At the Table · 18 June 2026 · 5 min read
How to eat raw honeycomb — five ways we serve it at home
Yes, you eat the wax. A short guide to raw honeycomb: ricotta toast, a cheese board, porridge, a cocktail garnish, and straight off the knife.
Raw honeycomb is the most photogenic thing we sell and, oddly, the one people are most nervous about. The question we get every week: do you actually eat the wax? Yes. All of it. The wax is soft, mildly sweet and entirely edible — it's just beeswax, the same stuff in your lip balm. Here are the five ways we serve a fresh comb at home.
1. Whipped ricotta toast
Our most-eaten breakfast for about half the year. Whip 250g of fresh ricotta in a bowl with a pinch of salt and the zest of half a lemon until it's loose and creamy. Pile it onto thick, well-toasted sourdough. Lay a slab of honeycomb on top — about the size of a matchbox per slice — and crack over black pepper. The toast warms the comb just enough that the honey starts running into the ricotta.
2. On the cheese board
Take the comb out of the fridge an hour ahead — cold wax is stiff and dull; room-temperature comb is glossy and pours from the cells when you cut it. Cut a wedge with a small sharp knife, straight down like a slice of cake, and lift it onto the board honey-side up.
Pair it with a soft washed-rind (taleggio, young brie), a sharp blue (stilton, roquefort) or an aged cheddar. The wax cuts the richness; the honey lifts everything.
3. Stirred through porridge
Make your porridge as usual — oats, milk, pinch of salt. Off the heat, drop a teaspoon of honeycomb straight into the bowl and stir once. The wax softens but doesn't fully melt; you get pockets of warm honey and tiny chewy bits of comb through the oats. Better than the bottle-honey version by a long way.
4. A cocktail garnish
A small cube of comb on a cocktail stick across a whisky sour, an old fashioned, or a glass of cold gin and tonic. As the drink warms the comb the honey starts beading off into the glass. Looks dramatic; takes ten seconds.
5. Straight off the knife
Honestly the most common one in our kitchen. Open the jar, lift out a small piece, eat it standing at the bench. The wax breaks down between your teeth in a few seconds and leaves a mouthful of bush honey behind. No board, no recipe, no occasion required.
One note: don't refrigerate honeycomb. Raw honey doesn't need it, and the cold makes the wax brittle. A cool, dark cupboard is all it asks for.