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Honey, to Clarify

A method for clarifying honey by boiling with water, chalk, pulverized coal, and egg whites, then filtering and evaporating.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Honey and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 33% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,150 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Honey, to Clarify

Ingredients

Directions

Clarify the honey

  1. In a large copper vessel, combine honey, water, chalk, and beaten egg whites.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil for 2 minutes.

  3. Add the pulverized coal and continue boiling for 2 minutes.

  4. Remove from heat and let it cool for about 15 minutes.

Filter and reduce

  1. Filter the mixture through a well-washed sieve, discarding the first drops.

  2. Pour boiling water over the remaining coal and materials until they no longer retain sweetness.

  3. Combine the water and set over a large fire to evaporate until only syrup remains.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Honey + eggtop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,150 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Honey
Provides the sweetness and the syrup that remains after the water is evaporated.
Egg whites
Coagulate when heated and trap impurities, which are then removed by filtering.
Pulverized coal
Adsorbs impurities and colour, helping to clear the honey.
Chalk
Neutralises acidity and helps precipitate impurities out of the honey.

The step that matters

Filter the mixture through a well-washed sieve, discarding the first drops.. Egg white and coal particles form a coagulated mass that traps impurities. Filtering through a clean sieve and discarding the first cloudy drops keeps that debris out of the finished honey.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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