Hokey pokey is a Cornish term for honeycomb. It is wonderful eaten in golden shards or crumbled into the best vanilla ice cream. It is also the perfect present to take to a dinner party. Better than flowers, as they need to be put into a vase, better than chocolate, which people tend to smile politely at, but put away in a drawer: no one can resist a bit of hokey pokey I’ve found.
how to make :
Fast and fun to make
Hokey pokey takes about five minutes to make and only has three ingredients. It’s lots of fun to make with kids as it has that “WOW!” factor when you add the baking soda to the sugar syrup. If the baking soda is fresh, it’ll foam up very impressively. I remember making it in science class at high school to study the reaction. Well, I mainly remember eating it, but not much about the explanation behind the reaction.
Let’s do the Hokey Pokey
Hokey Pokey is also the name of a dance. One that you probably did on camp, or when you were at school. Some call it the Hokey Cokey, but I like to think that it’s related to this sweet somehow. Maybe the original makers of hokey pokey, sang the accompanying song, “You put your right foot in. You put your right foot out. In, out, in ,out and wave it all about” while they were waiting for it to cool down.
INGREDIENTS
Makes: 125g / 2 cups
- 100 grams caster sugar
- 4 tablespoons golden syrup
- 1½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
note :
- Put the sugar and syrup into a saucepan and stir together to mix. You mustn’t stir once the pan’s on the heat, though.
- Place the pan on the heat and let the mixture first melt, then turn to goo and then to a bubbling mass the colour of maple syrup – this will take 3 minutes or so.
- Off the heat, whisk in the bicarbonate of soda and watch the syrup turn into a whooshing cloud of aerated pale gold. Turn this immediately onto a piece of reusable baking parchment or greased foil.
- Leave until set and then bash at it, so that it splinters into many glinting pieces.
Very important tips to know
There are only a few important things to remember when making hokey pokey:
1. Stir the sugar when it’s melting, otherwise it will burn.
2. After adding the baking soda, scrape it IMMEDIATELY onto a plate as it sets very quickly.
3. Don’t touch it until it has cooled down, otherwise you will get burned. It sticks to your skin very easily when its hot.
4. Wash all the tools you use to make it straight away as the caramel sticks to everything otherwise.
The last two points come from personal experience. I tried it so you don’t have to!
That’s about it. Once you’ve made it, it will keep for a few days in an airtight container. You may find though that it will be already eaten after a few minutes!