The Wind Attack

In my childhood, I always craved honey when I was ill: honey on jiffy mix biscuits.  It was simply clover honey out of a plastic honey bear, but I always found it to be the most soothing thing.  It was a sugary comfort food and I never really thought about what it was or where it came from.  I guess I understood that it came from flowers and bees, but never really understood what “clover honey” meant.

Recently I’ve come to discover that there is more to life than the simple commercial clover honey of my youth.  Different flowers make different tasting honeys.  I’ve been buying some lovely raw wildflower honeys at my local farmer’s market, but it wasn’t until I started researching for this dinner that I discovered just how exotic honey can taste.  It can range from sweet and mild to musky and off-putting.  That is to say, ranging from comforting to exotic.

Putting together this menu was one of the greatest food challenges I’ve ever created for myself.  I wanted to taste a large variety of honeys without leaving the table feeling like I’ve eaten way too much sugar.  Small cocktail spoons helped for serving honey tastes in small 1/4 tsp sized servings and I made some dishes with honey and others to pair with the honey.

For the guests I invited a handful of foodie friends and also reached out to a local urban beekeeper, Leonardo.  I found Leonardo’s honey being sold for charity at the hair salon I go to which is incidentally called “The Hive.”  It was great to not only include his honey in the tasting, but to gain his perspective on urban beekeeping and sustainable eating.

I hosted the dinner in the shade of old growth orange trees in the garden of a house in the Valley Glen neighborhood of Los Angeles.  The weather was perfectly calm and warm, but not too warm, making for a fantastic evening outdoors.

Lavender Honey (France)

Purchased from Cube

Very quickly the distinct taste of lavender is present in this honey.  The consistancy is super smooth and creamy.  As it melts on the tongue the lavender flavor mellows out into a mild caramel taste.

Prosecco Lemonade in Lavender-Lemon Ice Glass

The first dish I created as a sort of amuse bouche/apéritif.  I chopped fresh lavender and soaked it in water with lemon juice, then froze the solution in silicone shot glass molds.  I blended fresh lemon juice with the lavender honey and then mixed with prosecco in the ice glass.  As the ice melted, more lavender infused into the drink resulting in a bubbly, tangy, lavender-flavored lemonade.

Wildflower Honey (Maine)

When I was in Maine last November, I had a fantastic raw wildflower honey.  I wanted to get some for the tasting, and my dear friend Leah was kind enough to send some to me.

When I tasted this honey, I was surprised to find that it was quite different from how I remember it tasting.  It was just as beautifully thick and waxy as when I had it before, but this time as the thick paste dissolved on my tongue, I got a sudden rush of a lemon flavor that dissolved into soft floral notes.  Previously it had been sweeter and mellower.  Clearly this batch of honey was from a different season and a great example to prove how honey never tastes the same from batch to batch.
Nevertheless, this was delicious, and the citrus note inspired me to pair it with…

Citrus Fennel Salad

Shaved fennel and big pieces of juicy citrus, tossed with lemon juice, olive oil, and fresh cracked pepper.  Anna, of the blog Banana Wonder had brought a big bag of “mystery citrus” that she picked from her Grandfather’s garden.  All of the fruits were from the same tree, yet some were a sweet as sugar, while others were as tart as lemons.  These intriguing fruits along with grapefruit and orange made for a delightful mix of sweet and tangy, garnished with an edible nastirsum blossom.

Clover Honey (Colorado)

Purchased from Artisan Cheese Gallery

The majority of commercially sold honey in the States is “clover” honey, so when I found a raw clover honey that looked and tasted nothing like commercial clover honey, I knew I had to include it in the tasting.  Like the wildflower honey, it was also thick and waxy.  The flavor was very sweet like commercial clover honey, but the sublime creamy consistency let the sweetness unwind slowly and it finished with a warm hint of cinnamon.

Strawberry Asparagus Salad

Next I constructed a salad using the clover honey.  I whisked the honey into meyer lemon juice with pistachio oil and minced garlic and shallots.  Sliced strawberries and purple asaparagus soaked in this solution for nearly an hour before I plated it with arugula blossoms (they taste just like arugala!) and in-shell California Pistachios.

I wanted to incorporate edible flowers into the meal, and the peppery arugula blossoms were the perfect pairing to the sweet strawberries and bitter asparagus.   The in-shell pistachios were a fun shout-out to the pistachio oil in the dressing, plus it’s fun to eat part of the salad with your hands.

Raw Avocado Honey (California)

Almost black in appearance when in the jar, this honey tastes very much like molasses.  It’s rich and creamy… kind of like an avocado.  And incidentally, it pairs damn well with a creamy, ripe avocado.

Avocado Grilled Cheese with Sage Honeycomb (California)

When thinking about the menu for this meal, I tried to think of some foods that are traditionally made with honey.  I adore challah bread, and honey is an important ingredient to good challah.  I made this challah with sage honey and pistachio oil, then slathered the slices with irish butter on one side and the avocado honey on the other.

I made Esi from the blog Dishing Up Delights pick out the cheese for this sandwich and she made an excellent choice with a red wine soaked (“drunken”) goat cheese.  It melted right over the bread and then was sandwiched with ripe California avocado.

I served it with a piece of sage honeycomb to match the sage honey in the bread.  Everyone was really into this sandwich.  It’s honey and avocado made for a sweet and buttery treat while the cheese added a savory element.

The sage honeycomb was described as light and refreshing, creating a good contrast with the strong avocado honey and the rich sandwich.  The honeycomb itself has a fun chewy texture that eventually gets a little too waxy, but it still adds a fun texture to honey.

Corsican Honey (Territorial France) with Green Olives

Purchased from Artisan Cheese Gallery

I bought this jar of honey based on it’s interesting lid and label.  The color of the honey was also very intriguing.  I had no idea what to expect so I was quite surprised by the strange musky smell when I opened the jar.  The taste is unlike anything I’ve had before.  The closest thing I can describe it to is pickled lemon with fennel.

Others described the smell as “like a baby farm animal.”  It did indeed have a certain “farmyard” quality to it.  The flavor however, was not completely off-putting.  We concluded that it was sort of like a funky cheese.  It might not be the most comforting flavor, but it’s intriguing enough to make it enjoyable.

It should also be noted that this is one of serval honeys that we found to have a “sandy” texture.  The presence of very fine sugar crystals makes for a pleasant texture that dances across the tongue.

I paired it with these firm green olives to give a little salty compliment to this savory tasting honey.

Chestnut Honey (Italy) with Sheep’s Milk Blue Cheese and Butter Sauteed Morels

Purchased from Zingerman’s

This honey was also anything but comforting.  It is a beautiful mahogany color, and it also has a bizarre smell upon opening the jar.  The taste is very oily, and has notes of leather.  The after-taste is strong and slightly bitter.  The sensation is similar to that of truffel oil: strong, distinct and indescribable.    Some tasters found this unpleasant on its own.
However, when paired with blue cheese, this honey shines.  The complex woodsy flavor of the honey balances with the bright and tangy blue cheese to make a sophisticated snack.
The coincidence of morel mushroom season seemed like a good enough excuse to include some on this dish to compliment the woodsy flavory of the honey.

Orange Blossom Honey (California)

I was surprised when the first thing I tasted in this honey was not orange, but Cumin!  It was a very destinct and strong cumin flavor followed by subtle citrus notes.

Walnut Oil Roasted Yams with French Yogurt, Fried Quail Egg, Capers and Thyme Flowers

“Smells like breakfast” said one guest when I brought this dish to the table.  Soft, sweet yams mixed with nutty walnut oil, topped with lightly sweetened (with honey, of course) yogurt which mixed with the broken egg yolk to make an incredible sauce.  The capers and thyme flowers balanced out the dish with salty and savory components. Plus, capers are flower buds, so it was a continuation of the edible flowers.

Raw Blueberry Honey (Maine) with Fresh Blueberries

Purchased from Cube

This honey was true to it’s origin.  Started with a strong tart note that is not unlike blueberries.  It finishes sweet and when paired with fresh blueberries it made the blueberries “taste more like blueberries.”  The honey had larger crystals that gave it a fun crunchy texture.  The flavor experience reminded me of the blueberry wine I had when I was in Maine.

Honey Glazed Duck Breast with Braised Dandelion Greens and Abbemele

It feels pretty good when someone describes a dish you’ve made as “perfectly cooked.”  I was pretty proud of this dish both in concept and execution.

Before researching for this post, I had no idea that Abbemele even existed.  It’s a reduction made from honeycomb must, honey and pollen.  It’s not sweet, but rather tangy and slightly acidic.  I decided that this would make a nice, robust sauce for medium rare duck breast.

I mixed the abbemele with water to make a braising liquid for bitter dandelion greens, shallots and garlic.  After braising the greens for nearly a half hour they came out slighty sweet, slightly bitter and very tangy.  I placed the sliced duck breast atop a bed of the greens and then drizzled on the abbemele.  The results were simply divine.

God Save the Queen (Silverlake)

As an interlude between the duck dish and dessert (but hasn’t it been like we’ve been eating dessert all night?) we all decided to taste the honey from Leonardo’s hive.  A product of urban beekeeping, it’s origins are from a huge variety of flowers within a three mile radius of the house (Silverlake and into Echo Park).

It’s mild in flavor and not too sweet, which is a really nice thing for a honey.  It’s about the subtle flavor, not sugar overload.  There were some citrus notes and a warm and comforting flavor that lingered in my mouth.

Leonardo’s swarm had taken up residence in his garage.  He wanted the bees out of the garage and ended up finding a beekeeper who helped him with moving the swarm from the garage to a hive in his back yard.  Rather than using a pre-made comb, he lets’ the bees build their own comb in the frame, which delays the production of honey, but makes the process completely natural.

To harvest the honey, he simply crushes the comb, then leaves it on a strainer in the sun to let the honey flow out of the comb and into a container.

Baklava-Galaktoboureko Hybrid

Baklava is another dish that traditionally features honey.  I love baklava, but I decided to make a version that would be lighter and not too sweet.  I had recently learned about Baklava’s lesser known dessert brother, Galaktoboureko (milk pie) which is a custard topped with phyllo dough.  The custard is made with milk, sugar, semolina flour and eggs.  So I made baklava with a layer of custard in the middle.

The custard was refreshing and made for a treat that wasn’t too overwhelmingly sweet and packed with nutty goodness from cinnamon-kissed pistachios and walnuts all soaked in an eucalyptus honey syrup.

Mate Chai with Heather Honey with Aged Whiskey (Scotland)

The sun had long set and the air was getting cool, so tea seemed like a good call.  I wanted to make a chai tea to compliment the cinnamon spice in the baklava.  I used Yerba Mate rather than traditional black or red tea to give a little bit of grassy flavor then finished it off with a generous bit of heather honey infused with aged whiskey for an extra zing.

Tasmanian Leatherwood Honey (Tasmania)

Purchased from Cube

When I first tasted this honey, I didn’t like it.   It had a minty taste and pasty texture that reminded me of, well, toothpaste.  But I gave this honey a second chance and decided to use it in the final dish of the evening.  Why not use this minty taste to it’s advantage?

Sheep’s Milk Frozen Yogurt with Fresh Boysenberries

Tangy sheep’s milk, grassy olive oil and the minty leatherwood honey mixed with a hint of fresh mint made for an outrageously good frozen yogurt.  Served with some sweet boysenberries that Anna brought from her Grandfather’s house this was a perfect finish to a truly epic meal.

And truly epic it was; the meal ran for nearly five hours… and it was grand.  The company was fantastic and the honey tastings passed the time while I was cooking the dishes.  We all took notes on our menu page about our reactions to the honeys which made the dining experience very interactive.  We all took turns helping serve, prep food and wash dishes.  It was a collective experience with old friends and new friends and it was collectively appreciated.