A New Form of Honey

Copyright © Island Abbey Foods Ltd. 2008

Truthfully, up until a few years ago, I never really liked honey. Perhaps that's because my mother used to make a dessert called Teiglach for the Jewish New Year. I can't really describe it, but the smell of the honey syrup cooking was the first thing that hit me as I returned from school....and what can I say, I hated it! And, naturally I hated anything overtly honey after that...All except for fresh honey comb honey slathered on toast, of course.

Then came Sugar High Fridays...my first adventure in a food blogging event and the theme was honey! So naturally, I did my research, starting out with a trip to Oleg's Honey World And the rest, as they say...is history. Who knew there were so many varieties, so many very distinctive flavors! Pale to so dark, you'd think it was molasses. Thin and runny to opaque and almost solid.

Which leads me to the real purpose of this post. I received a sample of Honibe Honey Drops which are described as "100% all natural, pure dried Honibe honey. No additives. No artificial flavor. Great honey taste without the mess". Honibe is a PEI (Prince Edward Island, Canada) family run business that uses environmentally sustainable methods. I can't wait to go and visit them this summer. But I digress...and let's get back to solid honey....

The most obvious use is for sweetening a lovely cup of tea. You can keep a bunch in your purse or pocket...no mess. Just drop one into a cup of your favorite and give it a stir. Tasty, I tried some with some green tea and it dissolved quickly, too. But what else could I do with it? My throat was a bit dry and my Honey's still has a leftover cough from his cold...what if I just sucked on it, rather than a throat lozenge? Perfect!!! Honestly, I was worried that it would be too sweet, but it wasn't at all. It just gave a lovely, soothing, tasty treat and my throat really did feel better.

But still, this is a food blog, and I felt I needed to come up with something else, something different, something impressive. And then it hit me....What about crushed over some delicious ice cream? So I put a drop in my electric mini-chopper and gave it a whirl. Think golden jewels sparkling over your favorite flavor. It glimmers on serving and then adds a little crunch. Plus, it really is a show stopper. One caveat...you need to do it just before serving or the honey will reclump.

This picture doesn't really do it justice, but the presentation (you can't really tell) stopped the conversation, at least until they tasted it...then...lots of ooohs and aaaahs. I used small three inch tall (or rather, short) wine glasses and used a mini-scoop...three little scoops of chocolate truffle ice cream and a sprinkle of Honibe. You really have to give it a try.