Paynes was started by Fred Payne in 1922 and operate lots of hives all over Sussex. They're suppliers of bee keeping equipment, helping out beekeepers from all over. It's not uncommon to see someone from out of town in the shop picking up their beekeeping essentials, last time I was there it was a couple from Birmingham. But I'm there of course for their great honey, and so many varieties to choose from:
Heather honey (so distinctive and great tasting)
Hungarian acacia honey
Greek honey - the best simply drizzled over strawberries and greek yoghurt
Mexican honey
and Manuka honey, famous the world over for its antibacterial properties
Second, where can you buy this much honey in one go! 3lbs of blossom honey (which admittedly is an imported variety and not their own) is £5.80. It’s still a perfectly good honey though.
Having visited Paynes, seen the hives and bought my locally produced honey, made from the bees and flowers of Sussex I’m back home and ready to make something with this great tasting product, provided I haven’t drunk half the jar like Winnie the Pooh fresh out of rehab.
I thought long and hard about what to make to show off the honey, I thought it might get a bit lost in a cake and it's not really the time of year for a salad, so I ended up doing baklava. First time making it, but it was so easy it won't be the last. If you flood your house with nuts over Chistmas then this could be a good way to use up any leftover.
The ingredients for this recipe are:
200g pistachio nuts
200g walnuts
Filo pastry
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Butter
and one jar of lovely honey
Most baklava recipes I found used syrup instead of honey, it was a struggle to find one with honey in, let alone one that used it in any reasonable amount. So I just ditched all the sugar from a basic recipe and replaced with honey.
I started by preparing the nuts. I'd never realised how colourful pistachios are. I took out a handful and chopped them by hand, so there's a bit of texture in there. The rest I put in a blender which ground them a bit finer.
Into the nut mix I put a teaspoon of cinnamon. Here's the time to be a bit more creative if you'd like. A couple of recipes I saw mentioned putting ground cloves in there, and I would imagine a little cardamon would make a nice addition.
Next I got to work on the filo pastry. Cut it to the size of the baking tin you're using and cover it with cling film to stop it drying out while you're working.
Now the fun part. Melt a bit of butter and brush it all over the bottom of your baking tin. Then take 2 sheets of filo and lay it on top. Brush again, layer another 2, repeat another 2 times so you have a bottom layer of 8 sheets of filo pastry. Then brush the top of that with more butter. Now take some of your nut mix and sprinkle it evenly over the pastry. When it's all over drizzle honey evenly all over.
Keep doing this to get as many layers as you can out of your mix. I managed 4, but traditionally I think it's about 8.
When you're done cut the baklava. Cut diagonally first, then lengthways so you get little diamonds.
Bake in the middle of a preheated over at 160degC for about an hour, but check it to make sure it doesn't burn.
When it's done take it out, cool it a little and remove the finished baklava from the tin. Drizzle a little more honey on top and add a pinch of ground pistachio. Done.
If somehow you don't eat them all immediately it'll keep in airtight containers for a few days.
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