Ingredients
The honey
- sidr honey
- from Wadi Do’an, Hadhramaut
- raw and unheated
- dark amber to near black
To serve it plainly
- a spoon
- nothing else at all
- at room temperature
Traditional pairings
- warm khubz or malooga
- fresh dates
- labneh or thick yoghurt
- unsalted butter
Sometimes with
- black seed, habbat al-barakah
- a spoonful stirred in
- warm milk
- or plain water
Directions
- Stir it into warm rather than hot drinks. Stand the jar in warm water to loosen crystallised honey. Use genuinely warm rather than hot water for that. Never microwave it or heat it directly on a hob.
- Take a small spoonful and let it coat the mouth. Let it sit on the tongue rather than swallowing at once. Serve it with warm flatbread torn into pieces. Warm bread carries the aroma better than cold bread.
- Spoon it over thick yoghurt or labneh. Add it just before eating rather than in advance. Stir a spoonful into warm milk or warm water. The liquid must be warm rather than genuinely hot.
- Let boiled water cool for a few minutes first. Then stir the honey through until it dissolves.
- Heat destroys exactly what you have paid for. Use an ordinary honey for cooking instead. Keep the sidr honey for eating raw.
- Keep the jar sealed at cool room temperature. Honey keeps essentially indefinitely when sealed.
- Keep it away from direct sunlight and heat. Always use a clean dry spoon in the jar. Keep the lid on firmly between uses. It keeps indefinitely in a sealed jar.
Technique
- Never give honey of any kind to a child under one year old. Honey can carry Clostridium botulinum spores that an infant gut cannot handle safely, and infant botulism is a serious documented illness. This applies to all honey however fine or expensive — raw honey is no safer in this respect — and holds until the child’s first birthday.
- Expensive honey attracts widespread adulteration and much honey sold as sidr is not genuine; that is a well documented problem in this trade. The atlas cannot verify any seller, there is no simple reliable home test, and colour and thickness alone prove very little — so buy from a source you have reason to trust.
- Sidr honey carries a great many health claims. The atlas records them as the traditional framing without endorsing them as medical fact. Honey generally has some documented antibacterial activity and is a genuinely useful cough soother in adults; broader claims about specific illnesses are not established.
Substitutions
- This is an ingredient rather than a cooked dish, so there is no recipe to follow — the atlas records how it is produced and eaten instead, which is the honest way to record a product like this.
- Sidr is the jujube tree, Ziziphus spina-christi, which grows across the arid valleys of Hadhramaut and flowers only for a matter of weeks each year. Beekeepers move hives into the groves for that brief window, a practice documented over centuries, and the short season with difficult terrain is what drives the price.
Variations
- Do not cook or bake with a honey of this quality, since heat destroys exactly what you have paid for — use an ordinary honey for that. Stir it into warm rather than hot liquid, letting boiled water cool for a few minutes first.
- Raw honey crystallises over time, which is entirely normal and in fact a sign it has not been overheated. Soften it by standing the jar in warm water; never microwave it or heat it on a hob, both of which damage the flavour.
- It is genuinely eaten by the spoonful, let to sit on the tongue as the aroma builds, with a distinctive slightly bitter resinous finish that is characteristic rather than a fault. It is also eaten with warm torn khubz or malooga, often with unsalted butter, with fresh dates, or spooned over labneh. Always use a clean dry spoon, since water in the jar can start fermentation.
History
Hives are moved into the sidr groves of Wadi Do’an in Hadhramaut; the honey ranks among the world’s most expensive.
Frequently asked questions
What is Sidr honey?
Sidr honey is a sauce & condiment from Yemen: dark aromatic honey from jujube blossom, eaten by the spoonful. Hives are moved into the sidr groves of Wadi Do’an in Hadhramaut; the honey ranks among the world’s most expensive.
How long does Sidr honey take to make?
Sidr honey takes no preparation of preparation and no cooking at all. The recipe makes a jar. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Sidr honey?
Yes, within limits. This is an ingredient rather than a cooked dish, so there is no recipe to follow — the atlas records how it is produced and eaten instead, which is the honest way to record a product like this. Sidr is the jujube tree, Ziziphus spina-christi, which grows across the arid valleys of Hadhramaut and flowers only for a matter of weeks each year. Beekeepers move hives into the groves for that brief window, a practice documented over centuries, and the short season with difficult terrain is what drives the price.
What is the most important thing to get right in Sidr honey?
Stir it into warm rather than hot drinks. Stand the jar in warm water to loosen crystallised honey. Use genuinely warm rather than hot water for that. Never microwave it or heat it directly on a hob.
