New York – Helene Marshall gingerly inspects the white plastic packet of honey on the hotel breakfast table.
Peeling back the top, the 64-year-old former wind chime designer dabs at the pale, syrupy liquid with a teaspoon, bringing just a bit of it up to her lips. And then she gags.
“When you eat stuff like that, you know why so many people don’t like honey,” she says, reaching for a glass of water.
Marshall, a bubbly woman partial to bee-themed jewelry, hopes to change that. She and her beekeeper husband sell more than 25 varieties of artisanal honey from their American Canyon, Calif.-based Marshall’s Farm Natural Honey.
They are among a growing corps of producers working in careful union with honeybees to craft nuanced honeys, many from single plant varieties, such as the Marshall’s mild alfalfa and molasses-like Wild West Wildflower honeys.
The approach of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year which begins at sundown on Sept. 12, will offer many Americans an opportunity to explore this fast-growing and sweet niche market.
Honey is an essential part of Rosh Hashana celebrations. It is symbolic of the native date blossom honey Israelites ate during biblical times, says Adeena Sussman, food editor for the Jewish magazine Hadassah.
Traditionally served with apples, slathered on braided challah (a rich, eggy Jewish bread), baked in honey cake and mixed into entrees and side dishes, honey also symbolizes a sweet new year.
“Using honey on Rosh Hashanah is a way to reinforce the Jewish people’s age-old connection to the land of Israel,” Sussman says.
“Processed sugar just doesn’t have the same resonance.” Nor, for many honey enthusiasts, does mass-produced honey. Often labeled “clover honey,” these products generally are a blend of honeys intended to achieve consistent – some would say bland – flavor, color and texture.
Because a honey’s flavor varies widely according to the type of nectar the bees fed upon, producers of artisanal honeys carefully control where their bees travel and what plants they have access to.
As a result, artisanal honeys have “more vivid, more interesting flavor notes” than mass-produced varieties, says Stephanie Rosenbaum, author of “Honey: From Flower to Table.” And unlike most supermarket honey, artisanal honeys are sold raw, which preserves the products’ more nuanced flavors, she says. Mass-produced honey generally is a blend of honeys from numerous sources that has been heated and filtered.
Connoisseurs of artisanal honeys have borrowed largely from the wine world for vocabulary to describe the products. It’s not uncommon to hear discussions of “finishes,” “overtones” and “balance.” “Our honeys vary from super-mild and delicate, like sage, acacia and tupelo, to full-bodied and rounded, such as sourwood, which has this gingerbready taste profile,” says Ted Dennard, owner of the 5-year- old Savannah Bee Co.
With eight varieties of honey, each packaged in tall bottles, Savannah, Ga.-based Savannah Bee is seeking to “lift honey out of the honey world into a whole new category” Dennard says.
And, says Jami Yanofsky of the National Honey Board in Firestone, Colo., single-varietal honey is becoming an increasingly appealing option for U.S. beekeepers because it commands far higher prices than selling honey to mass processors.
While consistently more expensive than mass-produced honey, artisanal honeys vary widely in price, but generally runs $10 to $15 per pound, while honeycomb is $15 to $20.
Though the board does not collect data tracking the sales of artisanal honey, Yanofsky says it’s a market that is growing, and the products are starting to show up on grocers’ shelves.
Of course, growth for this industry is by nature slow.
“We can’t just turn on the faucet and out comes honey,” says Marshall, noting that production depends on weather and the health of the bees, a major concern recently due to colony collapse disorder, a mysterious ailment causing the deaths of honeybees around the country.
Yanofsky says it’s not yet clear how the disorder will affect artisanal honey production. Ishai Zeldner of Moon Shine Trading Co. in Woodland, Calif., a gourmet food company that sells 15 varieties of artisanal honey, says so far the ailment has not affected the beekeepers from whom he buys.
On the plus side, he says the disorder is creating an awareness of the importance of honeybees. “Any publicity on the honeybee is positive publicity. It’s a badly underrated insect.”
Artisanal honeys blossom with unique flavors
The blossoms from which honeybees get their nectar impart honey with a flavor that is related, but hardly identical, to the fruit or scent those blossoms can produce. “Honey from blueberry blossoms is not the same as honey with blueberry flavor added,” explains Ari Weinzweig, owner of Zingerman’s, an Ann Arbor, Mich., gourmet deli and mail-order company that offers 14 artisanal honeys. “Raspberry honey doesn’t taste like raspberries. There is almost no correlation between the flavor of the fruit and the honey.” There are hundreds of varieties of artisanal honey, each with distinct colors and flavors. Here are a few to whet your appetite.
Orange Blossom Honeycomb (The Savannah Bee Co., ) Serve small pieces of honeycomb over bread or blue cheese. The liquid of the honey will burst into your mouth as you chew, shooting out an intense dose of rich, caramel sweetness and leaving behind the chewy, slightly fibrous, but perfectly edible comb.
Tupelo (The Savannah Bee Co.) The much coveted tupelo blossoms of the South are available just a few weeks a year. They produce a honey the color of orange marmalade with a tangy, almost citrusy flavor. Try it with tea or served with apples.
Sourwood (The Savannah Bee Co.) Amber-hued, this is a strong, rich honey with a gingerbread taste perfect for honeycake. The honey is made from the white, bell-shaped flowers of the sourwood tree. The taste will dominate whatever it is combined with.
Pumpkin Blossom (Marshall’s Farm Natural Honey, ) This rich, amber-colored honey has squash-like in flavor. It is good drizzled on pies, ice cream, yogurt and yams.
Eucalyptus and Acacia (Marshall’s Farm Natural Honey) This full-bodied, dark honey has a rich aroma and a slightly tangy aftertaste reminiscent of a sweet throat lozenge. Try it over ice cream or baked into bread.
Golden Reserve (Blue Ribbon, ) This honey is produced from the “mantequilla” (Spanish for butter) that has been skimmed off the top of autumn harvest honey.
Its nectar comes from several wildflower blossoms, including mesquite and orange blossoms. It is reminiscent of maple-sugar candy, has the color of lemon curd and has a thick, buttery texture suitable for eating with a spoon.
Yellow Star Thistle (Moon Shine Trading Co., ) Use this dark honey with a sweet, candy-like flavor in honeycake. It is made from yellow star thistle, a fuzzy, yellow wildflower that grows throughout northern California.
Black Button Sage (Moon Shine Trading) Very light, almost white, this mild honey made from blossoms found in the Southern California Coastal Mountains creates a wonderful grill sauce when combined with soy sauce, garlic and oil. It also is good in baked goods.
-The Associated Press
