You don't need an uncommonly sweet tooth to get excited about honey. In fact, you need an uncommonly weird palate not to get excited about honey. The very word is full of the promise of loveliness, unfolding gently in the mouth and suggesting the essence of pleasure. It looks gorgeous, with its light-refracting, pellucid quality, and its unique flavour adds a fragrant, intense sweetness to all kinds of dishes, savoury, sweet and even in between.
The thing I love about honey is that it isn't merely sweet. Let it dissolve on your tongue, and it will reveal aspectrum of sweet aromatics: nutty, toffee-ish, floral, woody. And that taste will vary from batch to batch, month to month, place to place, depending on what's in bloom, the weather, where and what those bees have been busy consuming. It's afood that truly expresses its terroir.
This is true of any honey, but it's especially so of unblended honey that doesn't carry one of the big commercial labels. Ilike to buy local Devon or Dorset honey, ideally with the beekeeper's name on it; and, for a change, varietal honeys that owe their character to the diet of the bees: lavender, pine, orange blossom, heather. Honeys sourced from hives where such individual and fragrant plants are the dominant food source are often called "monofloral".
Small-scale beekeepers usually process their honey only minimally, separating it from the comb by spinning in a drum, then filtering through a sieve or muslin (or, occasionally I believe, a pair of tights) to remove any unwanted debris. That's pretty much it. This is known as "raw" honey. Big-brand honeys, however, may well have been heated so that they'll be able to pass through very fine filters, which can affect flavour, and many are blends, to ensure greater consistency of flavour. They are sourced from all over the globe (you may well have honey from several countries in one jar), because we eat far more honey in the UK than we produce. For this reason alone, Iwouldn't dismiss mass-produced honey out ofhand –I've never had a honey that didn't taste good – but a blended, super-filtered one is unlikely to match the charm of the local or specific.
The texture of honey depends on the balance of sugars in it: the more fructose it contains, the runnier it will be; the more glucose, the thicker and more crystalline. While a free-flowing honey is easiest to use in cooking, gentle heating brings set honey to pourability soon enough.
Aside from my breakfast toast and porridge, I use honey most often in dressings for salads. Do not fear its sweetness: used judiciously, it's a fantastic counterpoint to salty, bitter or nutty ingredients. Occasionally, I'll add some to roast root veg, along with mustard and herbs, but take care when exposing raw honey to the heat of an oven: it burns easily, so combine with oils and liquids such as orange juice to prevent blackening.
That said, honey is a wonderful ingredient in baking, where its hygroscopic (water-attracting) nature produces nicely moist results. Bear in mind that it contains a fair bit of water to start with, which can affect the consistency of a batter. It's also sweeter than sugar, so can usually be added in smaller quantities, though in cakes I get the best results using both. And sometimes I just trickle honey over the top of a still-warm cake, leaving it to permeate the sponge with unbridled loveliness.
Kipper, roasted carrot, orange and chicory salad with honey
Honey is a very good partner to intense, salty ingredients such as blue cheese and ham; smoked fish isanother great match. Serves four.
About 400g carrots
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve
2-3 bay leaves, torn
2 cloves garlic, squashed
Sea salt and freshly ground blackpepper
1 small knob butter
2-3 kipper fillets (about 200g)
2 oranges
2 heads chicory, separated into leaves
Runny honey
1 large sprig thyme, leaves picked
Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Peel the carrots and slice them about 5mm thick on the diagonal. Put them in a roasting tin, and mix with two tablespoons of oil, the bay leaves, garlic and plenty of salt and pepper. Cover loosely with foil, roast for 30 minutes, then remove the foil and cook for another 30 minutes, until tender and lightly caramelised.
Meanwhile, heat the butter and atablespoon of oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the kipper fillets and cook for two to three minutes on each side, until just done, and set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, segment the oranges. Cut a slice off the base and top of each, and stand on a board. With a small, sharp knife, cut down through the peel and pith, slicing it away completely, in sections. Working over a bowl to catch the segments and any juice, cut out the orange segments from between the membranes.
Leave the carrots to cool for 10 minutes, then add the chicory to the pan, trickle over two or three tablespoons of orange juice and toss.
Arrange the warm carrots and chicory on four plates. Strain off any remaining juice from the orange segments and add the fruit to the salad. With your fingers, pull the kipper flesh off its skin and break into chunks, removing any obvious bones as you go, and strew over the veg. Trickle a teaspoon of honey over each plate, scatter over the thyme and some more pepper, and serve.
Chicken and pearled spelt with preserved lemon, honey and pistachios
This hearty, grainy salad is given alovely, aromatic lift by the honey, salty-sour preserved lemons and apinch of spice. Serves four.
200g pearled spelt (or pearl barley)
2 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped
2 tbsp honey
½ tsp ground allspice
Sea salt and freshly ground blackpepper
250-300g cold, cooked chicken, cutinto small pieces
75g shelled pistachios
2 tbsp finely chopped preserved lemon rind
2-3 tbsp chopped parsley
Lemon juice
Rinse the spelt under cold running water, then put it in a saucepan, cover with plenty of cold water andbring to a simmer. Cook for 20minutes, until tender (pearl barley will take up to 40 minutes).
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium-low heat and sweat the onion and garlic for 10-12 minutes, until soft. Take off the heat and stir in the honey and allspice.
Drain the spelt, stir in the onion mix, season and set aside to cool.
Toss the chicken, pistachios, preserved lemon rind, parsley and a squeeze of lemon juice into the spelt, taste, add more salt, pepper and lemon juice as needed, and serve.
Orange, honey and cardamom pannacotta
Simple and elegant, pannacotta is the perfect way to show off the flavour of a good honey. Serves eight.
4 large oranges (or 6 small ones)
200ml whole milk
500ml double cream
50g caster sugar
3 tbsp honey
10 cardamom pods, bashed or squashed
Gelatine leaves (enough to set 600ml of liquid)
300ml plain, wholemilk yoghurt
Finely grate the zest of one or two ofthe oranges into a saucepan. Add the milk, cream, sugar, honey and cardamom, and bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar and honey. Remove from the heat.
Meanwhile, follow the instructions on the pack of gelatine (brands vary) to calculate how many leaves you need to set 600ml liquid (there's more than that in this recipe, but the yoghurt and cream make it quitethick to start with). Put the requisite number of gelatine leaves in a bowl of cold water for about 10 minutes, to soften, then squeeze outthe excess water, add the gelatine to the hot, infused cream and stir to dissolve. Leave to cool to room temperature, then stir in the yoghurt and strain through a fine sieve into a jug.
Pour the pannacotta mix into eight dariole moulds or small cups, and put them in the fridge for at least four hours, to set. Meanwhile, segment the oranges, as described inthe recipe for the kipper salad above.
To serve, dip the moulds very briefly in warmwater to loosen, then carefully turn out the pannacotta onto plates and serve with the orange segments and theirjuices.
