Honey Blog

Name: Honey of Nosy Komba

You can buy it:  In the village of Nosy Komba, Madagascar

Country:  Madagascar

Purchased:  February, 2009

Color:  Dark amber

Flavor:  Dark chocolate with hints of coconut and traces of malt. Think: Dark Chocolate Mounds Bar.   

Consistency:  Medium

Fragrance:  Faint chocolate.  

Notes: I bought this honey on our recent Prager listener cruise which began in Mombassa, Kenya and ended in the Seychelle Islands. I look for honey wherever I go, but finding it is a lot harder than you might think. Processed honey is available the world over, but the unprocessed, local honey that I’m looking for is, often as not, a treasure hunt. Sometimes I find it where I least expect it.

One of our stops on this cruise was an island just off the northwest coast of Madagascar, Nosy Komba. Thickly forested, volcanic hills sloping up from the beach, the island is notable for its lemurs. You don’t have to go far to find them. They pretty much own the island. Fortunately, they are quite happy to interact with humans, especially those offering bananas. For Susie, who has always been a big lemur fan, this was a small slice of heaven. We also saw chameleons of astonishing green and orange, very big tortoises, and some intimidating snakes.

 

The people in the town set up stands selling local wares. They specialize in hand-stitched table clothes many of which were quite beautiful. We were just about to leave when I spotted a woman selling, among other things, local honey. Lemurs and chameleons were a thrill, but finding local honey pretty close to the middle of nowhere; that really got me excited.

I had to wait another ten days to open the jar. I didn’t want to risk taking an unsealed jar through Customs. As far as what it would taste like, I didn’t know what to expect. The dark chocolate flavor was a pleasant surprise.

You’ll have to travel literally half way around world, 12 times zones, to sample this honey. Until then, take my word for it: its unusual taste matches its exotic source.

Final note: I beheld the most magnificent sunset of my life as we sailed away from Madagascar -- a golden dome sky painted with splashes of red and turquoise and accompanied by a flotilla of clouds so low that you'd swear  they were five feet above the water. Just like honeys taste different depending on where they come from; sunsets appear different depending where you are in the world.

None are more stunning the ones I saw in Africa on this trip.  

Postscript: I just received a lovely note from Donald Smiley, the owner of Smiley Apiaries and the maker of my new current favorite honey, Smiley ApiariesTupelo Honey, a honey that I describe as liquid sunshine. Following a "Honey Update" on the show, Donald received a lot of orders from Prager Listeners. I can't tell you how thrilled I was to hear this. 

If you wondering what all the fuss is about click on #19..

 

Name: Native Chilean Raw Honey. Ulmo Tree Honey.

You can buy it:  At Whole Foods or on the Internet here.

Country:  Chile

Purchased:  January, 2009

Color:  Lemon Curd

Flavor:  Anise with strong element of black currents.  Has a very pleasant, lingering black licorice aftertaste.  

Consistency:  Thick.  

Fragrance:  Anise seed.

Notes:  Why don’t Peruvians, Bolivians and Ecuadorians look to Chile as their model rather than to some Leftist lunatic like Hugo Chavez? South America remains one of the great economic mysteries to me.  I’ve been there twice and thoroughly enjoyed my visits. The people are hard-working and ambitious. You can feel the energy in the air – whether that air be in Brazil, Peru or Argentina. Sometimes, like in Lima, you can literally hear the energy with car and mini-bus horns blaring, day and night. But these countries always manage to squander whatever progress they make by embracing demagogues like Chavez and their utopian, guaranteed-to-fail, socialist fantasies.

Chile is the one clear exception. For three decades it has been a model of free market capitalism and has thrived. It has the most vibrant economy, the best education system, the least crime and the highest standard of living on the continent.  Much of the winter produce in American supermarkets comes from Chile. They are also the world’s leading producers of salmon and have developed a rapidly expanding and improving wine sector. Santiago, the capital has the temperate climate of San Diego and the cosmopolitan life-style to match.

The Chileans almost blew it in the early 1970’s when they elected the Marxist Salvador Allende, one of the Left’s great martyrs to lead the country. He was quickly leading it off the proverbial cliff when he was overthrown by a military coup headed by General Augusto Pinochet. With some help from the CIA and economist Milton Friedman, Pinochet, reviled by Leftists at universities world-wide, saved the country. That’s not the politically correct version of Chile’s history, but it happens to be true. As usual, Paul Johnson, the British historian, in his must-read Modern Times provides a brief and compelling summary of these events.

Back to honey: This honey is monofloral, harvested by Chilean bees from the Ulmo Tree. I’ve never heard of it, but from the pictures I’ve seen, it’s very pretty. It grows abundantly in Chile and Argentina and blooms in February and March, the South American equivalent of our July and August. It’s large, camellia-like, white flowers make it a tempting bee destination.

The anise, licorice flavors hits you immediately and stays with you for minutes afterwards. Beautifully packaged and easily available from a very stylish website, once again Chile leads in the way for her South American neighbors.

 

Honey Journal #19

Name: Smiley Apiaries Tupelo Honey

You can buy it: On the Internet here.

Country: Florida, USA

Purchased: October 2008

Color: Rapunzel gold

Flavor:Rich and buttery with a clear statement of clove. Feels warm and soothing as it coats your throat. Very sweet, but not cloying.

Consistency: Medium.

Fragrance:A suggestion of cut hay.

Notes:You might call this entry Tupelo II. I have read and heard so much about this prized honey that I didn’t want to just leave it at one go. Plus, I thought it would be interesting to do a taste comparison. This particular brand, Smiley Apiaries and its crusty, dedicated owner, Donald Smiley, achieved some notoriety in Holley Bishop’s fine book, Robbing the Bees which I have heartily recommended in a previous entry.

Parenthetically, I just finished another excellent book on bees, Fruitless Fall, by Rowan Jacobson.The author seeks to unravel the mystery behind the Colony Collapse Disorder, the sudden death of so many bees. It’s well written and full of fascinating information about bees and the role they play in modern farming. I’ll have more to say about this book in another entry, but let me note now that I strongly recommend it.

Jacobson has exhaustively research the CCD problem and reached a challenging conclusion: it’s not one thing that’s decimating the bees; it’s many. Bee-killing mites, pesticides, overwork, and forced travel (bees shipped across the country in trucks) are just a few of the culprits. One problem wouldn’t be enough to do the bees in, but all together they compromise the bees’ immune system. Bees are at once very hardy and fragile just like everything else in nature.

Back to Smiley’s Tupelo Honey: Here’s an interesting reaction. In addition to loving the rich, buttery, clovey flavor, I can’t stop looking at the jar. This is the most beautiful honey I’ve ever seen. It relaxes it me just to study its gorgeous golden hue. And, since its Tupelo honey, as I discussed in the last entry, it never crystallizes, so there is nothing to mar its beauty. But its taste matches its good looks. Of course, it’s untreated and unheated.

The Savannah Tupelo honey that I reviewed last month was harvested in southern Georgia. Smiley’s bees work in the Florida Panhandle along the Apalachicola River basin.

Between the two Tupelos, both of which I like, I give Smiley’s the clear nod. This is honey at its best – sweet cream, true nectar. If I wanted to introduce someone to the good stuff, this honey would be my first choice. As a Christmas gift for a honey lover or potential one, you couldn’t do better.

 

Honey Journal Entry #18

Name: Savannah Bee Tupelo Honey

You can buy it:  On the Internet here.

Country:  USA

Purchased:  May 2008

Color:  Sunrise gold

Flavor:  Rich and creamy with a pleasant lavender flavor.  

Consistency:  Medium.

Fragrance:  Very mild with a suggestion of cotton candy. 

Notes: One honey world’s most famous and prized productions, Tupelo honey can only be harvested for a few weeks in April and May, mostly in the river basins of Southern Georgia and Northern Florida.  Since the Tupelo tree’s white blossoms burst open for only a brief period, the bees and their keepers have their work cut out for them. Bad weather or an early frost can compromise the crop, so it’s a tense time, too. But there’s a big payoff – a smooth, picture-book golden honey with a distinct lavender flavor that, because of certain unique chemical properties, never crystallizes.

Something else about this honey that's different. Normally honey is 60 calories per tablespoon. This one is 45.

Van Morrison, who I have mentioned before in these pages, produced a famous rock album, “Tupelo Honey,”  in the early seventies. “She’s as sweet as Tupelo honey” is one of the lyrics of the title song. If so, she was very sweet.

There’s another famous association with the name Tupelo, but it has nothing to do with honey. Tupelo, Mississippi is the birthplace of Elvis Presley.

 

Honey Journal Entry #17

Name: Pure Busy Bee Farm Honey

You can buy it:  By calling the farm in Larkspur, CO at 303-657-5360 or by emailing them here. steven_lechner@msn.com.  For a little more info go here.

Country:  USA

Purchased:  September 2008

Color:  Amber

Flavor:  A very pleasant nutty flavor with a strong hint of chocolate and raisins.  

Consistency:  Medium.

Fragrance:  Chocolate honeycomb.

Notes: This honey was a gift from the Colorado Prager Group. Last month the group organized a debate between Dennis and David Sirota, a prominent progressive journalist who lives in Denver. What the Prager Group leaders pulled off frankly astonished me. They conceived, organized, staged, and

publicized the event all on their own. I don’t think I can adequately describe what this entails. There are many moving parts to these kinds of events – arranging the venue, ticket sales, publicity and so on. It’s a daunting task for full time professionals.

The debate was a smashing success. SRO as they say on Broadway. 1500 people attended. If it sounds corny to say that the Colorado Prager Group showed the “can-do” spirit that makes this country great, then so be it. They made believers out of me.

They even managed, among all the chaos, to send Dennis home with some honey. This one with the very unprepossessing name of Pure Honey from Busy Bee Farms in Larkspur, Colorado (half way between Denver and Colorado Springs) is a very soothing, rich, but not overwhelming honey perfect for every day consumption. How soothing? If I had a sore throat this is the first honey in my current collection that I would turn to. With winter coming on, you might want to have some around.

This is the one year anniversary of the Honey Journal. I’ve done 17 entries so far.  I have sampled honey from 10 different countries and 7 different states. Every country in the world, every county in the USA produces honey, so there are a lot more to try. Some honeys are more complex than others, but it’s not like tasting wine where one is sublime ( 90 on the Robert Parker scale) and one is mediocre.  First, I only taste pure, organic, unrefined, unprocessed honey – the real stuff. No homogenized mass produced supermarket honeys for me. Second, I only review what I like. In other words, they’re all good, but they’re all different.  The biggest kick I get out of this journal is noting how different honeys from different parts of the country and the world have their own distinct flavors, fragrances, and consistencies.  

This week is also the beginning of the Jewish New Year. Last week was Rosh Hashanah, this week is Yom Kippur. It seems appropriate to note that honey is God’s food. The phrase “the land of milk and honey” is a description of the Promised Land.  It appears 16 times in the Bible. Honey on its own is referred to 55 times. One tradition of Rosh Hashanah is to dip a slice of apple in honey and wish each other a sweet year.  On behalf of the Honey Journal, that’s what I wish for all of us. 

 

Name: Pure Dakota Honey 

You can buy it: On the internet here.  

Country:  USA

Purchased: August 2008

Color:  Corn Tassel Gold

Flavor:  This is classic clover honey, the kind of honey you're used to only much better. Rich and granular, it tastes like the sweet, clean air of a freshly harvested farm field.

Consistency:  Medium to heavy. Sticks to the spoon.

Fragrance:  The clean scent of fresh clover.

Notes: I bought this honey during a stop in North Dakota on our way to the Republican Convention. Dennis had been to 49 states, but never North Dakota. Rather than take the direct route from Denver to Minneapolis, we decided to detour north and go straight up the map from North Platte, Nebraska into the Dakotas.

Highway 83, our pathway, turned out to be a great road. It's two lanes, so we were really close to the seemingly endless fields of corn, hay, and sunflowers than border the road. Every once and a while, and I mean every once in a while, we'd pass through a small town and catch some local color.

Interstates are a wonderful way to travel, but you lose that "Route 66" feel that I so love. Give me an uncongested two lane highway any day. That's the way to see the country.  

Before we left, North Platte, we stopped to see the world's largest rail yard. It’s like watching a giant model train set, except the trains are real.  From a specially built observation post, we observed the big locomotives pulling or pushing their cars in and out of the massive yard. We stood mesmirized for forty minutes or so. We could have easily stayed another hour. Every where our eyes settled, there was movement. Here in North Platte, Nebraska the economy of the world was in transit.

We saw very dramatic scenery on this trip when we drove through Utah and Colorado, but I have to say that while mesas, mountains, plateaus, and canyons take your breath away, there's something very calming and relaxing about driving through fields of green corn with their supple stalks bending into the strong winds of the plains or watching fields of bright yellow sunflowers smile at you as you pass. Every state in our blessed union has its highlights, that's for sure.  

We reached North Dakota at sunset. Dennis got out of the car and kissed the ground. He'd made it to all 50 states! I have the great moment on film. Once I get a few minutes, I'll put it up on YouTube.

 

Name:  Rosas Organic Honey

You can buy it:  On the internet here. Or the next time you're in La Paz.

Country:  Bolivia

Purchased:  May, 2008

Color:  Peanut Brittle Brown

Flavor:  Distinct lemony flavor with a minty follow through. Refreshingly tart.

Consistency:  Medium. It’s worth noting that this honey sits in the jar like organic peanut butter – a thin oil layer on top of a thicker layer underneath. You have to mix it up to even out the consistency. 

Fragrance:  Lemon with a suggestion of caramel.  

Notes:  Bolivia is the poorest country in South America. It seems like it’s always been that way.  Riddled with corruption, every new revolution promises prosperity and delivers more poverty. In the first half of this decade, the country finally seemed to making some progress, but the election of a new socialist government has quickly taken care of that. A pal of Hugo Chavez, the current president, Evo Morales, finds himself in all kinds of trouble. The country is literally threatening to break apart.

One of the common myths of history is that nations rich in natural resources which Bolivia is have a distinct advantage over other nations. The opposite is often true. The rule of law, respect for property, low taxes and honest government are much more important than mineral deposits. Bolivia is bigger than Texas and has infinitely more natural resources than Japan or Singapore. Yet the latter countries are wealthy and Bolivia is a basket case.

In addition to gold, silver, tin and natural gas, we now discover that they produce an excellent honey.  Bees, fortunately, do what they do whatever the political climate.

This honey comes from the Bolivian highlands. When they say high, they’re not kidding. The Andes runs right through the western end of the country.  The bees work the Salvia plant (also known as Bolivian sage) which grows on mountain slopes at altitudes of 10-12,000 feet.

What is the most famous event in Bolivian history, at least from an American perspective? It has to be that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid dramatically ended their careers there.  You’ve all probably seen the Paul Newman, Robert Redford film on this subject, but if you haven’t, add it to your must see list.

As  much as I’d like to visit Bolivia, we’re not going there on a Prager Listener Cruise.  It’s landlocked.

Finally, my wife Susie loves this honey. She just lit up when she first tasted it. Her opinion has only been confirmed by further tastings. As usual, I agree. 

 

Name:  Grandpa Yoders Pure Honey

You can buy it here:  Sparta, Tennessee which is about half way between Nashville and Knoxville.  It's not available at a gourmet food store or over the Internet. You have to go to Tennessee to find it. I know it's a long way for a jar of honey, but, doesn't a trip to Tennessee sound like fun?

Sparta is a small town of 5,000, justly proud of its bluegrass musical tradition. You thought I was kidding about going to Tennessee? Wait til you visit the town's website, one of the best city websites I've seen. For a town this size this site is truly impressive.

Country:  USA

Purchased:  June, 2008

Color:  Light amber

Flavor:  Marshmallow cream

Consistency:  Thick

Fragrance:  Wild flowers with a hint of clover.

Notes:  I've written about honeys from exotic places like Papua New Guinea and Zambia. I get a big kick out of travelling the world on a spoonful of liquid gold.  But I also enjoy plain, old fashioned pure American honey, too, and you can't get more red, white and blue than Grandpa Yoder.

It has a sweet, sunshine taste that makes you smile the moment you taste it. You can almost sense its southern accent as it glides easily down your throat.

I received this jar as a gift from Sean McConnell's mom. Sean McConnell is our new technical director which means he engineers the show and is responsible for all things sound related. Sean is a big guy with dense, wavy red hair and the map of Scotland written over his face. He has an easy laugh and impish sense of humor. Most of the goofy sound bits you hear popping up during the show are his doing.

He's a great new addition to the Prager team and this honey, picked up by his mom on a road side stand in the middle of the Volunteer State, is a great addition to my honey collection.

 

Name:  Heather Hills Farm Scottish Heather Honey

You can buy it here:  At Fox and Obel's in Chicago where I bought it. (More on this fantastic gourmet store in a future entry) or, on the internet.

Country:  Scotland

Purchased:  May, 2008

Color:  Butterscotch

Flavor:  Intense, flower flavors. More piquant than sweet.  It's a challenging, but very pleasant taste. Not medicinal, but almost.  This is not an introductory honey. This is for more sophisticated tastes.

Consistency:  Medium. Not thick, but spreadable, meaning you can use a spoon or a knife to carry it to your slice of bread or scone. 

Fragrance:  Bouquet of field flowers. 

Notes:  Open up this jar of honey and you are in the Scottish Highlands surrounded by sharply slopping hills of  purple heather.  A bright sun shines through heavy whites clouds.  In the distance there's a clear blue lake, the surface so calm that it looks like a pane of glass… Think I'm exaggerating? I'm not. This is one of the most fragrant honeys I've tried. 

 I once read a French novel in which the protagonist never leaves his study, but travels (in his mind) all over the world using his sense of smell.  He had a whole library full of fragrances that took him to this place or that.  This jar of honey would have belonged in his collection.
 
If you need to further enhance the experience, open the jar while listening to one of my favorite Van Morrison songs, "Purple Heather" which is on one of his lesser known albums, "Hard Nose the Highway."

A word on Van Morrison.  My late, beloved brother, Mark, introduced me to his music when I visited him in Bellingham, Washington in the summer of 1972 just after my senior year in high school. My big brother was always introducing me to things - music, literature, food, wine, cigars.  His taste was impeccable and he was always ahead of the curve.  He was runner before anyone ran, a wine enthusiast before it became fashionable. If he became interested in something (and for him to be interested in something meant total immersion) you just knew it was going to be the next big thing.

His introductions always began with the same enthusiastic phrase: "Al, you gotta hear this, see this, taste this, read this…" So, it was with Van Morrison and his newest album at the time, "St. Dominic's Preview." Morrison was already a pop star by this point with hits like "Gloria," "Brown-Eyed Girl," and "Moondance, "  but he was new to me.

The first track, "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)," knocked me out. I was immediately as "into" Van Morrison as my brother was.  That's the way it usually went.

Morrison is still going strong, still making music, a legend who has transcended, but never betrayed his rock and roll origins. Long may he sing.
And long may you enjoy this fascinating honey. 

 

Name:  Pitcairn Island Pure Honey

You can buy it here:  On the Internet.

Country:  Pitcairn Island. You can learn more about the island here.  But here are a few interesting facts. Only 48 people live on the atoll, making it the least populated country in the world, even though it’s not really a country. It’s still a British protectorate.

Purchased:  December, 2007

Color:  Sauterne. The color of a rich, white desert wine.

Flavor:  Tropical fruit salad with distinctive hints of mango, banana, apple, watermelon, and grape. It’s very light and refreshing.

Consistency:  Syrup-like. Quite thin as honey goes.

Fragrance:  Nothing distinctive.

Notes:  Everybody knows the story of The Mutiny on the Bounty. English sailors, led by Fletcher Christian, rebeled against their brutal captain, William Bligh, in the South Pacific. Bligh was so determined to bring bread fruit plants back to England, that he was willing to sacrifice almost anything including his men to do so.  Finally, his crew couldn’t take it anymore and mutinied.

The mutineers set Bligh adrift, destroyed their ship, the Bounty, and settled on Pitcairn Island. Bligh, in one of the great feats of naval history, survived, while most of the mutineers, including Christian, died on the island. I have simplified the story greatly. It’s much more complex and fascinating than this brief description. Even now there is much controversy about what really happened on the ship and island afterwards.

Hollywood has spun the story into a movie three times, 1935 with Clark Gable , 1962 with Marlon Brando , and 1984 with Mel Gibson. The first one, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture and had a big influence on me as a young boy, is the best, but other two also have merit. Brando was so taken with the South Pacific that he married the Tahitian actress who played his love interest in the film and bought a 12 island atoll which he held onto until his death.  Numerous books have been written about the Bounty saga. The latest one, The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty has been highly praised.

Susie and I went to the South Pacific three years ago on a Prager cruise. We didn’t make it to Pitcairn Island (no cruise ships do that I know of), but the stops we made in Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa and Tahiti fulfilled a life-long ambition. The South Pacific has always been my personal definition of exotic and romantic. The moist breezes, the gorgeous sea foam green water, the bright tropical vegetation, and the baby powder beaches are, indeed, glories to behold. I could live there quite happily. Hey, with an high speed internet connection, we could do the show as well from Bora Bora as from Los Angeles. Unfortunately, Susie would go nuts. So, would Dennis.

One final note: it took a long time to get this honey. I ordered it in December and it arrived in April. I had almost forgotten about it when finally showed up on my door step. When it did, however, it provoked all kinds of memories and thoughts – memories about our South Pacific trip, thoughts about the Bounty, about Brando, even about the Clark Gable “Mutiny on the Bounty, one of my earliest film memories – exactly the reason I ordered it in the first place. I don’t know what kind of associations it will bring to your mind, but the honey itself, with its tropical fruit highlights, is its own reward. And, the 48 people who live on island could probably use the business.

 

Honey Journal -- Entry 11

Name:  Heavenly Organics, Organic Wild Forest Raw Honey (Unheated)

You can buy it:  at Whole Foods or on the Internet here.

Country:  India

Purchased:  March, 2008

Color:  Dark amber with a silty, muddy crown

Flavor:  Black licorice

Consistency:  Medium thickness with lots of crystals. Has a “raw” feel to it.

Fragrance:  Earthy with a licorice scent that greets you the moment you open the jar.

Notes:  Honey and beekeeping have a venerated place in Indian sub-continent, figuring prominently in Indian mythology. Ancient cave paintings found there feature bees and the harvesting of honey. Indians take their honey seriously and have for a long time.

Heavenly Organics associates this honey with that tradition. And there is, I have to say, a primal quality to it. Gathered in the forests of central India, you get the sense that this is what honey tasted like in this part of the world hundreds, if not thousands of years ago.

There’s something else that’s different about this honey. The bees that create it, wild rock bees, are not domesticated. They do their work with no assistance from us, building their hives in rocks and high in trees. Just getting to it is a job.

Because of the pureness of the product and the multi-floral nature of the honey (many of the plants pollinated are believed to have medicinal qualities) a lot of health benefits are claimed for this honey. I don’t endorse that one way or the other, but I thought you might like to know. 

 

Honey Journal – Entry #10

Name:  Hill Tribe Gourmet Honey from Lychee Flowers.  You can find out all you want to know about lychees here.

You can buy it here:  On the internet.

Country:  Thailand

Purchased:  February 2008

Color:  Light Gold

Flavor:  Flowery with a sharp, piquant finish that lingers on the palate.  The lychee fruit is known for its “rosy” flavor and you can definitely taste it in this honey.

Consistency:  Syrupy

Fragrance:  Very mild brown sugar scent.

Notes:  I wouldn’t recommend this to someone who I wanted to introduce to glories of honey.  It’s a sophisticated, unusual taste that can probably be best appreciated by the aficionado. I bought a jar in Phuket, Thailand, a stop on the Prager listener cruise. The cruise was glorious in many ways, one of the best we’ve taken (and that’s saying a lot), but as a honey expedition it was kind of a bust.  I was hoping to score all kinds of exotic  brands.  I looked for them high and low, but without much success.  Mostly what I found were standard, processed supermarket-style honeys.  Still, this one was a worthy find.

I discovered it at the Wang Talang Jewelry Store and Emporium in Phuket, one of the most amazing stores I’ve been to anywhere. Try to imagine this:  a square football field full of case after case of every gem you can imagine – rubies, sapphires, diamonds, opals -- all exquisitely displayed.  It took my breath away. Susie found the pearl case (Thailand is known for its pearls) and was lost to me for the afternoon.  

Most of the salespeople had Western-style names on their name tags like Ben or Anna. Dennis wanted to know their real names and then expended much effort trying to pronounce each one correctly and other Thai words he insisted they teach him. Thai is not easy for the Westerner because of its subtle, complex accents, but this didn’t faze our Den. The sales people cracked up as he spoke his newly- learned Thai phrases with the confidence of a native.  Of course, they fell in love with him at the same time.  He tried to leverage the love into a bigger discount, but didn’t get too far with that.

 

Honey Journal – Entry #9

Name:  Living Foods Hawaiian Lehua Honey

You can buy it at Whole Foods or on the Internet here.

Country:  Hawaii, USA

Purchased:  December 2008

Color:  Carmel

Flavor:  Malted milk shake.  Seriously.

Consistency:  Dense.  Crystallizes naturally.

Fragrance:  Barely perceptible “beeswaxy” scent.

Notes: 

This honey is gathered from the bright red Lehua flower found on the islands of Hawaii.  It’s pure, raw honey and looks it. There’s nothing “refined” in its appearance or taste.  One of the aspects of honey that fascinates me is how different each one tastes. But when you think about it why shouldn’t they taste different? They are gathered from different flowers in different climates in different geographical locations all over the world.

Most people know that, in some sort of vague way, that bees pollinate flowers. But what does this mean? Flowers have two sexes, male and female.  Bees are only interested in the male flowers. They have no use for female blossoms because they don’t have any pollen.  But the bees don’t know the difference between the two until they do a little investigating. 

They buzz into a flower looking for pollen.  If it’s a male flower, they find it. They gather what they can, pushing little bits of the pollen into sacks near their back legs.  Then, they buzz out, looking for another flower.  This time, let’s say, they fly into a female flower. Waste of effort, so they fly out. But in the process of flying in and flying out they, unintentionally, drop some of the pollen that’s covering their bodies (they’ve been swimming in the stuff).  In the vibration of flight tiny bits shake loose.

Those tiny bits fertilize the female flowers, creating many of the fruits, seeds and vegetables that we eat.  Now there are also many hermaphroditic species of flowers; that is, flowers that contain both male and female parts.  But here’s the kicker. The female side of the blossom won't accept pollen from its male side. It would be like the flower version of incest. They only accept pollen from another flower. And here, again, is where the bees come in.

To learn more about these amazing creatures, a good book to start with is Robbing the Bees: A Biography of Honey--The Sweet Liquid Gold that Seduced the World by Holly Bishop.
 

Honey Journal -- Entry 8

Name:   Rees Estate, Private Reserve Honey

You can buy it here:  Unfortunately, it’s not for sale.

Country:  Woodland Hills, CA

Purchased:  Given as a gift in January 2008.

Color:  When you look into the jar, the honey is as dark as ink. Rich brown halos rim your spoon as you lift the honey into the light.

Flavor:  Deep molasses with a black licorice after taste.  Hints of orange peel give it a nice tang.

Consistency:  Heavy, but porous.

Fragrance:  Musky molasses

Notes:   

Prager listener, Robert Rees, whom Susie and I met on a Prager Cruise a couple of years ago to Brazil, sent me a small jar of this honey from his private stock. Twenty years ago he tried his hand at making his own honey in his own backyard. Having sampled his work, I can tell you he has a real talent for the craft.

I asked Robert if he would share with me his experience of making the honey and he agreed. I posed a bunch of questions to him.  I found his answers fascinating.  They provide a glimpse into the process of backyard beekeeping , a serious hobby that given my burgeoning love of bees  I would be tempted to try if producing a radio show were a less time intensive endeavor.

Here’s our exchange.

How many hives did you have?
[Robert Rees] I had three hives – each with a base brood chamber and 3 or 4 "supers" (honey boxes).
Did you keep them in the backyard of house?
[Robert Rees] I had them in my back yard.
Were they hard to manage?
[Robert Rees] Not at all.  On a daily basis, they barely require any attention, nor do they cause any trouble (unless your 3 year old son decides it would be interesting to go out to the hives in his underpants and poke a stick into the entrance to the hive).  Occasionally, a beekeeper needs to check the hives for various bee health concerns and honey status.  When the honey has filled the honey comb frames in the boxes, you need to harvest the honey or add another box to the top of the hive.  The real work is extracting the honey.  That's quite a chore.
Did you heat the honey to get it out of the hives?
[Robert Rees] No.  A hobbyist like me would rent an extractor and an electric capping knife from a bee supply place.  There used to be a great one in Thousand Oaks.  The capping knife is heated just enough to remove the wax capping on the honey cells.  Then the frames are put into the extraction drum which uses centrifugal force to spin the honey out of the comb.  After extraction, you open the spigot on the drum and strain the honey into a bucket to remove the bee parts (bees, wings, legs, etc.), bits of wax, twigs, and other junk.
 Did you ever add anything to the honey? Or is 100% pure?
[Robert Rees] Nothing added.
 Was it always this dark? And have this same taste?
[Robert Rees] No. A couple harvests were very light and less viscous.  The flavors definitely vary with the color.  I can't explain it with any certainty, but I expect that different years with different weather would cause an abundance or lack of certain flowers that the bees would visit.  Sometimes the hives, which were sitting right next to each other, would have different honey color.  I guess that hives have preferences for what they harvest.
 Did you ever get stung?
[Robert Rees] Many times.  You can sit in front of a bee hive, inches away from the entrance where thousands of bees are coming and going and never get stung.  If you don't bother them, no problems.  It's when you're inspecting the hives or harvesting the honey that they get aggressive.  In those cases, a beekeeper might wear a suit and veiled hat, and/or "smoke" the hive.  Introducing smoke into the hive entrance and the open top makes the bees think that there is a fire, which makes them start gorging themselves with honey.  In a real fire, the engorged bees would evacuate the hive and find a safe place to rebuild.  The honey is converted to wax to create a new honey-combed hive structure.  The point: engorged bees don't sting.  However, there are "guard bees" who will attack you and occasionally I got stung; usually not more than a couple stings.  If you are allergic, you can easily die from a single sting. 
Once I got stung about 50 times, when I was getting a hive from a friend whose wife was making him get rid of his hive because their kids where getting stung.  He had a four box hive built up on a 4"x4" post. Those hive boxes are extremely heavy when they are full of honey. I had to disassemble the hive box by box from a ladder.  After the first ten stings, you barely notice them.  When I was done, I realized that I was in shock and had to lie down for a while to recuperate.
Do you know want kind of bees they were?
[Robert Rees] This was before the invasion of the so-called African bees, so mine were the standard European variety.  (I think the scourge of the dreaded African bees may be another "global warming" type scare).
 Why did you stop?
[Robert Rees] My house has an alley in the back with office building across the alley.  At night, the offices had yellow flood lights on.  I think the bees got confused and thought it was the rising sun.  The lights would attract then and in the morning there would be a bunch of dead and dying bees by the office entrance doors.  Those folks figured out where the bees where coming from and reported me.  Apparently, bees are classified as a farm animal and you can't have them in a residential neighborhood.  So, goodbye bees  At that time, a beekeeper friend was moving out of state to start a full time bee business.  He bought my hives and most the honey that I had harvested.  I only kept 5 gallons of the dark honey that I sent you.  I liked it the best.
Do you want me to give out your email address so that readers can get in touch with you or would you rather I not?
[Robert Rees]  I don't want to sell anything.  If you or anyone else wanted to know more about bees and honey, there are several good books about it.  Mastering the Art of Beekeeping is one of the classics. You can use my name and email (robert.rees@gmail.com).  I'm thrilled to be part of your honey blog.

 

Honey Journal – Entry 7

Name:  Eucalipto

You can buy it here:  Whole Foods or on the Internet here.

Country:  Italy

Purchased:  December 2007

Color:  Caramel

Flavor:  Fresh, slightly tart lemon with a cool eucalyptus follow through.

Consistency:  Thick. Like dipping into a rich batch of caramel.  The spoon won’t sink into the jar. You have to push it in to scoop out the honey.

Fragrance:  Lemony.

Notes:  This honey is harvested on the plains of Maremma, a region of Tuscany, Italy.  I’ve never been there, but this honey makes me want to go.  My first order of business would be to give my regards to the master beekeeper, Giuseppe Follino, who is responsible for a variety of honeys that I plan to sample in the future.