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Honey Popcorn Balls
The flavor of honey is ruined by overheating, but it can be cooked carefully in a double boiler, without doing it any harm. The water in the honey is evaporated by heating, so it hardens when cooled and is just the thing for making popcorn balls.
Dip popped corn into the hot honey, shape into balls, and cool.
A two-line camp confection with no quantities at all. The one thing to understand before starting is what a double boiler can and cannot do to honey.
- The temperature ceilingWater in a double boiler tops out near 212F, and honey held over it will only ever reach a little under that. That is well below the 250-270F at which sugar syrups set firm, so the balls will stay soft and tacky rather than crisp. Honey does thicken considerably as water evaporates and again as it cools, which is what the writer means by "hardens."
- If you want them to holdFirm honey popcorn balls need direct heat and a thermometer, and the flavor does flatten and darken as the original warns. The double-boiler version is a compromise: gentler taste, stickier result, best eaten the day they are made.
- No quantities givenA workable ratio is about 1 cup honey to 3 quarts popped corn; how many balls that makes depends entirely on how large they are pressed. Thicken the honey over the double boiler before dipping, judging by consistency rather than by the clock.
- Dipping versus pouring"Dip popped corn into the hot honey" works handful by handful over a camp fire but coats unevenly. Pouring the reduced honey over the corn in a large bowl and tossing gives better coverage with less scalded fingers.
- ShapingLet the coated corn cool for a minute or two, then press with buttered or wetted hands. Honey at 200F will burn.
- Honey and infantsHoney is not given to children under one year of age because of the risk of infant botulism. Cooking at these temperatures does not remove that risk.
- StorageWrap each ball separately in waxed paper. Uncovered honey is hygroscopic and the balls will weep and fuse together within a day in humid weather.