Instructions

1. Settle the blanching question before anything else. A minute in boiling water followed by a cold plunge keeps the florets creamy white; skipping it costs you color and nothing else at all.
2. Whisk the honey into the soy sauce until it has fully dissolved, then stir in the curry powder and turmeric. Honey sinks and clings to the bottom of a bowl, and whatever stays there never reaches the vegetable.
3. Cut the florets so each one has a flat face somewhere. A flat face lies against the tray and takes heat by contact, which matters more under a sugared coating than under an oiled one.
4. Dip and drain rather than toss and pile. This coating is thin and sweet, and a floret carrying a puddle of it sets into a hard bead instead of a crust.
5. Slide a solid sheet under the mesh for the opening stage. Honey drips, and honey landing on the element below is a job nobody enjoys.
6. Begin at 140 °F for 1 hour. The initial heat fixes the sugar onto the surface, which is precisely what stops it running off.
7. Bring it down to 110 °F for 10 hours. Sugar held hot for a long stretch goes bitter, so the bulk of the work happens gently.
8. They are done when a floret breaks with a snap and the coating is dry rather than tacky. Honey stays soft at machine temperature, so a warm one always feels underdone.
9. Store them airtight for a fortnight. Honey draws water out of the air more readily than oil does, and these soften faster than the other two cauliflower recipes on this site.