teacup.

I think, I think it's a bit too deep for teacup, that one.

There's definitely a little dent there as well.

Yeah, hey ho. What is that? Oh, that is heavy. Right, we're fully set up, Zane, and the next job is getting this fire lit. I don't know about you, I do love having a fire. It's one of my favorite things in the world, especially on the Solo stove like this, because it is just so easy. You chuck in— Loads of nice non-treated kindling like this. You get your blowtorch and just set it on fire. Right, so it's been about 40 minutes and the fire has gone right down, but there's tons of heat still coming out. And this is what you want when you're cooking over fire. You don't want the beginnings of it, you kind of want the dying embers with a decent amount of energy in. So a few more bits of wood, I'm gonna get the wheelbarrow out the way, build myself a little kitchen here, and let's get cooking. Right, so I've got myself a little kitchen here. Okay, we are all set up. I'm really, really excited about this, and it is a very, very hot fire. I've set the grid up at the top there, which gives it a little bit of distance and hopefully means that nothing that I cook today is going to burn. The first thing I'm going to do is some Forest of Bowland heather honeycomb. Now I'm talking like I'm some sort of expert and I know what I'm doing here— very much the opposite. I love food, I love cooking, I love open fire cooking, but I'm not an expert, so things might burn. And Zane's going to taste test all of the things for us as well, so Brilliant day. I'm excited about this one though. We went up there a couple of weeks ago to the Forest of Bowland and drove to the top of the moorland on the back of a Land Rover, which was very, very cool. And I love heather honey. The smell of it is so evocative and you can turn it into wonderful things. But the real reason I'm using heather honey, and you can probably hear it in my voice, I've got such a bad cold. I want something that's going to soothe it and make it feel better. But first of all, I want to make some really exciting honeycomb. So they had the honey, the sugar, the water is in this pan here, and we're waiting for it to get up to 150°C, which is ridiculously hot. One thing that I do know is that you're not supposed to stir the sugar, so you just have to sit there and leave it to boil and kind of give it the occasional shake if it goes too wild. And then the next step is we're going to take some Bicarb of soda. That is one very, very hot fire. And you just take, I think it's about a teaspoon of this, and you chuck it in and it goes, and you put it into some parchment paper over there and then let it go hard. That's the idea anyway. I don't know how well it's going to go, but it's kind of looking pretty good. It's definitely going bubbly in there now, Zane. So let's give it a go. So I got a little bit worried there. He said Helen was going to kill me because of the pans, and to be fair, she still might kill me, but I got most of the brown sticky muck out. I'm really pleased with how that went. Let's have a look at this honeycomb zone. So the idea is pretty simple now, you just leave it. You want it in a container where it can puff up and you need to leave it now for about an hour. Do not touch it, it's ridiculously hot, like even going close to it and it's splattering is dangerous when it's on the pan. But I'll be back later in this video to break it open and show you just how airy and light it is inside. Next thing I'm doing here is going through some rose hips. Now I went out with my wife and my daughter Lily yesterday to a lovely park to try and find some elderberries. She said There are so many elderberries here, you're going to be in elderberry heaven. And we got there and they were all gone and she had egg on her face, but we still went out and harvested loads of these rose hips as well and some very old elderberries that I'm going to attempt to make an elderberry syrup with later on in this video. But rose hips are quite good for you apparently, really high in vitamin C, and all I'm going to do is put them in this pan, fill them up with some water, put them on the fire, bring it up to the heat, and then blend it with Some beautiful raw Welsh honey, and that should be super good for my cold. So the rosehip syrup is boiling away and it's a real strong rolling boil. You leave it like that for 20 minutes or so and then we're going to strain all those bits out. And you have to strain it through a really fine sieve because it's got these little hairs in it that will irritate your throat otherwise. But we'll strain all of that out and then we'll mix it back in with some nice raw honey and then that'll be the rosehip syrup finished. But what I want to make in the meantime is some elderberry syrup. Now I really wanted to do it this year with fresh ripe elderberries when they're really heavy on the tree and I do have some fresh ones there, they're just a little bit past it. I'm going to call it air dried. It's like they've been ripe on the tree and then just left. They've gone a bit dry and crispy but you will see they should be fine. What makes me feel a lot better about that is that I bought some dried elderberries and I'm going to make it with that but you'll see my dried elderberries on the branches look very, very similar to these. But the concept is the same, we're going to get a pan, we're going to fill it with water, we're going to put elderberries in here, fresh and dried, and then a huge mix of other bits as well. We're going to put some ginger in, we're going to put star anise, cinnamon, clove— all nice things for really sore throats. But what we're going to finish it off with is something super special. This here is bee propolis tincture. Now bee propolis has many, many amazing healing properties. All I know is that when I add a drop or two of this to my syrups, it really helps soothe my throat and it feels like it's doing something good. Some people can have allergic reactions to propolis like this, so make sure that you tell people it's got propolis in because it is an allergen. But this here really is the superpower. This is the healing power of the beehive, and this is what is going to soothe my throat come later this evening.

Can I ask what propolis tincture is?

Um, yeah, that's a good question really. So it's an alcohol-based tincture, so it's like pure alcohol, and then all we mix with it is pure propolis. And you've seen it in the beehives. You know when you open up a beehive and you know the smell when you open up a beehive? Yeah. That's the propolis. But when you open it up and you get this sticky red goo all the way around the boxes and we kind of clean it off, and you can put traps in as well and trap the propolis. But if you can find a nice way of getting that out of the beehive, put it in the freezer is quite a good way of doing it as well. And then cleaning it to get out all the bits of wood and wax and any other rubbish that's in there. And then you dissolve it in this alcohol and put it through loads of different straining filters. And then ultimately you get this, which is a very thick alcohol tincture. Now this will last me for decades, Zane. The amount that you put in is like a couple of drops at the end. It is super, super potent. Have a smell. I don't drink, but that makes me feel a bit drunk smelling that.

That brings back like bad memories, that.

Oh really? Like sambuca?

It's like vodka-y. Yeah, no.

Okay.

I'm all right.

I totally get what Zane means there, it's like black sambuca, but it's not the alcohol element, Zane, that we're focusing on here. You think once we put, we put it in there at the end, that alcohol just dissolves off and it leaves behind the essence of the beehive, which is really, really nice. So the syrup is boiling away, but we do, we need a way to get rid of all of the husks of the hips and any bits that I missed and leaves, but more importantly, inside the rose hips there's these tiny little hairs that if you don't do this step, if you don't filter it, it's, it's not very nice. It's very irritating all the way down your throat. So make sure you get a good filter bag like this. I just got these off Amazon and they're reusable ones, and you can kind of pop them in like that, and then there's a drawstring on the outer edge as well so you can tighten them up. And then all I do is put that down, pour all of the syrup through it, and then I just take it away like that and it leaves behind perfectly filtered syrup ready for a good guzzle of honey. So that's the rosehip syrup strained now, and all we need to add in is the orange juice and the raw honey and mix it up. So I just burnt my hand there. That was genuine scream. Ah! That really hurt. But I managed to preserve the little amount of water that we got left to make the elderberry syrup. So. It is super simple. Pack of dried elderberries plus tons of other spices and ginger and lemon and all the bits go in here. And then we put it on the fire to go for about 30 or 40 minutes to really reduce it down. Then we chuck in the honey and the propolis and it is done. So I've given up on waiting for the syrups to cool. My throat is so bad. I'm gonna make me and Zane some heather honey ginger and lemon hot drink. It really is the very best thing if you're feeling down in the dumps. I'm gonna make me a cup of tea. So whenever I'm feeling a little bit rotten and I want a hot drink, I always reach for the heather honey. Heather honey isn't the one that I would go for on my toast because it's quite powerful, it's quite strong, but when I'm feeling rubbish and I'm feeling like I've got a sore throat The ling heather honey really makes a very powerful drink that makes you feel better fast. Okay, Zane is nervous to try it, and you can see the thick heather honey at the bottom. But this really is my favorite drink. It's so nice next to the fire as well. You kind of got to eat the ginger as well. That's a good bit for you. Oh, I love it. Might not be for Zane. He's smiling. He didn't— he's not looking forward to it, are you? Zane does not like it. No, not for Zane.

No, no, no, it's growing, it is growing genuinely. Very hard not to just have a mouthful of ginger, isn't it?

Yeah, but chewing big chunks of ginger is good for your throat. Is it?

Without the bits in, I actually enjoy that flavour, so maybe strain it out next time.

We'll refine it next time for Zane. There we go, good man. Well done for trying. So there you go, that's it, finished rosehip syrup, Zane.

And what's it for, is it? Can you just drink it straight?

That's a good point, yeah, what's it for? It's high in vitamin C, so the idea is good, like, makes you healthy, and then you can add it to anything, so you could add it to tea or water or whatever. Oh,

okay.

Or you can just neck it as a— so I'll put a bit in mine, a bit in yours. It's quite a unique taste though, it's a taste like you'd never tasted before, I think.

See, I've walked past rose hips all my life and seen them, but I've never thought, I wonder what they taste like. Now I guess I'm gonna find out.

Not keen?

Nah. Not for me. I feel like it'd be nicer warmer.

Nicer warmer, but I don't think it's offensive.

Like in a bit of green tea or something. I think cold's not doing it for me. I think it's too syrupy.

It is too syrupy, so you wouldn't normally drink it like this. This isn't the way to do it, yeah. So you could mix it with a bit of water. Some people have it with ice.

Okay.

Like syrup and then soda over the top. But you don't get the health kick unless you knock it back neat. Yeah. Not a fan. Not a fan, no. Should we go and try some of the honeycomb? And see if you like that one.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm all for the honeycomb. I think at the end we need to rate them out of ten each one.

Okay.

Yeah.

Okay. What are you thinking of this one? This one's not ten out of ten then.

As as it is in that glass there, three out of ten.

Oh, harsh.

Yeah. I'm surprised. I'm having to hold back too. Sorry.

Zane has got a funny palate though, hasn't

he? It's beige. Beige as anything.

So the honeycomb is made and it is the stickiest honeycomb in the world then, so I'm going to let you just get stuck in and have a taste.

Yeah.

And see if you like this one. Yeah,

that's good. Now we're talking.

I'm really pleased with that. Isn't it sticky though?

Yeah,

right, hyper sticky honeycomb, but really nice. Taste the honey.

I really like that. I'll do.

You know it's serious if Zane's going back for more. There we go. It's really good, Zane, because I actually not that keen on that out of all— yeah, because I'm

Okay.

I like it, but I probably had my fill.

Yeah.

So you can take all of that home. So that's 3 recipes done. We've done the honeycomb, we've done the rosehip syrup, we've made a lovely cup of heather tea, and we just got the elderberry syrup to finish before we pack up for the day. So the elderberry syrup is nearly complete. We're going to leave it to cool first before we add anything else in. You don't want to put your honey in at this stage because you're going to kill all the goodness in the honey with the heat of this syrup here. It's very, very hot. So we're going to cool it down, we're going to tidy everything away, and we'll be back to add the honey, add the propolis, and probably the most fun part— watch Zane taste this syrup. So Zane is very worried about tasting this elderberry soup. You're not looking forward to it, are you?

I'm not a fan of cough medicine. No. So I can't see how this is gonna—

Wow me, man. Yeah, it's cough medicine. Tastes like cough medicine. That's exactly what it tastes like. So let's just go straight in. Gotta think it's not about what it tastes like, it's about how nice it soothes your throat and how it makes you feel if you've got a sore throat. So it's 3, 2, 1, let's go.

It's not actually that bad. I've, I've built it up to be something— it doesn't taste like cough medicine.

I really like it. I would drink that. I'd put a bit more hot water in that, a bit of lemon, a bit of ginger, and I would sit there with a hot drink. I think it tastes a bit like Ribena.

I think, yeah, I'd like it warm.

Yeah, warm.

Definitely warm.

Yeah.

It is like, you know, when you can buy Lemsips, you can buy the sort of blackcurranty Lemsips. Yeah.

Yeah, it's like a blackcurranty Lemsip, bit of hot water. I think that'd make a really nice drink, but I can taste the warming of the Propolis and the honey that's in there and the elderberries, but really like that propolis that's there is going to work on my throat now, so I'm gonna finish this off.

If I had a cold, it'd be a big, you know, I'd want to keep drinking it.

I've

not got a cold, so.

Can you feel it though?

Yeah, no, genuinely. It's like the aniseed and the propolis just kind of all doing its thing.

Now we've not spoken about quantities or recipes, but I've put I've put all of that into my PDF guide that you can get for free in the link below this video. I hope you enjoyed today. I really did, and we'll be back again to do this kind of video again soon. Okay, respect. Enjoyed that?

Yeah, no, it was good. Good fun.