My buddy called me up this morning to invite me over for a play date with our kids; and to hand off some of this amazing honey he received as a thank-you from his elderly neighbors after shoveling their walk during the snow storm. The neighbors are backyard beekeepers! My friends are already concocting plans to have their own flock of backyard chickens in the spring, and trading eggs for honey. I am seething with jealousy, of course.
So, I made it home with a large baby food jar of honey, and I haven't the faintest idea of what I'm going to do with it. I have all the time in the world, of course- honey lasts for years. But I'm so excited! Any type of backyard cultivation gets me pumped, homegrown eggs are delicious, everyone knows that backyard gardens are the way to go, and backyard honey! Oh, my lord. My friend was explaining to me the different flavor notes in the honey, (let's just say he has a very refined palate- he's a wine buyer.) and speculating on the various flowers the bees could be getting their pollen from. The smell is intoxicating, and the flavor is light and almost tangy. It's not as viscous as some honeys I've tried, maybe because it's so fresh? 
So, dear readers- I leave it up to you. Aside from drizzling it into my nightly chamomile, over a piece of warm toast, or into the bottom of a hot toddy- what on earth should I do to feature this lovely honey? I'm hoping to think of something really creative, where honey will be the star of the show. Feel free to drop your suggestions, and as I use it up, I'll post my concoctions here.
Monday, December 29, 2008
honey!
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57 comments:
really good honey is so delicious drizzled over goat milk yogurt! maybe you could make baklava? that is made with lots of honey, right. good luck!
I had an amazing cheese course at a restaurant recently that featured honeycomb and it was SO good with the strong cheeses. I'm going to try to recreate the experience for my mom's birthday and pair cheese with honey, maybe on some sort of mild flavored cracker.
oh my! that looks so delicious. the first two things that popped in my head were short ribs with a honey glaze or some kind of honey dressing. something to compliment and enhance the flavor. of course you could always do tasty cornbread which is, as we all know, a vehicle for butter and honey. can't wait to see what becomes of it!!
Hmm, I would suggest making mead, but that would take a lot of honey. I bet you could make some absolutely fantastic salad dressings out of it. For something that fresh and with a distinctive taste, I would try to keep it as simple as possible?
That looks spectacular..xx
Sounds/looks delicious! I must say, I've been reading your blog for a couple of weeks now and it's so much fun. Great recipes too, I was in charge of appetizers and dessert this year for Christmas and all my family loved it, including my ever-sceptical mum. :)
We used to have a neighbour who also had their own bees, the honey was so delicious. My best childhood food memory was eating buttered toast with that honey on top. Mmmm.
I'm sure you'll come up with something fab. :)
Perhaps something more savory like a honey sage biscuit?
sounds delicious- but I'm not sure what yummy things to make from it. Can't wait to see what you do though!
Honey Cookies
2 1/4 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 T. cinnamon
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 egg
3/4 cup oil
1/4 cup honey
Optional items:
1/2 cup oatmeal
chocolate chips
nuts or dried fruit
Mix all dry ingredients. Add liquids. Mix well. Add optional items and mix
again. On large cookie sheet, spread batter with wet hands. (batter will be
very thin) Bake at 350 degrees for 5 to 10 minutes. Do not over bake.
Ummmm, Fresh honey...I am jealous. :)
You could make some honey barbecue wings, those are always good.
Baklava, hello! Oh, yum.
ooh..i am a honey fanatic am jealous of your gift. As for what i like to do with honey.... Peanut butter and honey sandwiches are so yum! I also love a bowl of diced apples, oranges and sliced bananas drizzled with honey.
get some champange yeast at a homebrew shop, make some Mead, yummy.
baklava! or honey baked ham... mmmm. i also found this and it sounds very good: http://www.beefolks.com/shopcontent.asp?type=recstruffoli
I don't have any cooking suggestions, but I do have a health one... just eat it. Ayurvedic medicine claims that it is super good for you and I've seen it do wonders for sick kids. You're just not supposed to heat it.
I love honey with balsamic vinegar & olive oil + salt & fresh pepper as my salad dressing
i have some honey caramels on my blog and the honey flavour is really pronounced (& delicious). also, 101 cookbooks have some espresso honey caramels that are just wonderful too. mmm, i love fresh local honey!
I found this great honey mousse with pomegranate. I made it with local honey and it tasted so fantastic with the tart little pomegranate seeds and it looked oh so pretty too!
http://laylita.com/recipes/2008/02/08/honey-mousse-pomegranate/
You could make some simple cupcakes (vanilla or just white) and then do a honey frosting. I bet that would be really delicious. Otherwise there is always honey cake, I have never tried it myself but it definitely features honey as a main ingredient.
Good luck!
What about honey soaked feta? Here is a recipe with a lavender angle, but you may want to play with that part since the honey is so strong and musky.
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=610500
Fresh figs, goat cheese, black pepper, drizzled with honey. Enjoy!
I just found your blog and am glad I did! It's so beautiful!
I love good honey. Enjoy!
Just had dinner at Trebol up at Albina and Alberta the other night... They served sopapillas, sort of a light fried pastry/quickbread, dipped in honey. I can't have wheat, and so had to content myself with some rockin' flan with tequila caramel sauce (die!), but those who got the sopapillas totally disdained trying any of the other desserts.
Not that I'm complaining, of course.
Honey on brie, cooked a bit so the brie is deliciously soft.
My mom makes what we call potato cakes--basically biscuits with mashed potato mixed in--and we split them in half and put butter and honey on them and they are wonderful.
Also gonna suggest honey cookies!
http://www.windattack.com/?p=73
Or simply almond butter, raisins, cinnamon, and honey on toast! (ohh, I think I'm gonna have to make that for breakfast now...)
or put it in a pizza crust... or on the actual pizza.
I used to eat Fuzen Glace honey ice cream right out of those little plastic containers when I was a kid, and have since had a fondness for honey ice cream in general. I know it's probably too cold up there to even be thinking of ice cream, but a scoop would probably be the perfect follow up to a bowl of soup!
Biscuits! Biscuits! BISCUITS!
Or the figs and goat cheese-y thingie...
you can't beat baklava, but you should give apricot honey bread a try.
3 cups whole wheat flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1-1/4 cups 2% low-fat milk
1 cup honey
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup sunflower seeds, chopped walnuts or chopped almonds
1/2 cup raisins
*chocolate chips are good in this recipe too if you want to sweeten it up a bit more.
Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Combine milk, honey, egg and oil in separate large bowl. Pour milk mixture over dry ingredients and stir until just moistened. Gently fold in apricots, sunflower seeds and raisins. Pour into greased 9 x 5 x 13-inch loaf pan. Bake at 350°F for 55 to 60 minutes or until wooden pick inserted near center comes out clean.
it's perfect fresh out of the oven with a little extra honey drizzled over it.
My mum used to make a certain type of fried Greek style doughnut, very simple and when you bit into them they were almost all air inside. They were always topped with warmed honey - just delicious. If you fancy them I can ask my mum is she still has a recipe somewhere.
you know, when i visited a little town in south GA we went to a shop that had homemade hard candies with honey inside. and honestly, i think that would be the best way to show the honey since that way the eaters will get a small mouthful at the end of their candy treat! im going to hunt for some recipes!
I love good honey! This looks fantastic!
i just baked a loaf of honey whole wheat bread. its certainly not the most creative or exciting thing to do with honey, but man was it doughy and delicious...and the sweetness from the honey is what sealed the deal
If only you guys could find some kind of soup with honey as an ingredient! I love your soup recipes.
@sophisticaitlin
I made a parsnip soup last night that I reheated today with a drizzle of honey and olive oil on the top. It's best not to cook fresh honey, but this was wonderful. The spice of the parsnips and the floral aspects of the honey were really awesome together.
http://www.goldenblossomhoney.com/recipes_categories_list.php?c=9
pure yumminess and more! my daughter nat and i made a honey cream cheese pie from one of their recipes....mmmmm....
I have a fantastic recipe for you to use your honey. It was a "Cookie of the Month" in Martha Stewart Living a while back. The recipe is Honey-Walnut Coins. My daughter and I made them and they were wonderful!!!
You can find the recipe at www.marthastewart.com/cookies and type in the name of the cookies.
My mother is from Poland and she visited several years ago. Her cousins are beekeepers and sent her home with lovely jars of honey. I was a happy recipient of one of those jars...I know your delight! There is nothing better than farm harvested!
Enjoy...and I can't wait to see what you do with it!!
you should make a creme brulee sweetened with honey.
Honey butter!
I love fresh honey. I buy mine from a local honey farm and it's so delicious...
lucky girl! obviously i would use it raw over fruit, homemade yogurt, you could make ice cream with it and eat it with roasted fruit... delicious!
2 T honey, 2 T balsamic, 1 T butter. Melt together. Mix with a pan of freshly roasted carrots and beets. Curse yourself for not doubling the recipe.
hmmm. homemade honey granola, a honey balsamic glaze for pork tenderloin, a honey walnut torte or bundt cake, banana muffins with honey cream cheese topping, homemade honey butter, honeyed cornbread, peach and honey sangria, brie baked with granny smith apples, slivered almonds and honey; a peanut butter and honey sandwich... the possibilities are endless :)
I vote for honey and peanut butter sandwiches all around. Honey and Greek yogurt sound good too. YUM!! Please enjoy for all of us.
We've got a beekeeper who lives just two doors down, but unfortunately, he's a mean son of a gun and won't share a thing with anyone!
Maybe I should ban his bees from my lavender and wallflowers, eh?
Nah... just seeing them there always makes me smile. :o)
brie cheese goes well with a little honey. or banana stuffed french toast with honey drizzled over it....yum yum
The viscosity of honey depends on the environment the bees collect their nectar from... desert honey is very thick, whilst wetlands honey is very runny. The desert honey I get changes viscosity when it's a dry season versus when it's a wet season, which is neat. Changes flavor, too. The dry-season stuff is strong! The wet season stuff is fruity.
Eating uncooked local honey as soon as you get there is supposed to help prevent allergies to the local pollens. It seems to have helped me - my allergies when it rained a few years ago were awful. This year it rained, and after eating local honey all year they're just annoying.
You could make honey ice cream. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water...
mix it in with your peanut butter when you make a sandwich (instead of jam), drizzle it on plain yoghurt (with or without sliced bananas... banana honey yoghut is an addiction).
Heat some milk, add a spoon of honey and a dash of cinnamon. No caffeine, so better than tea or cocoa for a before-bed drink.
Excellent with lemon and ginger for those upset tummys & colds... get the fresh ginger, chop it up really thin, boil the snot out of it for a quarter to half an hour or so, then dump the resulting liquid into a mug with a big spoon of honey and a solid splash of lemon.
Take a soft, strong, edible-rind cheese, such as robbiola (sheep's milk + cow's milk), and spread or pour the honey all over and around, and then sprinkle liberally (oxymoron, anyone?) with slivered almonds. So.so.good.
You can read about it here:
http://www.eyebuzzgallery.com/eyeblog
/2008/12/everything-in-its-place.html
loving your delicious blog! thanks.
Drizzled over yogurt, cheese, or a spoon. nom nom nom.
Braised carrots with butter, honey, and mustard. Granola. A traditional Turkish breakfast of cheese, bread, jam, honey, olives, cucumbers, tomatoes, tea and coffee... Drooling now!
*putting on recipe-inventing cap*
I love peanut-butter and honey on toast.
So, I'm thinking about a pie . . . honey-crumb crust with peanut-butter-cream filling (not too sweet) and a thin layer of honey-cream filling (very sweet) on top?
:)
In fact, here. I HAVEN'T TESTED THIS, I just made it up! :D
But:
Peanut-Butter-And-Honey-On-Toast Pie
(vegan except for the honey part :-p )
Crust:
1.5 c toasted bread crumbs
4 T margarine
1/4 C honey
Melt margarine, stir in honey, stir in bread crumbs. Press into pie plate. Bake 8-10 min in 350 degree oven. Chill.
Peanut-Butter Cream Layer:
10 oz. soft tofu
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. soy milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Combine all the filling ingredients in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Spoon into the pie shell. Chill 2 hrs.
Honey-Cream Layer:
6 oz soft tofu
1/2 c. honey
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Combine all the filling ingredients in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Spread over peanut-butter layer. Chill 1 more hr.
Worth a shot!
i want to be a beekeeper and chicken rancher! i have a rosemary citrus poundcake i make using honey...
Honey cake! (otherwise known as best tea-cake ever)
How exciting! I say make a batch of roasted banana muffins these are so so tasty!
http://stephchows.blogspot.com/2008/12/roasted-banana-muffins.html
Take the end of a crusty baguette. Make a hollow in it with your thumb. Pour honey into the hollow. Wait a little for it to seep into all the air pockets. Enjoy.
Best to eat over the sink.
I hear Oregon has delicious goat cheese. One of my favorite snacks is toast with warm goat cheese spread drizzled with honey.
Honey + chevre on a baguette = the best sandwich.
I have been a long time honey fan. I recently had a "honey-fest" with my 12 year old son. He had never eaten honey and claimed he didn't like it. I broke out jars of Tupelo, Gallberry, Sourwood, Orange Blossom and Wildflower. He was amazed how he could taste the difference between each honey. All of the sudden he likes honey....His favorite....Orange Blossom. He is eating it on toast, biscuits, rolls and tonight he even tried dipping mussels in his Orange Blossom Honey tonight.
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