Sweet Honey Dusted Strawberries

Is there anything more gorgeous than an inviting plate of fresh fruit displayed on a plate at a festive gathering? Especially as the weather is warming and our tea beverages are now being garnished with ice cubes, fruit is a wonderfully sweet treat for a springtime gathering.

Strawberries are in season right now in abundance and they are a deep, juicy red color. If you are a fan of strawberries, you’ll love honey strawberries. This extra pretty way to dress them up uses a dusting of granulated honey.

Haven’t heard of honey dust? It's a combination of dried, pulverized raw honey and raw cane sugar (nothing else - no preservatives or other nefarious ingredients). It dissolves quickly into hot or cold beverages, and sprinkles easily onto baked goods.  

If you have an affinity for using white sugar to sweeten products, but love the flavor profile that raw honey brings, you’re going to adore this granulated version of honey.

You may be familiar with the version of sugared fruit using white sugar crystals to doll up the sides of blackberries or raspberries, or even grapes.

Sprinkling fruit with sugar will macerate the fruit, drawing out the water from it. This process creates a delicious way to really sweeten up your strawberries if they are just on the edge of being tart.

However, the sugar dissolves into the fruit juices as part of the maceration process, so while the sweetness is increased, the fruit becomes bathed in a syrup rather than a sugared aesthetic.

There is an in-between step you can take to ensure your honey strawberries stay looking sugared. Make a simple syrup to dip your fruit in first to provide a sticky surface for the honey dust to stick to.

Simple syrup truly is simple to make! Mix sugar and water together in a saucepan and heat gently until the sugar dissolves. Let the syrup cool. Once the syrup is cool, you’ll dip your strawberries into the syrup one by one, and then into the honey dust.

I had good luck with using a spoon to scoop up the honey dust and sprinkle it onto the strawberries. That way, the bowl of honey dust I was using didn’t get all sticky from the simple syrup.

This technique can be used with other fruit, too, so get creative with your selections. Enjoy the fruitful abundance of spring and summer and share the love with your friends and family often.