Honey For Dummies

Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Foolish Assumptions 3 Icons Used in This Book 3 Beyond the Book 4 Where to Go from Here 4 Part 1: Honey, Give Me the Lowdown 7 Chapter 1: Dipping into Honey’s History and Its Importance Today 9 Introducing Discoscapa apicula — the World’s Oldest Bee? 10 Raising Bees in Ancient Egypt 11 Embalming with Honey and More 12 Discovering the World’s Oldest Beehives 13 In Praise of Honey 14 Islam 15 Hinduism 15 Judaism 15 Buddhism 15 Christianity 15 Sikhism 15 Finding Honey in Literature and Folklore 16 Honey Bees Come to America 17 Honey Today: Celebrity Status 18 Chapter 2: Looking at How Honey is Made and Harvested 19 Gathering Their Groceries 19 Understanding the Composition of Honey 23 Harvesting Honey: From Bee to Bottle 24 It’s all about timing 25 Driving the bees out of the honey supers 27 Removing the honey from the comb 27 Chapter 3: Appreciating the Different Styles of Honey 29 Walkin’ Talkin’ Honeycomb 30 Savoring Liquid Gold — Extracted Honey 31 Getting Chunky with Chunk Honey 31 Whipping Your Honey 32 What’s the Story on Honey Straws? 34 Part 2: Nutrition, Health, and Honey 37 Chapter 4: All About Apitherapy 39 Bee Venom 40 Bee Pollen 42 Royal Jelly 43 Propolis 44 Beeswax 44 Enjoying the Many Benefits of Honey 45 Cuts, burns, and scratches 46 Fixing sore throats and coughs 46 Getting the honey glow 47 Chapter 5: Making Honey Remedies at Home 49 Mixing Up Some Honey-Based Hair and Skincare Products 50 Honey-Based Elixirs 61 Part 3: Honey Varietals 69 Chapter 6: Discovering the World’s Top Honey Producers 71 1 China (500,000 tons) 72 2 Iran (112,000 tons) 72 3 Turkey (110,000 tons) 73 4 India (85,000 tons) 73 5 United States (81,000 tons) 74 1 North Dakota (19,000 tons) 74 2 South Dakota (19,000 tons) 75 3 Montana (7,000 tons) 75 4 California (6,850 tons) 75 5 Florida (5,950 tons) 76 6 Minnesota (3,905 tons) 76 7 Texas (3,700 tons) 76 8 Michigan (2,650 tons) 77 9 Idaho (1,650 tons) 77 10 Wisconsin (1,500 tons) 77 6 Russian Federation (70,000 tons) 78 7 Ukraine (66,500 tons) 78 8 Mexico (57,000 tons) 79 9 Brazil (42,400 tons) 79 10 New Zealand (23,000 tons) 80 Chapter 7: Getting to Know 50 Varietals of Honey 81 Learning about Varietal Honeys 82 1 Acacia 82 2 Ailanthus 83 3 Alfalfa 83 4 Avocado 84 5 Basswood 85 6 Bell Heather 85 7 Blackberry 86 8 Black mangrove 86 9 Blueberry Blossom 87 10 Borage 87 11 Buckwheat 88 12 Chestnut 89 13 Coriander 89 14 Cranberry Blossom 90 15 Dandelion 90 16 Eucalyptus 91 17 Fireweed 91 18 Gallberry 92 19 Goldenrod 92 20 Honeydew 93 21 Honeysuckle 94 22 Huajillo (pronounced wa-HE-yo) 94 23 Japanese Knotweed 95 24 Kamahi (pronounced car-MY) 95 25 Kiawe (pronounced kee-AH-vay) 96 26 Kudzu 96 27 Lavender 97 28 Leatherwood 98 29 Ling Heather 98 30 Litchee 99 31 Macadamia 99 32 Manuka 100 33 Meadowfoam 101 34 Mesquite 101 35 Ohi’a Lehua 102 36 Orange Blossom 102 37 Rapeseed 103 38 Raspberry 103 39 Rhododendron 104 40 Rosemary 105 41 Sage 105 42 Saw Palmetto 106 43 Star thistle/Knapweed 106 44 Strawberry tree 107 45 Sunflower 107 46 Thyme 108 47 Tulip poplar 108 48 Tupelo 109 49 Ulmo 110 50 Yellow Sweet Clover 110 A Word about Wildflower Honey 111 Chapter 8: All That Glistens is Not Liquid Gold 113 Laundering Honey 114 Transshipping Honey 115 Removing Pollen to Conceal the Honey’s Origin 117 Blending Honeys 118 Cutting Honey 119 Intervention of Humans 120 Part 4: Becoming a Honey Tasting Expert 121 Chapter 9: Thinking Like a Honey Sommelier 123 Differentiating Taste and Flavor 124 Taste sensations 124 Flavor sensations 124 Other taste sensations 125 Are You a Supertaster? 126 The Nose Remembers 128 Describing What You Taste 128 Tuning Up Your Taste Buds and Sharpening Your Sniffer 129 Training your sense of taste 129 Refining your sense of flavor 131 Chapter 10: Knowing How to Taste Honey 133 Looking, Smelling, and Tasting: Sensory Analysis 134 Creating the Right Environment for Tasting 135 Making certain you are fresh and rested 135 Staying healthy 136 Fasting before tasting 136 Avoiding extraneous smells 136 Setting Up For Honey Tasting 137 Picking honeys to sample 138 Gathering your tasting tools 138 Getting organized using a tasting mat 139 Picking a palette cleanser 140 Writing Tasting Notes 140 Starting with a basic look-see 140 Determining liquid or solid 141 Discovering undesirable stuff 142 Evaluating clarity 142 Defining the Color of Honey 142 Smelling Your Honey 143 Profiling Honey Characteristics 145 Using the Aroma and Flavor Chart 146 Trigeminals 147 Determining the Honey’s “Finish” 148 Talking About Texture 148 Chapter 11: Taking the Terror Out Of Terroir 151 Capturing the Flavors of Local Foods 152 Ensuring quality standards 152 Certifying and protecting honeys 154 Influencing Nectar 155 Getting the Dirt on Honey (Geology) 156 Honey and Geography 157 Knowing What Weather Has to Do with It 157 Rain, rain don’t go away 157 Here comes the sun! 158 Chapter 12: Looking at What Can Go Wrong With Honey 159 Recognizing Defects 160 Burnt honey 160 The brood factor 160 Medico mayhem 160 Smoky stuff 161 Just one word — plastics! 161 Metal madness 161 Crossing Crystallization Defects 162 Incomplete crystallization 162 Crystal striping 162 Separation of honey 162 Knowing Why a Honey Tastes Like Beer 163 Part 5: Hey, Honey, Let’s Party 165 Chapter 13: Shopping for Your Honey 167 Knowing Where to Shop 167 Go straight to the source 168 Farm stands and farmers markets 168 Gourmet markets 169 Cheese shops 170 Deciphering Labels 170 Nutrition labels 171 True Source 173 Gluten-free 174 Vegan 174 Raw, natural, organic, all natural —Descriptors that mean nothing 174 GMO 175 Fair Trade Honey 176 Chapter 14: Brewing Honey Wine (Mead) 177 Discovering Mead’s Long History 178 Introducing Seven Types of Mead 179 Traditional mead 179 Sack mead 179 Hydromel 180 Bochet mead 180 Metheglin 180 Sack metheglin 180 Mead made with fruit juices 180 Getting the Necessary Mead-Making Equipment 181 Understanding Useful Mead-Making Terms 184 Chapter 15: Cooking with Honey 201 Chapter 16: Baking with Honey 223 Swapping Out Sugar for Honey 223 Checking Out Some Recipes 225 Chapter 17: Using Honey for Thirst-Quenching and Celebratory Beverages 243 Making Honey-Inspired Beverages 243 Mixing Honey-Based Cocktails 247 Gin 247 Tequila 248 Vodka 250 Scotch whisky 250 Whiskey (bourbon or rye) 253 Rum 255 Chapter 18: Pairing Honey with Cheese and Other Foods 257 Pairing Honey with Cheese 258 Understanding the dynamics of honey and cheese 259 It’s a matter of taste 259 Conjuring Creative Pairings 261 Choosing complementary duos 261 Considering that opposites attract 261 Taking texture into account 261 Staying local 262 Just go for it! 262 Considering Classic Pairings of Honey and Food 262 Chapter 19: Honey, Let’s Have a Party 265 Planning the Party 265 Deciding on the theme 266 Setting the mood 266 Assembling the Right Stuff 268 Developing Your Menu 268 Creating Honey Grazing Boards 270 Piloting Tasting Flights 270 Including Fun Honey Games 272 Trio tasting game 272 Honey spelling game 273 Show Friends How It Went 273 Part 6: The Part of Tens 275 Chapter 20: Ten Great Honey Festivals 277 Oregon Honey Festival, Ashland, Oregon 278 Philadelphia Honey Festival 278 NYC Honey Week, Rockaway Beach 278 Honey Bee Fest, New York 278 Sweet Bee’s Honey Festival, New York 279 Vermont’s Golden Honey Festival 279 Arizona Honeybee Festival, Phoenix 279 Michigan Honey Festival 279 Tennessee Honey Festival 280 Uvalde Honey Festival, Texas 280 Chapter 21: More Than Ten Frequently Asked Questions about Honey 281 What’s the best way to store honey once the jar has been opened? 282 Does honey ever spoil or go bad? 282 Why does my honey look like it has two different layers? 282 My honey has crystallized; can I get the honey liquid again? 283 What’s organic honey? 283 What’s the difference between Grade A and Grade B honey? 283 What accounts for the different colors and flavors of honey? 284 Why do honey bees make honey? 284 Is it true that eating local honey will relieve pollen-related allergies? 285 What does “raw” honey mean? 285 How can I test my honey for authenticity? 285 Why does honey from the same local beekeeper taste different sometimes? 286 Why shouldn’t you feed honey to a baby? 286 How many flowers must honey bees visit to make one pound of honey? 286 How much honey does a worker honey bee make in her lifetime? 286 What famous Scottish liqueur is made with honey? 287 What’s the U.S per capita consumption of honey? 287 How many honey-producing colonies of bees are there in the United States? 287 Do all bees make honey? 287 Chapter 22: Ten Honeys for your Bucket List 289 The Most Expensive Honey in the World: Elvish 289 Most Sacred Honey: Sidr 290 Most-Difficult-to-Get Honey: Pitcairn Island 290 Most International Awards: Sourwood 291 Most Bitter Honey: Strawberry Tree Honey 291 Psychedelic Mad Honey: Deli Bal 292 Most Unique Texture: Ling Heather Honey 292 Volcanic Honey: Wenchi 293 Silkiest Honey: Ulmo Honey 293 Most Buttery Honey: Kamahi 294 Part 7: Appendixes 295 Appendix A: Glossary 297 Appendix B: Helpful Honey Resources 305 Index 317