At the Table · 18 June 2026 · 4 min read
How to glaze a ham with raw honey
A four-ingredient glaze, a low oven and a basting brush. The Christmas ham we make every year, and the one rule that stops the honey burning.
A good ham doesn't need much help, but a honey glaze is the difference between a nice slice of meat and the centrepiece everyone remembers. We make ours every Christmas with four ingredients, a low oven and a pastry brush — and one rule about heat that stops the honey turning bitter.
The glaze — four ingredients, no measuring drama
Four heaped tablespoons of raw bush honey, two tablespoons of seeded mustard, one tablespoon of cider vinegar, and the zest of an orange. Warm them together in a small saucepan over low heat — just until the honey loosens and everything comes together. Don't simmer it; you only want it pourable.
That's the whole glaze. No brown sugar, no maple syrup, no bourbon. The raw honey is doing the work — bringing the floral eucalypt notes, the colour, and enough natural sugar to give you a proper glossy crust.
Prep the ham
Take a 4–5 kg leg ham out of the fridge an hour before it goes in the oven. Peel the skin back from the hock end in one piece, leaving the layer of white fat behind. Score the fat in a diamond pattern, about 1 cm deep — deep enough for the glaze to sink in, not so deep that you cut into the meat. Stud the centre of each diamond with a clove if you like the look.
Sit the ham on a rack in a roasting tray with a cup of water in the bottom. The water stops the drips burning and keeps the oven from filling with smoke halfway through.
Bake low, baste often
Heat the oven to 160°C fan-forced. Brush a third of the glaze over the scored fat and slide the ham in. Every fifteen minutes, pull it out and brush on more glaze, working the brush into the diamonds. Bake for about an hour in total — until the surface is deep amber, glossy and lacquered.
The rule: keep the oven at 160°C and don't be tempted to crank it. Raw honey scorches above about 180°C — the sugars catch, turn bitter, and you lose every floral note you bought the honey for. Low and slow gives you mahogany; high and fast gives you charcoal.
Rest, then carve
Lift the ham out and let it rest, loosely tented with foil, for fifteen minutes. The glaze sets into a thin, glassy crust as it cools. Carve from the hock end in long thin slices, and run any remaining warm glaze over the cut face before serving.
Leftovers keep beautifully — wrap the cut face in a damp tea towel, then in foil, and the ham will be good for a week of sandwiches, eggs and ploughman's lunches.