Cleaning a Honey Mess

Honey comes in all sorts of delicious flavors and goes great on toast, in tea, and as a substitute for sugar in many recipes. Unfortunately, it's also ridiculously sticky, and it tends to get all over everything while you're using it. Here are a few things you can do to make cleaning up your favorite sweetener easier.

Always make sure you clean up honey spills and drips as soon as you can. The sticky substance attracts dirt, so the longer you leave it, the darker spot you'll have.

Do you have a little "bear" honey bottle or other squeeze dispenser that often gets clogged and sticky? Unclog the lid by taking it off the bottle and running it under really hot water for a few minutes until all the sticky, dried honey is gone. Dry the cap completely before putting it back on your bottle. You can also wipe any sticky drips off the bottle with plain hot water.

If you're measuring honey in a measuring cup for cookies or another recipe, all you need to do for less mess is dip your measuring cup in flour before putting the honey in it. The flour prevents the honey from sticking to your measuring cup, and you have no waste!

You can also put oil on your utensils or in your measuring cups before measuring honey. Honey will come easily out without leaving a sticky mess. The oil method, however, does add more fat and calories than the flour method.

If you get honey on your fingers or clothes, it can be cleaned up fast and easy with a hot-water rinse. Rinse immediately with the hottest water you can stand. The sticky substance should come right out. If you've gotten dark-colored honey on white fabric, you may also need to use a stain stick or a little bleach to remove the last traces.

If you end up with honey on your counter or floor, you can easily wipe the mess away with hot water on a washcloth. Make the water as hot as you can. This will melt the honey right off, leaving you with a clean counter.