Some things you want to find in the centre of a dessert, and some you want running all the way through it. Our Honeycomb Granules are the second kind: fine pale gold pieces of cinder toffee between 2 and 6mm, coated in vegetable fat, small enough to fold through a mix or dust across a surface and still give a proper honeyed crunch in every spoonful.

At this size the granules behave much more like a crumb than an inclusion, so they spread further than the bites or the chunks and they never fight the texture around them. Each piece is coated in the same thin layer of vegetable fat, which sits between the honeycomb and whatever you fold it into and keeps the crunch for longer. There is a 3kg bag for production and a 500g tub for smaller runs and trials.

Which Size of Honeycomb Should I Use? 

We stock the honeycomb in three sizes, chunks, bites and granules. The granules at 2 to 6mm disappear into a mix and come back as texture, which is what you want in a rippled gelato, a praline layer or a coating. Our Honeycomb Bites at 10 to 20mm keep their shape and stay visible, so they suit a bar, a bonbon centre or a scattered top. Our Honeycomb Chunks at 15 to 35mm are the showpiece, the ones to enrobe whole or stand on top of a tart, and they come plain rather than coated.

How to Use Honeycomb Granules 

Fold them through at the end, once whatever you are making has cooled and thickened, and stop as soon as they are through it. In gelato and ice cream they go in as you fill the tub and give a crunch in every scoop rather than an occasional surprise. Stirred into tempered chocolate or praline they make a quick crunchy layer for a bar or a slice, and pressed onto the sides of a finished cake or rolled around a truffle they sit neatly without cracking the coating. They are also the easiest of the three to weigh into a production recipe, because they flow.

Troubleshooting 

Keep them dry. Sugar draws in moisture, and once granules have taken it up they clump together and the crunch goes, which no amount of drying will reverse. Store the bag or tub closed, out of direct sunlight, somewhere below 25°C, and reseal it properly between runs rather than leaving it open on the bench. Do not stir them into anything hot or watery either, because the coating is a fat and it will not hold up to it. If you want honeycomb sitting in or next to a genuinely wet product, seal it inside a chocolate or praline layer first.

Pairings and Ideas

Granules suit anything that needs crunchy texture and caramelised sugar flavour: dark chocolate, salted caramel, coffee, malt, brown butter, banana and honey are all natural partners, and sea salt keeps them from tasting too sweet. A few ideas to try:

• Honeycomb ripple gelato, granules folded in as you fill
• Crunchy praline layers for entremets and slices
• Truffles rolled in granules instead of cocoa powder
• The crunch in a filled bar, stirred through tempered chocolate
• A honeycomb crumb over cheesecakes and mousses
• Coated sides on a caramel layer cake
• Viennoiserie and cookies finished with a honeycomb scatter