Part of a continuing summer series by grilling expert Gena Knox.
When most people think of honey, they think of breakfast and hot tea, but honey is actually one of the most versatile ingredients in the kitchen -- so versatile, in fact, that I use it on an almost-daily basis. A natural way to sweeten marinades and salad dressings, honey can be used to add flavor to savory dishes and not just desserts.
Of course, as with any food, you want to use a good quality honey. One of my favorites is Savannah Bee, and my friend Ted, the owner behind this delicious honey, has chosen his favorite full-bodied honey for grilling. The rich amber color and robust flavor stands up to the smokiness of grilled foods and the easy, no-spill pump isn't bad either.
Florida's honeymakers, already adept at catching flies, have lately been buttonholing politicians, successfully pressing for new legislation that experts say should save the state's honey industry.
The Florida legislature this month approved a bill prohibiting the production and sale of adulterated honey -- a racy-sounding term that encompasses the honey-fructose blends and chemically treated honeys that have flooded the market over the past decade. While Florida is the first state to issue an official honey standard, Nancy Gentry, who chairs the Florida Honey Bee Technical Council, says as many as 28 states are contemplating similar legislation.
"We're already seeing significant changes," Gentry reports. "We're going to take blended honey products off the shelf in Florida."
Bees fly to the hive on the hotel rooftop. Photo: The Fairmont Washington, D.C.
Some permanent hotel guests in the nation's capital are definitely causing a buzz. The Fairmont Washington, D.C. recently brought 105,000 Italian honeybees to their roof to make the sweetener for the hotel's restaurant, Juniper.
As "chief beekeepers," executive sous chef Ian Bens and executive pastry chef Aron Weber share the responsibilities of maintaining the three colonies -- Casa Bianca, Casa Bella and Casa Blanca.
So why bees? Weber tells Slashfood he got the idea when he visited the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto and saw their rooftop hives flourishing in an urban setting. The D.C. Fairmont already had an interior courtyard garden that produced fresh herbs and edible flowers like lavender, peppermint and rosemary, so the bees seemed like a logical step to further extend the chefs' ideology in keeping products as fresh and local as possible.
It's been remarkably frigid out here on the east coast of late and the bone chilling weather seems to be bringing with it another round of sniffles and head colds. Doctors advise that there's not much to do for a cold other than drink lots of fluids and get plenty of rest. We can't help you with the rest, but I've got a tasty suggestion for making those liquids go down easy.
Whip up a quick infusion of honey, lemon and ginger. Simply grate a half inch chunk of ginger into a large mug. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon in on top (you can also add the zest if you're feeling daring) and add a heaping teaspoonful of honey (feel free to adjust the sweetness level to your personal taste). Fill the cup with boiling water and stir to combine. Drink while still warm and repeat as necessary.
It will soothe a sore throat, help with the cough (truly, honey has been found in scientific studies to calm a cough nearly as well as cough syrup) and taste good to boot!
Parfaits are truly the anytime dish -- breakfast, lunch, snack, dessert. Dinner? Maybe even that. Here are some ideas for both usual and unusual (and hopefully, unusually delicious) takes on this yummy yogurt-based delight.
1. Apple and Walnut parfait with maple syrup 2. Greek yogurt parfait with mangoes and honey 3. Classic fresh raspberry parfait with granola 4. Parfait with yogurt, granola, and cooked cherries 5. Trail mix parfait with yogurt, mixed nuts, and dried fruit 6. Cereal parfait with yogurt, dried cereal, and fresh strawberries 7. Frozen yogurt parfait with frozen or fresh berries 8. Pina Colada parfait with dried pineapple, dried coconut, and vanilla yogurt
Anyone have favorite combos for beautiful layered parfaits? Share!
This week, I was excited to see one of my new favorite honeys in an article from the NY Times. Jujube honey is not like any other honey that I've tried. It has a fascinating balance between bitterness and a bright sweetness. A spoon full of this honey is like diving into a field of flowers and being completely absorbed by nature while hearing Debussy's ethereal Clair de Lune being performed from a distance. In short, it's a magical culinary experience. Everything about this honey is harmonious from it taste to its luscious creamy texture.
This honey is produced from bees that pollinate flowers growing from jujube bushes in the the middle Atlas mountain range in Morocco. The jujube bush grows a small three centimeter edible fruit that's green and tastes of apples. As it matures, the fruit turns a dark red to purplish-black and eventually looks like a small date. It has a pit similar to that of an olive. I'm not sure where you can find this fruit in the U.S. Typically, they're used in Chinese cuisine to flavor wine and tea.
A jar of honey can become a sticky mess. Next time you're adding honey to another dish or a mug of tea, use a honey dipper to prevent a thick gooey layer from spreading.
As with many other foods, we tend to refrigerate honey or incorrectly store it. One of the great things about honey is that it doesn't go bad for years. However, you'll want to store it appropriately so that it retains its unique texture and flavor.
It is amazing how easy it is to find artisanal honeys in Paris. On my last trip, I found a store that not only offers a gorgeous array of honeys but also medicinal products made from honey, everything from throat lozenges to anti-aging moisturizing creams and soaps. From the second I entered Famille Mary at No. 35 rue Cler, the shopkeeper asked how he could help me and if I had any ailments. He pointed me towards a wall stacked with the largest variety of honey-made products I had ever seen.
The storekeeper at Famille Mary picks out specific honeys and honey-made items that address health issues relating to your specific body, such as stress, insomnia, blood flow, digestion, menopause, memory, vision, and weight gain. In essence, the store is a pharmacy full of sweet honey-made medicines developed in laboratories by doctors and apiarists (beekeepers).
Not only does Famille Mary create remedies to treat existing health problems, but it also concocts candies, pills, toothpastes, and syrups to prevent health ailments from arising in the future. The products are made with propolis, a natural resinous material collected by bees from tree buds. Propolis is believed to prevent cataracts and promote heart health. Three of the most bizarre medicinal products from Famille Mary can be found after the jump.
Seeing sunflowers makes me smile. They are so bright and cheery. Now, however, I have even more of a reason to smile about sunflowers.
I had heard about the mysterious disappearance of the bees. As mentioned previously on this blog, Haagen-Daaz has done a good job spreading the news. They have a wealth of information on their Help the Honey Bees Site. Not surprisingly, most of their campaign revolves around buying ice cream. I love ice cream and support the cause, but what else could I do?
The Great Sunflower Project gives you a great opportunity to help out in another way. Sunflowers attract bees that subsequently pollinate the plants we eat. If you register by June 15, The Great Sunflower Project will send you sunflower seeds to plant in your garden. They then ask that you monitor the bees that visit your sunflowers. Don't worry, they make it easy by giving you lots of helpful hints on how to effectively monitor your backyard visitors. They will use your information to help get a big picture of the state of bees in urban areas.
Is it really bad to say at this point that bees scare me and I'm not sure I want extra bees in my yard? Probably, but I think saving fruits, vegetables, and one of the loves of my life, honey, wins out over my fear of bees. I also don't need to plant the sunflowers right next to my porch swing.
Check out The District Domestic for more on the plight of the honey bee and what you can do to help.
This is a breakfast, and you can probably guess from the name that it's not the most healthy breakfast you could have. But you know what? It's really not as bad as it sounds. I mean, they have peanut butter, honey, and granola in them.
This recipe for Crunchy Monkey Peanut Butter Banana Sticks is from one of the Rachael Ray shows on Food Network (I know, I know, she's everywhere, but stick with me here). They make for a good breakfast for when you're in a hurry and need something portable, and I think they'd be a great snack for at night when you're watching television.
Try Honibe's Honey Drop, which the company claims is the first non-sticky solid honey product.
Each drop contains about a teaspoon of honey, and comes in a little packet just like your typical sweetener. But unlike your typical sweetener-in-a-bag, it doesn't contain any artificial ingredients. The product comes in a regular and a lemon flavor.
Even though I keep reading the company name "Oh-KNEE-bay" instead of "honeybee," the solid honey drop seems like the perfect solution to a problem that has plagued all tea drinkers at some point or another: sticky fingers.
Last weekend, I attended a party featuring home-brewed beer. A fellow party-goer remarked that most home-brewed beer parties usually take the same form: everyone complements the brewer, then proceeds to dump the home-brewed stuff in the sink and head to the keg. But the beer at the this party was actually decent, even borderline inspiring (I swear I'd try to brew some myself if I didn't mind foul smells so much).
Anyway, home-brewing is on the rise -- and it may even be responsible for the return of mead, a honey-based alcoholic beverage. According to an article over at Slate, foodies and local brewers (home-brewers included) have spurred a renewed interest in this libation. You may remember mead from such things as the turn of the last millennium, when we all drank some during the banquet celebrating our successful pillage of the enemy castle.
Sadly, the author of the Slate article ultimately concludes that mead is unlikely to re-enter the mainstream completely, so it looks like I'm going to have seek out artisan brewers to get my berry mead. Unless anyone wants to home-brew some for me?
Back in December, I wrote a post about how scientists had found that taking a spoonful of honey could help suppress a cough. There was some dissent in the comments about whether or not the finding was true, although several people wrote in to say that they had had positive experiences soothing a ragged cough with honey.
Whether or not it will help with a cough, apparently honey can help to ease the pain of minor burns. In recent studies, scientists have found that honey has antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. So next time you burn yourself in the kitchen, grab that jar of honey and dab a little on for some relief.
Parfaits
This is a breakfast, and you can probably guess from the name that it's not the most healthy breakfast you could have. But you know what? It's really not as bad as it sounds. I mean, they have peanut butter, honey, and granola in them.
Last weekend, I attended a party featuring home-brewed beer. A fellow party-goer remarked that most home-brewed beer parties usually take the same form: everyone complements the brewer, then proceeds to dump the home-brewed stuff in the sink and head to the keg. But the beer at the this party was actually decent, even borderline inspiring (I swear I'd try to brew some myself if I didn't mind foul smells so much). 
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