Candied Root Ginger in Spiced Honey

This is the daddy of the spiced honey trio! Candied Root Ginger in Spiced Honey is an unfiltered version of the Set Spiced Honey and the Spiced English Borage Honey, packed full of spice and ribbons of zingy ginger.

Medicinal collections of recipes from the twelfth century almost all contain a version of this recipe: ginger was renowned for its warming, digestive properties and, following Pliny’s Natural History, was frequently coupled with pepper in commentaries on natural philosophy and medicine. Henry of Huntingdon (c.1088-c.1154) wrote in his wonderful Anglicanus ortus that when ginger and pepper were combined with cost, caraway, lovage, surmountain, hyssop and honey, ‘any suffering is cured: this is the very ancient potion of King Herod.’

I feel like any suffering might well be cured by this honey – it certainly packs a punch! Adding a couple of tablespoons to a bread dough transforms a standard white loaf into a thing of beauty, and it also makes a brilliant glaze for ham. Stir it into a tagine, make spiced ginger ice cream, or make a gravy for roast grouse with it by combining the bird’s juices with the honey, flour and a healthy dose of whiskey…