An Easy Recipe For Homemade Pistachio Almond Honeycomb Candy - California Grown (2024)

FAQs

What is honeycomb candy made of? ›

They're all names to describe a candy that's made from combining brown sugar, corn syrup and baking soda. The lattice structure of the candy is caused by the baking soda reacting with the acid, resulting in these little air pockets throughout the candy. These pockets of air make it look like honeycomb!

All the Best Ways to Use Pistachios

Pistachios are one of the best nuts for cooking and baking—they have a distinct flavor, gorgeous color and a gentle crunch. The versatile nuts are just as good toasted for salads and pasta dishes as they are tossed into desserts or breakfast cookies.

Chewy honeycomb happens when the mixture hasn't been cooked for long enough. This is most common when you don't use a sugar thermometer.

If it's any darker than that, it means your sugar is too hot and the honeycomb will taste burnt and bitter. Once you have dissolved the sugar and you start to simmer your sugar mixture, you shouldn't mix it as sugar crystals will start to form – which will ruin your honeycomb.

Pistachios can be eaten raw but are rarely available that way, as they are difficult to transport. Commercial pistachios are dried and roasted.

It's time to clear up the confusion. Spoiler alert: Not only are raw nuts perfectly safe to eat, but they also have a slight nutritional edge over their roasted counterparts.

Just toasting them in a dry pan or oven should be enough to revive them, but they'll also go in any recipe that requires nuts. We got through most of ours by toasting them with spices, to eat as nibbles or to add crunch to soups, stews and salads. I also made a vivid green marzipan with some of the pistachios.

In the US, this candy is usually called honeycomb candy, or sponge candy, or fairy food. Usually this is made with sugar and corn syrup or honey, and baking soda. In the UK, they might be better known as cinder toffee or honeycomb toffee or sponge toffee. This version also widely uses golden syrup or honey.

Raw honeycomb is a structure made of beeswax that bees build to store honey. The hexagonal shape allows bees to store as much honey as possible while using the least amount of wax - a natural feat of engineering genius. But honeycomb isn't just a feat of nature, it's also packed with health benefits.

It is perfectly safe (and delicious) to consume both the honey and the waxy hexagonal containers of the comb. In fact, the added chewy texture of the comb is a bonus. Honeycomb varies in taste (just like honey) depending on the environment and which flowers the bees predominantly pollinated to produce nectar.

What is the brown stuff in honeycomb? ›

Bee propolis is a sticky, brown substance sometimes known as bee glue. The honey bees gather tree resin, the main ingredient in propolis, from buds and cracks in the bark. The bees add salivary secretions to the resin by chewing on it and add beeswax to the mix. Propolis has a little pollen in it, too.