Honey

[prasantrin]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butea_monosperma [?]

←

Thank you!!! I'm going to print and fax the information to them when I return home. They certainly have unique flowers (they remind me of another tree flower, but I can't remember which...). I'd love to have some of those in a centerpiece. Have you ever seen one? Or ever tasted the honey? It was quite different from any honey I've ever had--not nearly as sweet, and it had an almost savoury aspect to it.

docsonz--I started writing something up, and it turned out much longer than I had intended. I had a lot of food...I'm trying to decide if I should edit it down, or just run with it. I'm not much of a writer, though, so the longer it is, the more monotonous it becomes...

I'll finish it up after I return home (I'm in Tokyo for a friend's wedding) and get my pictures uploaded. I did take a few pictures, sans flash, of course, so they may not have turned out very well.

As I was eating, you'll be happy to know that I thought of you often. I think it was you who first brought Ryugin to my attention (maybe with your report on the StarChefs event?), well before the Michelin guide came out with their stars. I didn't realize the connection until after Michelin, though, when I visited their website. I distinctly remembered being very annoyed by it when I visited it when you first linked to it. I was thinking that you would probably have enjoyed the meal, and you really should get to Tokyo soon!

[v. gautam]

Hi Rona,

I indeed have a long and close association with the palash, as many from the plains of the rivers Indu [male] and Ganga [mother] do. Japan has certain connections also with the flower: the tree and its wood are sacred to the Buddhist monks, and in a peripheral way, impinge on the culture of Japan.

It is this connection that led several wonderful Japanese landscape architects to take the lead in designing the Buddha Jayanti Park on the Upper Ridge in/near Chanakyapuri, New Delhi on the occasion of the 2500 birth anniversary of the Shakyamuni, Gautama Buddha, whose Jayanti, or birth, enlightenment and passing away we celebrated on May 19, 2008, on the full moon of the month of Vaishakha.

Drawing on their magnificent skills in preserving the natural and wild aspects, exactly the spirit described in the ancient Sanskrit word "tapovana", a forest retreat for pursuing spiritual quests. YThis was something that Buddhists monks actively sought out and remains a most significant element of the tradition of the FOREST TRADITIONS or dhutanga monks of Burma and Thailand to this day. More on these lives can be read by rferring to Taungpulu Kaba Aye [burma, Brahmadesha] and the books written by Kamala Tiyavanich, as also the disciples of Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Mun.

Back to the Buddha Jayanti Park in New Delhi, the natural dry forest fortunately supported not just the deep red but also the highly prized ochre variant of the Palasha flowers. Magnificent natural glades were arrranged where mature copses of trees in full flower surrounded grassy areas for sitting and contemplation and pebbled walks in the manner of Zen temples. How well these have survived the ravages of modern Delhi, one cannot say, as this information is from 1973.

As to the honey, one has never tasted such. These trees grow in mixed forests with Terminalia species and others like Shorea, Dalbergia etc. that also flower at the same time. How far it is possible to separate honey flows and how far these things are the artefacts of a romantic/commercial imagination and helps sell and preserve the few remaining patches of natural landscape left in India [a most worthy cause, if that is indeed where the money is going] is difficult to ascertain with any degree of accuracy. There could well be a certain unfortunate amount of romaticization and possible issues with "truth in labelling" in these matters.

The similarity you have noticed is something in common with many arborescent legumes: Erythrina crista-galli in LA, for example, the red flowers on tall trees, might be the ones you have seen. These 'claw-like' flowers are repeated in many tropical tree legumes as well.

[prasantrin]

v. gautam--what a beautiful tribute to something many would regard (erroneously) as simple (and unimportant) as a tree. I wonder if you would mind if I sent Ryugin your post, as well, or at least directed them to it. I think they would be most interested in it, especially the information about the connection to Japan.

Now I really feel the need to visit India, and see such beautiful places for myself. (It has always been number 1 on my list of countries to experience, but I've not yet made it that far.)

Edited May 24, 2008 by prasantrin (log)

[v. gautam]

You are most welcome. Japan has contributed enormously to India, in her usual silent and self-effacing fashion and during India's darkest decades. It is still doing a great deal without extracting much as quid pro quo, in contrast to all other givers of aid.

Japan set up many rice research stations in out of the way rural areas in India, Dasnagar, Howrah idstrict, West Bengal, for example. It must have been an extraordinary sacrifice for the Japanese scientists and technicians to remain on-site in the primitive conditions prevailing in those years, 50s-70s, teaching hands-on the techniques of rice-growing applicable to the new Green Revolution varieties that incorporated a substantial amount of japanese-type plant & grain characteristics. Therefore, these performed erratically in the fluctuating water levels and other conditions characteristics of the summer monsoons of eastern India, quite unlike the rains + topography in which the semi-dwarfs had evolved in japan and thereafter had been transferred to Taiwan, the immediate ancestor of the famous IR8 being Tainan Native 1.

So these scientists took up the challenge to adapt IR8 and its growing methods to eastern Indian conditions along with Indian farmers so that it really could give of its potential when grown by farmers using their slim resources. Soon, they had Bengali farmers, car drivers, bowing and saying Domo, Arigato, etc.!!! Beautiful wooden mouldboard ploughs [xo-drawn] sent courtesy of Takakita manufactory, gratefully acknowledged. Another story for another time perhaps. Our friend Hiroyuki-san will have no difficulty in tracing out if Takakita agricultural tool manufactory still survives!

Even funnier was the case of some technical advisers assigned to dredging vessels operating on a couple of India's then unspoiled rivermouths where they entered some of the finest estuaries in the world. One of the pilots told me this story himself. The expert had taught his Indian sidekick which fish and crustaceans he was to pick off the dredger's vast maws as it pumped up the fertile bottoms and dumped fish and all into the following barge. That alone was a sight better than a circus! Then, here was this man with his rice pot and bunch of sauces and condiments, sushifying away in bliss each day. Surrounding him stood almost the entire crew, in delighted horror and fascination, watching someone eat raw fish and lobsters with such joy. All parties thought themselves suitably entertained by this daily extravaganza.

Edited May 24, 2008 by v. gautam (log)

[lemniscate]

I don't love honey, but I do like it in hot tea now and then. But having a jar or a plastic bear around always lead to stickiness on the jar or the table, ya know, a minor irritation, but an irritation no less. I read about THESE on the National Honey Board's website a couple years ago as a test market item, and now it seems to be a real product. Anyone seen them in person? Especially the Canadian eGulleters, since they seem to be a product of PEI right now. Pricey too.

[Peter the eater]

Looks like a good idea to me - I see from the site that the product is available nearby at Pete's Frootique. I'll get some next time I'm there. I've been buying bricks of honeycomb there but I don't think it's PEI honey. I'm on it!

[jgm]

If all else fails, find a way to score some fast-food-type packets of honey. Sometimes warehouse stores carry them, or if all else fails, you can purchase a meal, or just ask them if they'll sell you some. Much less mess!

[boggah]

Picked up a jar of artichoke blossom honey, couldnt find any info online about it- Has anyone used it? What do u guys think of the stuff?

[Kent Wang]

An article on honey laundering (what a funny name) from The Seattle Post-Intelligencer on 2008-12-20.

Some highlights:

For years, China has used an animal antibiotic -- chloramphenicol -- to treat diseases ravaging their beehives. The FDA has banned that drug in any food product.

Since 2002, FDA has issued three "import alerts" to inspectors at ports and border crossings to detain shipments of tainted Chinese honey. The order in 2002 came after Canadian and European food-safety agents seized more than 80 shipments containing chloramphenicol, which can cause serious illness or death among a very small percentage of people exposed to it.

Big shipments of contaminated honey from China are frequently laundered in other countries -- an illegal practice called "transshipping" -- in order to avoid U.S.import fees, protective tariffs or taxes imposed on foreign products that intentionally undercut domestic prices.

In a series of shipments in the past year, tons of honey produced in China passed through the ports of Tacoma and Long Beach, Calif., after being fraudulently marked as a tariff-free product of Russia.

While per capita consumption of honey in America is 1.1 pounds per year, the country produces only about 190 million pounds of the 450 million pounds consumed.

And demand keeps rising. Brokers say the retail market hasn't changed much in the last several years, but use of honey as an ingredient in other products has grown.

I like honey (I got some New Zealand stuff my cousin sent me) but I definitely don't consume 1.1 lbs a year. A lot of this is probably stuff like cereal such as Honey Bunches of Oats, which I don't eat either.

[violetfox]

Guardian UK article on new honey

The cosy-sounding world of honey - redolent of toasted crumpets and jars with flowery labels in country shops - has been going through turbulent times..... another phenomenon has been adding to the turbulence in the global honey market - ultrafiltered or "UF" honey. First noticed in the US, it is honey with almost everything taken out, including the impurities. .... In a test by the board earlier this year, nine out of 69 samples taken from American supermarket shelves proved to be UF honey. Instead it is "a sweetener derived from honey" - honey that has been diluted with gallons of water, heated up to a high temperature, passed through an ultra-fine ceramic or carbon filter, and then evaporated down to a syrup again. America's believes that UF, rather than contaminated honey, is now the real threat to the purity of honey internationally.

So, the world has more problems that we have yet to fret over and now it is about the honeys .. but, never you mind, this is about a simple, very sweet, sticky issue: what is your favorite type of honey? and what do you use it for? or use it as an ingredient for making?

Personally enjoy clover and orange blossom honeys ... and you??

←

Clover, wildflower, orange blossom, chestnut, lavender - probably in that order. Good question!

[JTravel]

I always used to bring home honey from trips. Now it is harder since it has to go in checked luggage. Potential for a big mess. I now carry some bubble wrap with me to protect it. Right now I am using a Turkish "pine" honey which came in a plastic tube, sort of like a toothpaste tube. Very convenient and very tasty.

Locally I buy "hard" (crystalized) honey at the local natural foods co-op. Just dip out a big chunk and drop it into your container. I think it is a mixed flower honey, and to me, being crystalized makes the taste very nice. If I want it liquid I just heat it up. But for spreading on toast, or using in tea, it is great.

Very sad to hear of the troubles of the bees, I hope we have enough for our local apples and other fruits.

[JTravel]

For a REALLY different view of honey, how it's produced and processed......check out this blog entry by Peter Green from Bangkok. Never seen anything like that!

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=123155

[Ktepi]

I'd eat corbezzolo honey every day if I could afford it. Any time I have any in the house, I find I make biscuits a lot more often, just for the sake of having them together.

[BarbaraY]

A few days ago my neighbor's son showed up at my door with a 1/2 pint jar of honey from their bees. It is absolutely delicious made from whatever is blooming in the area. I see them working my rosemary bush and getting water from my birdbath. I hope they get to the apple trees this year.

This honey is dark, almost black, and has a very good flavor. Not filtered. I had to scrape a layer of wax from the top after it settled.

[Lauriux]

Another manuka honey fan here - for its delicious flavor.  I brought some back from a trip to New Zealand and have continued to purchase it here. 

I also love to bring honey back from a trip and remember my travels with a cup of honey-sweetened tea.

←

I don't really like the flavor of the manuka honey, altho have eaten a jar of it this winter to help keep my sinus infections @ bay. Found it best on peanut butter toast I did find it to be outrageously expensive . . . anybody know a good source that's more reasonable (I pd $50, but saw another brand for $90, aaaagh)

My favorite honey is a local one . . . have heard eating local honey helps with allergies, don't know how true, but my allergies are so bad, even placebo effect might help me!!

[Susie Q]

When I lived in Arizona, a guy at my grandmothers church harvested one he called "cotton". Oh so good. Now that I'm back in California I like Trader Joe's Mesquite Honey.

I don't mind if it crystallizes either. I just spread it on.

Edited April 6, 2009 by Susie Q (log)

[Peter Green]

For a REALLY different view of honey, how it's produced and processed......check out this blog entry by Peter Green from Bangkok.  Never seen anything like that!

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=123155

←

I've been pouring out a bit each morning and having it with croissants and toast. It's quite nice (I did get rid of the dead bee that was in there).

As a cost point reference, it was 150 baht, or around $5.50 for a 75 cl bottle.

[Lisa Shock]

My favorite honey is Questa Clover Honey from New Mexico. It's unheated and unfiltered so it's thicker and has a cloudy, white appearance. They make a Desert honey as well, which is good, but not as great as the Clover. For a while, they sold jars of the Clover with strawberries mixed in, that was really yummy!

[suzilightning]

we are lucky to have several people in this semi rural area that keep bees and sell their honey at the local farmer's market and through a local coop. johnnybird goes through one s-l- of the stuff in his tea, usually wildflower and tupelo. i like to use sage honey for honey carrots and blueberry honey to drizzle over desserts.

[Lindacakes]

Buckwheat, the darker the better!

Especially baked into cornbread.

[jerusalem]

Adore raw honey! The best honey in the world! keeps its natural taste

Edited May 7, 2009 by jerusalem (log)

[Peter B Wolf]

Leatherwood from Tasmania

Thyme from Spain

Coriander Blossom from the Balkans

Fir/Spruce from the Toscana

Honey with Ginger

It's good to have family and friends in Germany:

They can always get me mine from here:

http://www.allos.de/produkte/honig.html

[peterm2]

After coming across yet another reference to wild thyme honey, I'm determined to give it a try. Does anyone have any recommendations on where to get it from, or whether wild thyme honey from one region is superior to another? How about other types of single-varietal honeys that would be nice? I feel like trying something other than clover in my oatmeal.

[Kerry Beal]

Have you got a store around that sells european products? I see it all the time in places that sell various greek products.

[mostlylana]

I did a walnut honey center for Valentine's Day and used Thyme Honey. The first time I tried it I couldn't believe how good it was. I'm not that much of a honey fan but you want to eat this stuff off the spoon! They say the Thyme honey from Crete is one of the best in the world. I got mine online from Parthenon Foods:

http://parthenonfoods.com/honey-with-thyme-400g-p-636.html

They have different sizes and bottles of honey and nuts too...