Honey Tasting Party

I’m not dead. No one has died. If you have noticed a three-week absence it is because life has been splendidly wonderful in other areas and thus not allowing for the luxury of writing. Think 4am clandestine meetings with iPads and convincing a two year old to get back to bed! An adorable 11 month old sharpening new found teeth on the edge of his crib (while successfully pooping nipples to toes). Potty-training a two year old, which honestly has gone swimmingly. But “swimmingly” could be applied in a multitude of ways.

Work took off with lightening speed and we launched a new website last Tuesday. If you want to see what I have been up to when I am not scrubbing the poop decks, check out this website (a rather serious subject and I apologize for revealing it amongst the casualness of my life).

Like a bee from flower to flower, let’s change gears. November 1^st to be exact.

It is no secret that I have a “new” fascination with honey. It has been shelved in the back of my mind for years, but never fully realized until Chris gave me three of the five top honeys in the world for Christmas last year (Scottish Heather, New Zealand’s Manuka Honey, and New Zealand’s Beech Forest Honeydew).

Then, on a whim I picked up a book at the library this summer, “The Honey Connoisseur” by C. Marina Marchese and Kim Flottum . Two quick facts: I still cannot spell connoisseur on the first try. Like most subjects, the more I learn the more I realize I don’t know. These authors know what they are talking about AND one of the authors produces some the most outstanding honey.

Here are the highlights:

• Bees are busy and they, like humans, tend to create habits. One of which is going to the same plant/flower if given the opportunity. This is called “single source honey” and its beyond good.
• Bees eat birthday cake – more on that later
• Bees pollinate (helping plants produce “fruit”) fruit plants, vegetables, cotton (hello blue jeans!) and without them we’d be up a creek.
• Labeling for honey products in the USA (and nearly everywhere) is subjective. In other words – crap. As the saying goes, “Don’t believe everything you read.”
• The government of China lies. There I said it. I know, I know, big secret. But when it comes to honey, it’s gross. An antibiotic in your honey isn’t warm and cozy.
• Honey tastings are fun!

November 1^st I invited ten for dinner.

A few things I learned:

• Hand written, paper invitations make anything feel important.
• New recipes require honest opinions
• The only complete set of 10 anything in my life is wine and beer glasses we received as wedding gifts nine years ago. Always fun to invite your pastor and serve everyone with alcoholic glasses. Thankfully he has a sense of humor and wasn’t deterred.
• Your husband calling from the emergency room twenty minutes before everyone is to arrive makes for a mix of emotions or as some would say, some interesting entertainment

I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s explore:

A honey tasting is where one samples of a variety of single-source honeys (from one plant) and then tries to evaluate the flavor components without knowing the location or plant source.

Honeys pair well with certain foods and in my opinion, all pair brilliantly with peanut butter.

Cheese and green apples are magic with honey. I of course forgot to put out the apples. Refer to last bulleted point.

The Menu

Pan seared steak bites
A roasted Portobello mushroom and garlic marinade with a
hint of buckwheat honey (New York)

Pan seared chicken bites
A bright lemon marinade complimented with
summer wild flower honey (Virginia) and fresh ginger

Skillet cornbread
Buttered North Carolina milled cornbread baked slowly in an iron skillet,
drizzled with Virginia sourwood honey

Mixed green salad
Tossed green salad with almonds and carrots
with an avocado honey vinaigrette on the side

Franklin Virginia Black-eyed Peas
Salted blacked eyed peas slow cooked with a ham bone

After two friends ran to the pharmacy to aid my husband’s extreme pain and his arm stopped threatening to fall completely from his shoulder, we had an intermission. Family Feud – Honey Style! I refrained from my original idea to do a full PowerPoint presentation as Chris kindly informed me that might be a bit too nerdy. This coming from an information technology professional…I digress.

The game was a blast. I wrote the questions, so it wasn’t an entirely fair “survey says”. I referenced the Honey Connoisseur for most of them, but “survey of one” added a bit of a challenge for the group. Much like Who’s Line is It Anyways, the points didn’t matter.

It was all laid out to run digitally on the TV via laptop controls. But with the surprise of Chris’ shoulder deciding to dig a hole during his flag football game and his arm not complying as another player landed on top, the Family Feud was played old school. We knew Chris was feeling better as he began to heckle my abilities to host the game (which albeit poor, I do not take direction well from someone who is drugged up on pain meds).

Back to the purpose of the evening, we tasted honey, honey, and more honey! It was so fun to hear everyone’s comments during the tasting that I didn’t get nearly half the pictures I had hoped. Thanks Martha for snapping a few on your phone.

Seven Honeys to Taste

Bah Humbug Sandwiches
Tableside peanut butter and honey sandwich topped with arugula on toasted sunflower seed bread

Cheese and Apple plate
Linden – Dubliners white cheddar
Blueberry – English Double Devon Cream
Red Currant – Ile De France Brie
Buckwheat – Stilton

Blind Honey Tasting

1. Linden (Connecticut – Red Bee)
2. Avocado (California – George at McManigle Grove)
3. Pumpkin Blossom (Connecticut – Red Bee)
4. Red Currant (Connecticut – Red Bee)
5. Blueberry Blossom (Maine – Red Bee)
6. Tulip Poplar – Black Locust (Utica, New York – Mohawk Valley Trading Company)
7. Buckwheat (Utica, New York – Mohawk Valley Trading Company)

Survey Says! The Favorites:

#6 Tulip Poplar – Black Locust
(Utica, New York – Mohawk Valley Trading Company)

#5 Blueberry Blossom
(Maine – Red Bee)

My friend Marsha had this to say about the evening,

“My favorite honey was the Blueberry Blossom.  The meal was amazing!  The cornbread was the best I’ve ever eaten & drizzling honey over it just made it over the top!  I loved the avocado honey vinaigrette as well!  You truly outdid yourself!  It was also a lot of fun using a competitive game to learn about honey.  Teachers everywhere should keep that in mind. Thank you for a wonderful evening!”

Who knows, maybe the compliments were because my maimed husband sat at the table with his arm nearly falling off and his heartless wife kept saying, “He’s fine! Let’s eat!” Or maybe it’s because single source honey is the food of God. “Land of milk and honey.” Need I say more?

If you are looking for a unique and totally amazing Christmas gift, I strongly recommend single source honey. The ladies at Mohawk Valley Trading Company in New York are so sweet (no pun intended) and take orders over the phone. They bottle, among other kinds, the favorite of the night – Tulip Poplar-Black Locust honey.

Red Bee (Marina and co-author of The Honey Connoisseur) has honey tasting cards to host your own honey tasting, a variety of honeys that come in the most adorable jars, and the now infamous blueberry honey.

Pair the honey of your choice with the intriguingly informative The Honey Connoisseur. The photography alone will inspire you to always buy quality honey. Do it for the bees. They need our support.

What is my favorite honey you might ask? I will follow my great uncle Jonah’s apple answer, “The last one I had.” Although, I am curious what birthday cake honey would taste like. I was at my second counsin’s 7^th birthday and honeybees were trying to eat his birthday cake. Makes me wonder… Honey Tasting round two?

P.S. The R&R Mini Macks had a honey tasting with me during dinner. Pumpkin Blossom (CT), Linden (CT), and Sourwood (VA). Rory preferred the pumpkin blossom and Ryder preferred the sourwood. I went to the other room and overheard the following:

Ryder: “Stop drinking the honey straight from the cup!”
Rory: “Why?” between slurps
Ryder: “Because you have a cup of water. Don’t drink the honey! Why would you do that?!”
Rory: “Well. Because. The bees had breakfast at a punk’n patch AND its DELICIOUS.”
From the mouths of babes…