Bochet - Pressure cooking time?

[DroneKeeper]

I've read on a few sites that some people carmelize their honey in a pressure cooker rather than cooking and stirring it in a pot. I've seen a wide variety if time frames from 30 minutes at 10psi to 90 minutes at 15psi (an old post from 2012 on here) Has anyone on here done this recently and can confirm the "correct" time frame? Obviously this is subjective depending on the desired final product color but these times are vastly different.

 

[Revvy]

There is no correct time frame. It really is a matter of what you like. Do what many of us have done- fill a bunch of pint mason jars and do an increment experiment. I did 15, 30, 60, 90 and 2 hours before.

I will say from experience even 2 hours, as good as it might have been, didn't beat doing it the real way all day over a propane burner in a cast iron dutch oven.

 

[DroneKeeper]

There is no correct time frame. It really is a matter of what you like. Do what many of us have done- fill a bunch of pint mason jars and do an increment experiment. I did 15, 30, 60, 90 and 2 hours before.

I will say from experience even 2 hours, as good as it might have been, didn't beat doing it the real way all day over a propane burner in a cast iron dutch oven.

Hmm....why do you think the Dutch oven method gives a better outcome?

 

[Revvy]

Hmm....why do you think the Dutch oven method gives a better outcome?

Because you're getting true evaporation/caramelization. It's not in a sealed vessel. Moisture actually escapes and evaporates (along with probably any volitile impurities,) the liquid reduces and the flavors intensify.. just like when making a sauce in cooking, or reducing wine and/or stock, the flavors get boosted when the water goes away.

Also in my case we actually started it over a fire in a firepit... but we realized we needed temp control later and switched to propane so we could turn down the flame to prevent boil overs... but initially we got some charring/smokiness in there.

Pressure cooked it was missing something. It might be different not to do it in mason jars like many of us did a few years ago. Just putting the honey right in the pressure cooker.

 

[Chris_The_Rogue]

I don't think putting it right in the pressue cooker would be wise. With the way cooking honey foams up i would expect the pressure release to clog and cause the emergancy valve to blowout. Not much of an issue safety wise, but tracking those things down and cleaning up the mess can be a chore.