"New Honeys I've Tried"

by Jennifer Jordan
(Paris)

And so the honey tasting continues!  

Since my last article I've continued on my quest to taste just about every type of honey known to man.  I've bought a few new ones and thought I might share my opinion of them with you.  Most of them were liquid, not creamed (except the coriander, dandelion and eucalyptus ones), and none of them have crystallized yet.  

I bought Rhododendron honey for my son and we both really like it.  It's a very neutral honey - a bit like clover honey but a little bit lighter in taste and light amber in color.  It would go well with just about anything.  

Wild blackberry honey:  It was dark and fruity but I thought it would have more of a blackberry after-taste (like my favorite raspberry one has a nice raspberry taste).  So I was a tiny bit disappointed that it wasn't more perfumed but it was still quite good.  I bought this from a beekeeper who has hives in the south of France.  He said this one was one of his favorites.  He also sold us the rhododendron honey.

Lemon blossom honey:  This one was surprisingly nice!  I was a bit leary of lemon honey as I don't like most lemon-flavored cakes and things but this one was quite good.  It was very light and refreshing on the taste buds and golden in color.  "Tangy" is the perfect word to describe this honey.

Dandelion honey: This honey is one that I bought from the organic food store to help with my springtime allergies.  It's not a honey you would use on toast but more in teas.  When you open the jar it smells almost like cheese but the taste is okay.  This was a light beige, creamy honey.  

Heather honey: I got this honey from a kosher, organic stand at the "Natural Living" expo in Vincennes, France. It is very dark, rich and has a malty taste, a bit like molasses.

Ulmo honey from Chile:  I wanted to try this one for it's medicinal value and actually found it in the grocery store.  It's not a bad little honey.  There is a teeny-tiny medicinal after taste but it's barely perceptible.  It's a fairly neutral-tasting, light brown honey.  

Manuka honey from the Tea Tree of New Zealand:  I found this on a trip to Holland and must say it definitely has a medicinal taste to it.  It's a bit heavy and dark brown in color.  I bought it for anything I might need an antiseptic for or for minor burns.  My son recently had the chicken pox and I alternated between this one and the ulmo honey for the sores in his mouth.  The ulmo honey was much better received by my 4-year old.  The manuka honey is more than twice the price of the ulmo honey though.  So I use it sparingly.

Orange blossom honey: This is another nice one.  It's a little fruity, not too heavy and I think the French use this one quite a bit in making cakes and on crêpes.  

Coriander honey:  Coriander (otherwise known as cilantro to you Tex-Mex fans) is my most favorite herb.  So I was really excited when I found coriander honey on my trip to Holland.  It's a pretty creamy yellow honey but with an odd flavor that I'm not accustomed to.  It has sort of a grassy taste to it.   Perhaps it's an acquired taste.  It's not bad but not my favorite either.  It would probably be really good for making honey-mustard dressing for salads and perhaps in certain recipes for meats and vegetables.  It's not really a dessert honey.  

At work I burned my thumb when sauce from my microwaved lunch splattered on it when I opened the package.  My thumb turned red and I washed it in cool water and then remembered we had honey in the cabinet at work.  So I put some on my thumb and it worked!  It stopped the pain and the redness went away!

I also use honey lollipops for my son's sore throats.  He thinks he's getting a treat but I'm really treating his throat!  

I recently told my colleague about propolis.  She says almost every cold she gets turns into bronchitis and she always ends up on antibiotics.  She got a cold last month and I told her to try propolis.  So she went to the organic food store and got some chewy little propolis pieces and said it really worked.  She said the cough stopped that evening and it took about 2 days but the cold completely went away.  She noticed such a difference between the propolis and the heavy chemical stuff she normally takes for colds.  I also have the propolis gums but I prefer the throat spray.  I feel like it's faster-acting for me.  Either way, it works and doesn't leave you in a haze.  I have liquid propolis to use on minor cuts and scrapes as well.  

I'm also discovering that not all honeys are made equal.  When I went to the honey day at the park last year they showed us how each year's honey harvest was a little different in color and taste than the year before depending on the flower sources available to the bees.  So I've discovered that honey that what I don't really think is that great from one company or bee keeper might be wonderful from another!  I've recently tried eucalyptus honey again and found this time I really liked it whereas in the past I found it way too strong and medicinal-tasting.  I had actually bought some for my baby-sitter who'd been told by her doctor to get eucalyptus honey for her lungs.  It looked so good in the jar that I got some for myself, too!  This was a light yellow, creamy one.  In the past I'd gotten a richer, darker liquid one but it was just too strong, though probably better for healing colds and such.  Also I've tried two different raspberry honeys, one from Canada & one from Spain.  I prefer the one from Canada.  The color is only slightly darker but the taste is more pronounced.  So I will continue to keep trying different honeys, even flavors I've already tried!

Happy honey eating to you all!!!

Jennifer