Honey

TeamCaffee

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While in Santa Nella, CA at the TA we walked across the street to Misty's Fruit Yard and sampled some of the local honey.

She has various kinds of honey and the difference is where the honey was collected.

During this visit she had honey where the bee's had been on blueberry fields, cotton fields, lavender fields, and eucalyptus fields.

Each one has a unique taste and color. It is very hard for me to decide which honey I want!

If you ever get out here it is worth the walk over to the Fruit Yard.

They are also working on a website and it has a little bit of their info posted:

Iyer Farms


Now if I could just find recipes that are not dessert recipes to use with the honey it would be perfect!
 
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Greg

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Where you get honey makes a big difference in taste. I get " local " honey in Clanton,AL. Most of our local honey comes from bees that spend their life in the peach orchards. Yum!

It is great in oatmeal!
 

Greg

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It is also a good replacement for jelly.
Peanut butter and honey, instead of jelly.
 

Turtle

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I order my honey (and one pound blocks of beeswax for cutting boards and other uses around the house) from http://www.ebeehoney.com
They're out of Ashland, OH.
If you're not sure what kind you like, they have a variety pack that's excellent. One of my favorites is the buckwheat honey, a dark, rich honey with a pungent molasses flavor. It's a flavor that people either love or hate, no in between. The darker the honey the more antioxidants. And the buckwheat is really dark.
 

TeamCaffee

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Turtle how all do you use your honey?

I have to admit I am not above dipping a spoon into honey and eating it as is. I do not really like honey on bread and since the first of the year have really worked on becoming gluten free with only a couple of slips. I cannot resist Arizona Cheese & Green Chile Crisps served on flour tortillas.

My new goal is to quit eating sugar and quit eating chocolate until I can get my cravings under control.

Thanks for the link to order honey.
 

paulnstef39

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Supposedly when you move to a new part of the country, you should eat locally grown honey. The thinking is that it reduces allergies to local pollen. Always heard this, never googled it...
 

Turtle

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Turtle how all do you use your honey?

I have to admit I am not above dipping a spoon into honey and eating it as is.
That right there is how I eat it most of the time. Not every day, but 2 or 3 times a week I'll stick a teaspoon down in there and just eat it. Not a lot of calories, doesn't really affect my blood sugar because it's not very much (I'm diabetic) and it has loads of antioxidants. At least once a year I'll buy the comb honey and cut off a bite-size piece with a fork and just chew on it like gum. Sometimes, tho it's a rather rare treat, I'll eat it (or molasses) with homemade biscuits and lots of butter. That's the decadent treat, but it's pure Southern.

I cook with it in glazing a ham, of course, but it's also great to glaze a pan-fried pork chop, chicken breast, chicken kabobs, glazed carrots, ribs. I make this grilled peach and mozzarella salad once in a while that gets drizzled with a little honey on the peaches before putting them on the grill. If I were a hot tea drinker I'd use it in that, but I don't do hot drinks, generally speaking.

My new goal is to quit eating sugar and quit eating chocolate until I can get my cravings under control.
Keep in mind that the sugar in honey is exactly the same sugar as in sugar. If you want to quit eating sugar, then you need to quit eating honey, as well. But if you're going to eat sugar, you can use honey instead, and you'll at least get the healthy benefits of the honey.

I don't do a lot of baking or use much added external sugar on things. A 5 pound bag of sugar would last me several years. A pint jar of honey will last me more than 6 months, so I'm not a real big user of it. But it's perfect for drizzling on certain dishes. Being diabetic I just have to be careful with it.

Thanks for the link to order honey.
I started with them in ordering beeswax. I melt some beeswax in a jar of mineral oil and once it cools I use the soft paste to coat my cutting board. I first coat the cutting board with just mineral oil, as many times as it'll keep soaking it all in. Then I'll use the mixture, and what happens is the oil from the mixture gets soaked in and what's left on top of the board (and sides and bottom) is a thin layer of beeswax, that gets wiped and polished, so the cutting board becomes virtually waterproof and won't absorb water, dry and crack. Then every few weeks I apply a new beeswax coat. By the time you're done waxing a cutting board your hands feel and smell terrific. :D

They reason I ordered from them is they have really good beeswax, 100% pure and not mixed with other waxes. They filter it twice so it's clean and ready to go out of the box for candles, lotions, balms, and cutting boards. A one-pound slab of beeswax, if used exclusively for cutting board use, will probably be enough to last a lifetime. It only takes an once or two to a cup of mineral oil to make a really lot of cutting board paste.

There are I'm sure lots of places to order honey and beeswax online, but that place is highly recommended by chefs and woodworkers for the beeswax, and by honey aficionados for the high quality of their raw honey. I've never been disappointed. They're just beekeepers in Ashland, they don't even have a retail storefront, they only sell the stuff online. He works the hives and she works the Website and mails stuff out. They're in a connected group of private beekeepers who have the same high standards of how they treat the honey and the hives. There's a local beekeeper here out in the county who I'd buy from, but he's a really small keeper and doesn't have much of a harvest each year. By the time you hear that he's harvested, it's all gone.

I've given several of these as gifts and it's always a hit.
 
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cheri1122

Veteran Expediter
Driver
I like honey in oatmeal, Lady Gray tea, and once in awhile, in plain yogurt.
I finally found some Tupelo honey [after loving the Van Morrison song for decades, lol] that's excellent. It's almost gone now, and it's a seasonal thing, so I was wondering about where I'd get good honey now. Turtle to the rescue: great link, thanks!
 

TeamCaffee

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Turtle my daughter asked me the same thing if I am giving up sugar don't use honey. Really I had not linking sugar and honey together and had not of it that way.

I have not opened the honey yet and I believe I will leave it sealed a bit longer until i try it in a glaze or a dipping sauce.
 

Turtle

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Turtle my daughter asked me the same thing if I am giving up sugar don't use honey. Really I had not linking sugar and honey together and had not of it that way.

I have not opened the honey yet and I believe I will leave it sealed a bit longer until i try it in a glaze or a dipping sauce.
That's probably pretty typical. The perception is sugar=unhealthy, honey=healthy. But they're really the same. Actually, because of the perception, people think honey is healthy so they eat more of it than they would sugar, and it ends up being more unhealthy than sugar.

If you're going to eat sugar, then certainly honey is the best kind to eat, especially the darker honeys that have the minerals and antioxidants, but if you are avoiding sugar for whatever reason then you need to avoid honey for the same reason. Don't consume honey because you think it's an excellent source of minerals or antioxidants. It is an excellent source, but ONLY in relation to plain white sugar. In relation to foods high in minerals and antioxidants, honey is pretty weak. Basically, if you're going to put a spoonful of something in your tea, honey is better than refined sugar, but it's still just sugar that tastes better than sugar.

I tend to get my sweets from whole fruits and vegetables, rather than in added sugar or honey into or on top of something (the fiber in the fruits and vegetables mitigates the influx of fructose). A teaspoon dipped into the jar once in a while tastes great and doesn't affect my blood sugar, and provides a limited amount of antioxidants. When I drizzle honey over a porkchop it's only a teaspoon or so to add the flavor of honey rather than an amount that would smother the dish.

Here's an article that lays it out, what to be aware of and why the perception is what it is.
Healthy? No, honey can be WORSE for you than sugar* | Daily Mail Online

Here's one with some nifty facts, and why you should choose darker honey if you're going to eat honey.
Is Honey Bad For You, or Good? The Sweet Truth Revealed
 

Tennesseahawk

Veteran Expediter
I love using honey in oriental cooking... that and brown sugar. Also use it for sticky wings.

There's a difference between raw and cooked honey. If you heat honey, it loses a lot of its nutrients, but you're unlikely to get the crystalization at the top of the jar. All those crystals are is pure sugar. But since it scares most customers, they usually cook it. I've found raw honey at Costco for a decent price.

If my next gig can get me home weekly, I may try my hand at beekeeping. I've been researching it for the last year or so, and it looks very fulfilling, and believe it or not, calming. I've always been afraid of bees, until I watched beekeeping videos on yt. My kids don't have the fear I did, partially because I'm teaching them not to. The last thing the bees want to do is commit suicide.
 

Tennesseahawk

Veteran Expediter
Just tried buckwheat honey. Has a flavor I remember, but I don't know from where. The difference between it and clover honey is kind of like the difference between a really dark chocolate and milk chocolate... not as sweet, heartier flavor. Me like.
 

pelicn

Veteran Expediter
We have these two hives at our house, and this is the honey we got from just 2 frames.
Beekeeping is a fun hobby, but can quickly become an expensive hobby if you're not careful. It's a fun hobby even with the few stings we've gotten over the years.
IMG_20140601_085309_539.jpgIMG_20141001_184449_505.jpg
 
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TeamCaffee

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Last year was the first year I tasted honey comb and wow is that good.

Pelicn I think it would be a great hobby. The bees must do well without you being home often or does someone else have to maintain the bees?
 

pelicn

Veteran Expediter
They are pretty self sufficient. Usually in the spring you treat for mites, and give medications for certain diseases, but other than that you really don't need to mess with them unless you see a problem.
 

LDB

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Retired Expediter
I watch a couple of shows about Alaska. In one they talked about bees and the family has to order new bees every year because they can't survive the winter. When my dad was riding with me we'd pick up small things of honey from various parts of the country for him to take home. He enjoyed trying and comparing the varieties.
 

cheri1122

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Just tried buckwheat honey. Has a flavor I remember, but I don't know from where. The difference between it and clover honey is kind of like the difference between a really dark chocolate and milk chocolate... not as sweet, heartier flavor. Me like.

Molasses? I got my honey a couple weeks ago, and the buckwheat is excellent. Also the soap!
 
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