Honey

[Jaymes]

I just had a breakfast of sausage and fresh fruit...

And warm buttermilk biscuits with butter and Tupelo Honey drizzled over and running down the sides.

Got me to thinking....

Anyone else like honey?

Do you have favorite varieties? Clover or wildflower or what?

How do you use honey?

In cooking?

Over hot cereals?

In "I hope you feel better soon, Sweetie" toddies?

Edited December 8, 2002 by Jaymes (log)

[Sandra Levine]

I always have a few jars of different honeys in my pantry. My absolute favorite is Tasmanian Leatherwood. I rarely put honey to culinary use other than spooning it over yogurt, ice cream or biscuits. For a honey/apricot cake that I make for Rosh Hashanah, I have found that the simplest, blandest honey gives the best result. Here's a link to the recipe.

When I have a sore throat, I sometimes take a spoonful of honey mixed with a squeeze of lemon juice. Very soothing and delicious.

[nightscotsman]

I LOVE honey! If I see it mentioned on a menu as an ingredient I'm drawn like a magnate. Desserts of course, but I also like it in savory dishes - especially meats. I fondly remember a honey lamb dish I had at a Moroccan restaurant many years ago. Anybody have a recipe for a dish like that?

Clover honey is the lightest in color and flavor, so it works well in recipes where you don't want it to overpower the other ingredients. Lavender honey is wonderful (Mmmm... lavender honey ice cream ), and orange blossom honey is very flavorful, but can be too strong in some recipes. I've never had tupelo - what does it taste like?

I love the scent of honey, too. Votivo, a Seattle company that makes beautifully scented candles, uses mostly high grade bees wax. They have a lavender candle that perfectly ballances the herby/floral scent with the rich warmth of the honey aroma of the bees wax. I prefer their richer, mellower candles over l'Occitane's anyday.

[Nick]

I only use honey when I'm making mustard.

And on the rare ocassion when I drink a tea that could use some.

[Timo]

I like local honeys a lot. I'm sure they are not always of the best quality (sometimes more than sure ) But, its fun to see how similar or different they can taste. Also, local honey is supposed to help your allergies - something with the pollen I guess.

On a similar note... anyone here ever drink bee pollen tea? Bee pollen is sold (or rather given away since it illegal to sell it in Virginia) at a farmer's market her, but I've never tried it. I have, however, had bee pollen in smoothies etc. at juice bars. Well, it is purported to give you an incredible boost... Guess it works for the bees

[ivan]

I'm making mead.

In a few months, my honey will make me high.

[Dave the Cook]

I added a little honey to the polenta I made this afternoon, along with ground ancho. When it was done, I spread it in a sheet pan and let it cool. Then I sliced it in triangles and grilled it (can't remember where I saw this done). I don't have all the technique worked out, but the honey was a nice counter to the ancho, in a more harmonious way than straight sugar would have been. Plus the honey helped to create a nice crisp grilled crust.

Bobby Flay is big on honey with chile, and that's why I gave it a try. Maybe he's worth paying attention to once in a while, after all!

[jaybee]

OMG Jamsie, Austin Healy's and now honey...it's almost more than I can bear. One of my favorite stores in Paris is the Maison de Miel. I always come back with no less than 5 lbs of honey. They have a rosemary honey that, when it starts to crystalize, is ambrosia. Pine (thon) honey, lavendar honey are also two favorites. I love to eat honey on grapefruit. At least as much honey as fruit. Otherwise I just take it straight out of the jar with a soup spoon. And I like to wait till the sugar starts to get crystalized, like I said....

I like to put big dollops of honey on buttermilk biscuits and eat them with a big cup of coffee laced with heavy cream. Honey on hot oatmeal is also great on a snowy morning.

Here's the store I love so much...

The Honey Store

[maggiethecat]

Apologia: I like my sweeties, but prefer high fat content (er...butter) to sweetness.

That said, I hate how honey jars and bottles inevitably get all sticky, crystally and yucky. We always have some around because His Handsomeness likes it.

Yes, I am of the school that uses it for Health Giving Toddies. Ascolta:

Juice one lemon, big dab black currant jam, hot water and honey to taste. No honey? Sugar works fine. Sleep tight.

I do take honey seriously as a food. Just don't like that sticky sweetness.

[Dave the Cook]

(thon) honey

Surely my French is rusty, but isn't this tuna honey?

Please tell me I'm misunderstanding.

[nightscotsman]

One of my favorite stores in Paris is the Maison de Miel.  I always come back with no less than 5 lbs of honey.  They have a rosemary honey that, when it starts to crystalize, is ambrosia.  Pine (thon) honey, lavendar honey are also two favorites.

Here's the store I love so much...

The Honey Store

I made a point of visiting Maison de Miel on my first trip to Paris this year. Amazing! I was so overwhelmed and a bit intimidated by all the different honeys I couldn't decide and ended up not buying anthing . I wish I had tasted the rosemary - that sounds wonderful. I bet the thyme honey is great, too. Thanks for the link!

[oraklet]

good honey on good white bread is delicious. but even better it is to get it directly from the bee hive, wax and all, chewing it and then spitting out the wax.

nice as sweetener with pork or chicken, too, if used with caution...

[Kikujiro]

Cloudy Italian honeys (Seggiano and especially Lungarotti), on toast with butter or in a mug with the juice of a lemon, hot water and a splash of rum.

[jaybee]

Surely my French is rusty, but isn't this tuna honey?  

Please tell me I'm misunderstanding.

Yeah Dave, you're right. I meant to type Thym. I think pine honey is acacia, but I'm not sure anymore. The jar labels are all smchmutzed up. Tuna honey..that' idea will really put StefanyB in the pukehouse....

[Ron Johnson]

A great pan sauce can be made for pork by deglazing the pan after sauteing chops with bourbon, adding shallot, dijon mustard, honey, a little stock and heavy cream.

Also for Jaybee's honey and grapefruit, I had an excellent salad once of wok seared diver scallops served over chicory and radicchio with section of grapefruit in a warm honey balsamic vinagrette.

My favorites are Tupelo, Orange Blossom, and a local honey made in the southend of Louisville where the bees are on tulip poplars and the honey comes out almost as dark as sorghum.

[foodgeek]

I get honey from a local producer (Fridays at the greenmarket.) I like their wildflower honey over tart apples such as mutsu. :) I was also using it on 20th century asian pears (which are a bit sour) when tehy were available. I like the flavor contrast. :)

When I was in thw south a couple of months ago...I got some wildflower honey which ahd been produced in Berryville, Va. It tasted just like caramel (not butterscotch.) It must have had clematis in it. I was putting it on everything just as an excuse to have it. :)

I like the random flavor aspect of wildflower honeys...and have had some great results purchasing them. :)

[Flossie]

I can't bear the smell or taste of honey but Himself likes a teaspoonful stirred into his porridge.

[Rachel Perlow]

We have an assortment of honey varieties in the pantry. One I particularly like is the Buckwheat honey. It is dark in color and has a distinct molasses flavor.

[Emma]

I also love buckwheat honey. It's great for baking pumpkin bread. Whole Foods carries cranberry and blueberry honeys....

[stellabella]

honey is a staple in the bella house and Dr. S and I eat a bit every day--he puts it in breakfast smoothies--there's ssupposed to be good allergy fighting properties if it's local. tupelo is the caddilac of honies, but i am partial to my neighbor's wildflower honey--clear golden and sweet, mild--she got a hive for her b-day a couple yeras ago, and there's local man who maintins it for a small fee. we went through a little hive craze in rutledge, but then some of the hives strated swarming--that's why my hub and i decided not to get one--but we were very tempted. honey can't get more local than that.

i love honey on biscuits or hearty toast. also good on cold whole grain cereal with bananas. my favorite during-the-week dessert is plain yogurt with honey swirled through it.

[jaybee]

Tupelo Honey

...if I were going to have a baby daughter, that's what I'd name her.

[swissmiss]

I didn't like honey at all growing up, but now it's one of my favorite foods. I have a few jars at all times, including (these days) blueberry, avocado, linden (leftover from this summer) and a cheap, generic honey. I've started using honey for cakes, and the avocado honey in my chocolate-orange loaf tastes wonderful! Other uses include in tea, on tartines, on turkey breast sandwiches and salad dressing. Honey production is a fascinating topic and I cannot learn about it fast enough.

[Jaymes]

Tupelo Honey

...if I were going to have a baby daughter, that's what I'd name her.    

Our little 'love child.'

Seriously, speaking of Tupelo Honey, anybody see the movie???

Ulee's Gold???

Edited December 10, 2002 by Jaymes (log)

[Jaymes]

That said, I hate how honey jars and bottles inevitably get all sticky, crystally and yucky.

Maggie - Darling - Not to state the obvious, but after every time I use some honey, I seal 'er up good and rinse the bottle quickly (using nothing but my hands and hot water) until all honey is removed from the jar.

They're not sticky at all.

Edited December 10, 2002 by Jaymes (log)

[Toby]

Quail marinated in chestnut honey and then grilled.