From honey experts C. Marina Marchese, founder of Red Bee ® Honey and Kim Flottum, editor of Bee Culture Magazine comes this comprehensive introduction to the origin, flavor, and culinary uses of more than 30 varietals of honey, from ubiquitous clover to tangy star thistle to rich, smoky buckwheat.

——–The Honey Connoisseur Book Tour begins in
San Francisco and New York City——–

Here are the dates you can meet
Marina Marchese and get your
signed copy of The Honey Connoisseur

— Sunday, MAY 19, 2013 at 12:00 PM—
Williams Sonoma, Palo Alto, California
600 El Camino Real
Stanford Shopping Center, Palo Alto, CA, 94304
How to Taste Honey & Host a Honey Tasting Party and Book Signing
Contact:Glen MacDonald, Local Events Coordinator
650.321.3486
GMacDonald@stores.williams-sonoma.com

How to Taste Honey – Marina speaks to Williams Sonoma

When most of us think of terroir – loosely translating to “a taste of place” — we think of wine. The term refers to the soil, climate and grapes that create a bottle representative of the region in which it’s produced. But as we’re learning, terroir is every bit as applicable to honey as well. So why not turn the tables on your next wine tasting and include a honey tasting as well?

For tips on pulling it off, we turned to Marina Marchese, beekeeper, founder of Red Bee Honey and author of the new book The Honey Connoisseur, to be released in June. Marchese is changing the way people think about honey, celebrating the philosophy of terroir and honey’s diverse flavor profiles. She even coined the term “honey sommelier” in her first book, Honeybee: Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper. Here, she tells us how to create the perfect honey tasting at home.

Creating Flavor Profiles

First, it’s important to understand why different types of honey can look and taste so distinct from one another.

“Honey is made from the nectar of flowers, and around the world there are thousands of different honey plants producing nectar,” says Marina. “That means you will only find certain varietals of honey harvested in certain regions: blueberry honey is produced in Maine or Michigan, while Tupelo is produced in Georgia or northern Florida. That’s terroir at work: a color, aroma and flavor profile that is truly a reflection of a specific region.”

As Marina explains, consider apple blossom honey. The tree’s flowers bloom early in the spring but only for a few short weeks. If the temperature is too cold, the honey bees will stay in their hives instead of pollinating the apple trees and gathering nectar. Thus, we can miss an entire apple honey harvest. However, if the conditions are just right, bees will pollinate the flowers and produce apple blossom honey. The bees’ behavior, combined with the region and its environmental conditions, will determine the quality and quantity of a honey harvest, as well as the unique characteristics of the resulting honey.

That’s one of the reasons a honey tasting can be so fun and informative — the colors, aromas and flavor profiles of each varietal are endless. When it comes to choosing honey for tasting, definitely select a range of varietals. Marina recommends purchasing honey close to the source.

“If you can’t get honey from a local beekeeper or harvest it yourself, go to the farmers’ market and talk to the people selling it,” advises Marina. “Ask them about their bees and the types of honey plants blooming in their area.”

Also, she notes, pure honey is rarely perfectly clear and transparent. It should be a little foggy, which means the pollen hasn’t been filtered out, maintaining its original purity. Most importantly, good honey will have layers of flavor. While sugar and other sweeteners are simply sweet, honey can express floral, grassy, fruity or woody flavor notes.

“If all you’re tasting is sweet, it may not be true blossom honey,” says Marina.

Tasting & Pairing Honey

Red Bee offers their own Honey Party Tasting Kit, a collection of four hand-harvested honeys with unique flavor profiles, plus a honey tasting wheel, color chart and and scorecards. We asked Marina to pair each honey with foods that will highlight its characteristics. Here, she picks a cheese and wine for each one, along with more of her favorite suggestions.

Alfalfa Honey

“Alfalfa is a legume,” says Marina. “You’re going to find warm, grassy notes, dry, spicy hay, and true vegetal flavors reminiscent of the plant itself.”

Pair it: Serve alfalfa honey with an earthy Brie cheese, flatbread crackers and a glass of Pinot Blanc. It’s also delicious drizzled over warm cornbread, polenta or grits.

Clover Honey

Grassy but still floral, clover honey has notes of butterscotch and beeswax. “Clover has distinctive notes of vanilla and toffee, depending on the region in which it was produced,” says Marina.

Pair it: Clover honey is delicious with a Pecorino cheese, but Marina also recommends drizzling it over tapioca pudding with cardamom and pecans (think butter-pecan ice cream).

Buckwheat Honey

Deep and rich, buckwheat honey has notes of chocolate and cherries, and it’s musty on the nose. “People either love it or they don’t like it at all,” says Marina.

Pair it: A nutty cheddar or hardy stilton cheese pairs well with buckwheat honey, along with a dessert wines such as Banyuls or tawny port. It’s also a great substitute for maple syrup. Drizzle it over mascarpone-filled crepes, pancakes or waffles, with bacon.

Wildflower Honey

“Wildflower honey will change its color, aroma and flavor profile depending on the region it was produced,” says Marina. “Honey bees gather nectar from many different flowers, and every region has its own unique flowers. Wildflower honeys, like all honeys, will change by season and region.” Red Bee wildflower honey is dark in color with caramel and maple flavor notes.

Pair it: A strong blue cheese like Valdeon and red wine, such as Chianti, will complement this honey. It’s also great drizzled over freshly sliced figs and walnuts.

Honey Tasting Party Tips

You only need a few things to host a honey tasting party: a Red Bee tasting kit (or your favorite selection of honeys), a group of friends, food accompaniments and beverages.

“The idea is to have fun and get people excited about honey, while also learning about its vast flavor profiles,” says Marina. “Tasting honey opens up conversations about honey bees, pollination, travel, honey plants and where our food comes from.”

Serve a variety of cheeses. Gather a selection of cheeses from your local cheesemonger (the ones described above are a good starting point). Marina recommends four honeys paired with four cheeses. It’s a good idea to taste the cheeses first before pairing them with honeys.

Consider your accompaniments. Crusty bread, crackers, and fresh and dried fruits are delicious with cheese and honey. Include different nuts as well, or even roll the cheese in nuts to add a crunchy texture. Vegetables like simple crudités, sundried tomatoes, and olives can work well, too.

Offer a selection of wines. Marina suggests a sparkling Prosecco, Cava or Champagne, plus a variety of red and white wines to complement the cheeses and honeys.

Set a beautiful buffet table. Arrange cheeses on a large, white platter. Pour honey into white or clear glass bowls, or stemmed glasses for an elegant presentation, so you can see the different colors of each one. Set out plenty of spoons to serve the honey and encourage guests to help themselves, slicing cheeses and drizzling honey as they please. Don’t forget napkins — it can get sticky!

Include talking points. Marina’s honey tasting kit comes with a honey aroma and tasting wheel, similar to the ones you see for wine. Place it out on the table to give people a starting point for talking about honey’s characteristics and flavors. You can also include pairing suggestions and notes about the floral source and the region where each honey is produced.

Most of all, have fun and enjoy the honey tasting experience!

Honey Chocolate Truffles Recipe

• 1/2 cup cacao powder
• 1/2 cup dried dates
• 2 cups walnuts
• 1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons coconut oil

1. Put all ingredients in a food processor and mix until everything binds into a thick dough ball.
Add more coconut oil or water if dough is too dry.
2. Hand roll into mini balls then roll in powdered cacao.
3. Refrigerate for one hour and serve.

 FEBRUARY 14, 2013
Murray’s Cheese Shop
Honey for your Honey on Valentine’s Day!

We know you’ve moved beyond thinking that honey comes in a plastic bear or that cheese comes in a big yellow block—and that you believe your sweetheart deserves much more! Now learn exactly how to match the two incredible edibles together to create out-of-this-world pairings. Marina Marchese, owner of Red Bee Honey will join us to expand upon the world of beekeeping and the single-origin honey harvest, and our own seasoned Murray’s experts will be on hand to pair each honey with its cheeseological match-made-in-heaven. As complex as a wine pairing but sweeter going down, these pairings will get you buzzing about honey and cheese.

Marina presents The Sweetest Thing: Honey and Cheese
254 Bleecker St. (between 6th & 7th Ave.)
New York, NY 10014 at 6:30-8:00 PM

February 12, 2013
Honey and Chocolate Pairing at Chocopologie

Guests will be treated to an open bar and passed hors d’oeuvres followed by a sit-down tasting of five unique honey varietals and five delectable, complementary chocolates. $75 per person; Tuesday, February 12th; 7:00pm – 9:30pm; Chocopologie Cafe, 12 South Main Street, Norwalk, CT 06854. Reserve your spot by emailing info@chocopologie.com.

Our pumpkin blossom honey is a dark amber reminiscent of autumn
with warm flavors of squash blossoms and toasted nuts.

Haunted Pumpkin Honey Caramel Popcorn

Make your own holiday popcorn treat,
an easy and healthier option than store bought microwave bags of popcorn.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup popcorn kernels
1 tablespoon of olive oil
½ teaspoon of salt
1 small brown paper bag
masking tape
½ cup of Red Bee Pumpkin Blossom honey
¼ cup of whipping cream
2 tablespoons of butter

Method:

1.     Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2.     Measure 1/3 cup popcorn kernels, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and ½ teaspoon of salt.
3.     Pour all ingredients into a bowl and mix well.
4.     Pour the mixture into a small brown paper bag, folding the top and seal with a piece of masking tape.
5.     Place bag in microwave for 2 minutes – listen to kernels pop – when they stop popping for more than 2 seconds, popcorn should be done.
6.     Be careful when removing bag from microwave- contents are HOT! And put in a large bowl.

To make the pumpkin honey caramel topping

1.     Measure ½ cup of honey, ¼ cup of whipping cream and 1 tablespoon of butter.
2.     Pour ingredients into a small saucepan on low heat on the stove until the mixture melts down.
3.     Drizzle honey mixture over bowl with popcorn.  Stir to coat popcorn.
4.     Let cool and ENJOY!

Beekeepers around the country are harvesting their liquid gold and celebrating the bounty with Honey Tastings!

If you did not know there are hundreds of different types of honey that can be tasted and evaluated similar to wine, each with its unique flavor profile determined by the nectar from the flowers visited by the honeybees then you need to come to a Honey Tasting. The unsung fact is that the essence of a honey is dictated by the terroir from the French word for earth, describing the unique combination of geographic location, climate and soil that give each honey its complex composition and tasting notes. As in wine making, terroir dramatically affects the flavor profiles of the honeys produced. You’re invited to one of Marina’s Honey Tasting events check the calendar below.

BEEKEEPERS HONEY LEMONADE RECIPE

Good old fashioned lemonade is way to hold on to the last few weeks of summer.
We suggest goldenrod honey which is blooming now but you may use your own honey. Makes 2 quarts

1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
3/4 cup goldenrod honey
2 cups hot water
Cold tap water to fill a pitcher

1 • Combining the hot water and honey in a 2-quart pitcher.
2 • Stir until the honey is dissolved.
3 • Add the lemon juice and enough cold water to fill the pitcher.
4 • Stir and stir and serve over ice.

What’s the BUZZ at RED BEE in SEPTEMBER

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012
Marina will be answering all your questions about HONEY and BEES on Martha Stewart’s Radio’s Sophie of Life Coaching with Sophie on Friday, September 7 at 12 p.m. ET, on Martha Stewart Living Radio, Sirius XM channel 110.

SEPTEMBER 14, 2012
Yale Sustainable Food Project: Lazarus Events Series
New Haven, CT
Honey Tasting Laboratory Workshop at 2pm
RSVP: Kate O’Shaughnessy at kathryn.oshaughnessy@yale.edu

SEPTEMBER 20, 2012
Bedford Cheese Shop Union Square
Thursday, September 20, 2011 7:00 PM till 8:20 PM
Honey and Cheese Tasting with Marina Marchese

SEPTEMBER 23, 2012
Sensory Analysis and Terroir of Honey and Honey Tasting
Mother Earth News Fair
Seven Springs Mountain Resort, PA
The Bee Culture Magazine Beekeeping Pavillon

Martha Stewart American Made Awards

Martha Stewart Living magazine is searching for the rising stars in a new generation of small-business owners whose work shares the quality, beauty, inspiration, possibility, and creativity embodied by Martha. The lucky winner who is chosen by the audience will be honored at the American Made event in New York City, will appear in Martha Stewart Living magazine, and will receive $10,000 to further his or her business.

Vote for Red Bee Honey!

Hollywood comes to RED BEE Apiary!

Marina’s Red Bee Apiary will be featured in an upcoming episode of daytime talk show, “The Chew” on ABC. Marina and host chef Jason Roberts spent the day together inspecting honeybees and harvesting delicious honey. Stay tuned the honey harvest episode will be airing sometime mid-September.

In between trying to steal some time to write, honey sales are brisk with inquiries from some amazing places like the one in the picture TERRAIN. If you are not familiar with them, you must visit or at least see their web site. It’s every gardeners dream to live a farmhouse lifestyle and Red Bee Honey fit right in as a featured vendor at their new Westport location.

Thank goodness for angels because I have two this month. Rachel and Taylor are graduating seniors from Wilton HS and have been keeping the honey drizzling here everyday for one whole month. I could not do any of this without their help! We had our first Honey Tasting workshop of the year this past Sunday. It was a full house and we had sunshine throughout the entire event. Talk about lucky stars, they are shining on me. Stay tuned there’s more to come…..