Honey dippers

I think this will be pretty short, because I found a site that basically says everything I was going to say. Well, not quite, but pretty much. It's a review site called Moo.Review, it's American, so it has an American bias of course. Nevertheless it tells you just about everything you might want to know about honey dippers.

Why honey dippers? Well the chai latte that was served to my daughter-in-law at Second Home, came with a small pot of honey in which was a honey dipper. I must confess I didn't know it was called a honey dipper, and initially searched for honey swizzle stick - which says something about me I guess. We both agreed that it was not a particularly useful gadget as the honey dripped so slowly, but now that I have read a little about it I see we didn't really understand its purpose or, indeed, how to use it.

First of all I tried to find out its history but was spectacularly unsuccessful with this. Well I did find one person who seemed to think that it originated in Ancient China where they "atta[ched] a small pine cone to a stick so as to retrieve honey from a pot without causing a mess." Because honey does indeed cause a mess, which is why some honey now comes in a jar with a pouring spout. Not the better quality ones though because they are probably a bit too thick. The cheaper ones have glucose added to make them runnier.

The technique of using it is to basically dip the dipper into the pot and cover it with honey. Lift it out, twirling the handle as you do so. As long as you continue to twirl the handle slowly whilst holding it horizontal, the honey will not drip from it - ask a physicist or an engineer for an explanation of this. When you stop twisting, the honey will drip on to whatever it is you want to 'drizzle' with honey.

For really it's only use is when you want to 'drizzle' a thin stream of honey - a limited amount too because they are not that big. If you want a big dollop of honey, use a spoon. Not that this picture below really demonstrates that - they need to have waited a moment later for the honey on the spoon to drop off in one big dollop.

A honey dipper can also be used for any other kind of thickish syrup and if it is wooden it can be stored in the honey jar. And that chai latte - or whatever other drink you want flavoured with honey? just dunk the whole thing in your cup.

Traditionally they are made of wood but there are now dippers made of every conceivable type of material. You cannot put wood in a dishwasher of course, but I think I saw various sites that said that wood was best. Mind you the Moo Cow site did have a mini rave about a beautifully designed Alessi dipper. As they said - it was a work of art - but therefore very expensive (AUD$75.00!!! in David Jones). It was also the only one with a different pattern of ridges. They suggested it might make a good present - but who for? I don't think a honey dipper is that important a utensil to have anyway, is it? I don't have one. if you do - it's a very incidental utensil, so really only buy the Alessi dipper, if you have a lot of money to waste on someone who has absolutely everything anyway and drinks a lot of chai latte with honey, or drizzles honey in decorative patterns over everything.