Hot honey is having its moment, and one of my friends and I recently talked about making our own. Since my current CSA boxes have contained peppers, I decided to give it a try and elected to use jalapenos since that is what appeared that week. I have done some internet research and culled information here and there to come up with the recipe below which is a bit vague on quantities as it will depend on the size of your peppers.
This is delicious on fried chicken, or drizzled over pizza. I highly recommend a tiny bit of it in a vinaigrette, especially one made with citrus, such as the one used in my recipe for Delicata Squash with Miso and Pink Pepper. I used it as part of a "quick pinch" dessert the other day - segments of chilled pink grapefruit, a dab of this honey, and a sprinkling of crushed pink peppercorn - excellent.
Hot peppers, sliced into coins. If you want less heat, remove the seeds and pith before using.
Honey, enough to cover the sliced peppers. I used a thick, raw, unfiltered honey. Use your preferred honey.
All you need to do for this is place the jalapeno coins into a very clean jar, ensuring that there is room at the top for any gas from fermentation to escape.
Add enough honey to ensure that the jalapeno pieces are covered. You may have to add honey, wait a bit for it to settle, and then add some more.
Cover loosely with a lid (do not screw it on completely) or the fermentation gas will have nowhere to go and you will end up with a sticky mess.
Place this jar in a dark cupboard for a couple of weeks. Every day, screw the lid on tightly and invert the jar so that all of the jalapeno pieces get redistributed, before turning it back over, loosening the lid and placing the jar back in the dark cupboard from whence it came. You will notice the honey become more runny as time goes by as it draws out the liquid from the jalapenos.
After a couple of weeks, fish all of the jalapeno pieces out of the honey. You could chop them up and fold them through cream cheese as a cracker topping, or add them to salads or under the skin of a chicken about to be roasted. I plan on dehydrating the jalapeno pieces in a very low oven and using the crispy remains in some way. Not sure yet - stay tuned.