Turmeric honey adds warm, sweet notes to roasted carrots

Add the honey only after the carrots roast, so the high heat doesn’t burn the sugar. Milk Street

An unusual jar of honey and a ripping hot sheet pan are the keys to remaking what too often can be a forgettable side dish: roasted carrots.

First, the honey. We’ve seen our fair share of infused varieties, everything from ginger and saffron to lavender and matcha green tea. Most haven’t impressed, but in Mumbai, India, we discovered turmeric-infused honey.

We love drizzling the honey over roasted cauliflower and suspected its rich, earthy flavors would work equally well with carrots. It does, such as in this recipe from our book “COOKish,” which limits recipes to just six ingredients without sacrificing flavor.

We get the most flavor out the carrots with a very hot oven — 500 degrees, in fact. For even richer caramelization, we first heat the baking sheet in the oven before adding the carrots.

It is essential to add the honey only after the carrots roast; the high heat would burn the sugar. But this also gives us an opportunity to warm the honey on the stovetop, better infusing it with turmeric and another common Indian seasoning, whole cumin seeds.

To keep all that richness in check, we finish the dish with a sprinkle of lime zest and juice, adding bright acidity that balances the sweetness.