Who here loves honey? Please tell us what types do you currently have in your pantry and what do you use them for.

Currently in our house:

New Zealand Forest Honey
Australian Eucalyptus Honey
Australian Yellow Box Honey
Australian Blue Gum Honey
Mauritian Pink Pepper Honey
Mauritian Litchi Honey
Rodrigues Honey
Kashmiri Acacia Honey
Kashmiri Herbal Honey
Saudi Orange Honey
Saudi Lime Tree Honey
British Wildflower Honey
French/Spanish Lavender Honey
Turkish Honey with honecomb
Yemeni Sidr Honey (raw) with crushed/blended honeycomb (one of the most therapeutic and expensive honeys in the world)

And before, I have bought and finished many many other raw and processed (i.e., commercial) honeys from Germany, Switzerland, US, Italy, France, UK, Mauritius, Rodrigues, Australia, New Zealand, and maybe a couple of other countries.

Here is what I use them for:

- Hot chocolate
- Porridge
- Cereal
- Inside sandwiches (awesome with cream cheese)
- Cottage cheese
- Plain yogurt
- Warm milk at night
- A couple of spoonfuls in my concoction I make for a sore throat (cup water, juice 1 lemon, fresh ginger, garlic if you wish, black pepper, cinnamon... drink hot)
- Eating by the spoon, usually when I have a sore throat (mixed with black pepper... let the honey stay at the back of the throat coating the infected area for as long as possible)

Anybody here Manuka Honey from New Zealand? Manuka Honey has the highest documented level of antioxidant activity. Yemeni Sidr honey is not far behind.

A recent study from the UK showed that honey even fights antibiotic-resistant MRSA infections. And normal infections are no problem for honey. It can simply be applied directly to wounds. Never done it because I haven't had a superficial infection since forever, but I always have it in my mind in case the need arises.

Share your love for honey


[Edited on September 4, 2009 at 3:19 AM. Reason : ]

9/4/2009 3:10:44 AM

it's ok but I'm not a huge fan

it reminds me of being sick

9/4/2009 3:12:07 AM

I shrunk the kids...

9/4/2009 3:44:38 AM

i use honey way more than i use sugar (it helps that i have my own hive, but my parents have a dozen, so i usually get it from them)

i currently have some clover (common, nothing special), some orange blossom, and my favorite: sourwood

9/4/2009 7:48:24 AM

you probably use em all to toss man salad you honey lovin sweet ass faggot

9/4/2009 8:49:40 AM

9/4/2009 8:53:11 AM

I PREFER SYRUP!!!!!!

9/4/2009 8:53:14 AM

no way you're gonna use all that before it goes bad

9/4/2009 9:33:18 AM

^


I have a PB&H sandwich a few times a week....

9/4/2009 10:31:54 AM

I made some salsa, needed a bit of sweetness so I added some honey, since I'd used all farmers market ingredients so far and didn't want to mess it up with sugar, its pretty damn good.

9/4/2009 2:13:15 PM

My dead grandfather was a tree farmer who also kept bees, grew shiitake mushrooms, etc, and I still have some of the honey that he produced in the mountains of South Carolina. I have no idea what type of flowers it came from or how rich it is in antioxidants, but I grew up eating it. It's delicious.

9/4/2009 2:20:25 PM

Quote :

"no way you're gonna use all that before it goes bad"

for all intents and purposes, honey never goes bad

nectar is refined by bees to have a water content of about 18%, which leaves the honey with a pH of about 4 and as such, is incredibly stable...honey is hygroscopic, however, meaning that it absorbs water from the air...at some point (i'm not sure of the percentage here), the environment becomes hospitable to yeasts found naturally in the air and they begin to multiply and create alcohol (mead)

until the moisture content reaches a certain point, however, bacteria and mold that encounter the honey cannot survive since the hygroscopic nature of the honey (high sugar content with low moisture content) pulls the moisture from the bacteria and/or mold and they die...as long as the honey is kept closed tightly, it will, quite literally, last for centuries

crystallized honey is not honey that has gone bad, either...honey is glucose (usually a solid in nature) and fructose (usually a liquid in nature)...the composition of different honeys vary and as such, so does the propensity for crystallization (as a general rule, sage and tupelo honeys never crystallize)...you can "reset" the crystallization process by heating up the honey (though this will eventually cause the taste to change)

Quote :

"I still have some of the honey that he produced in the mountains of South Carolina. I have no idea what type of flowers it came from or how rich it is in antioxidants, but I grew up eating it. It's delicious."

sourwood is grown in the mountains of NC and SC (among other places, of course)...it has a distinct flavor and, while you can get it around here at places like the farmer's market, it's pricey compared to store-bought clover honey...i love it, though...it's one of my favorites

[Edited on September 4, 2009 at 2:30 PM. Reason : .]

9/4/2009 2:25:59 PM

^ beat me to it in pulling knowledge, and taught me a few things as well! quagmire02

Quote :

"no way you're gonna use all that before it goes bad"

Honey basically doesn't go bad. (because of all the sugars in it, and also because of honey's native antibacterial action)

As I said in the eggs thread, OMG GERMS and OMG EXPIRATION DATES are basically tactics invented by various parties to cushion the bottom lines of various companies and to avoid expensive lawsuits.

Yes, some, a lot of products do go bad, but also a lot do not go bad, but have expiration dates posted on them nevertheless.

Of the honeys I have currently, the first 2 'expired' in July, and it is still fine. The Turkish one 'expired' just over a year ago (purchased in summer 2006), and though it has solidified as all honeys do from time to time (slight heating will liquefy it again), it still tastes as honey should. The rest are well within their expiration dates, which I don't really care about.

Quote :

"(it helps that i have my own hive, but my parents have a dozen, so i usually get it from them)"

Quote :

"My dead grandfather was a tree farmer who also kept bees, grew shiitake mushrooms,"

I am so jealous! And I love all fresh mushrooms as well!

[Edited on September 4, 2009 at 2:34 PM. Reason : ]

9/4/2009 2:32:19 PM

Quote :

"for all intents and intensive purposes, honey never goes bad"

9/4/2009 2:35:02 PM

uh no, quaggie was correct... but if you are just being sarcastic... go ahead!

9/4/2009 2:35:58 PM

reverse grammer ninja ftw

9/4/2009 2:36:14 PM

Quote :

"sourwood is grown in the mountains of NC and SC (among other places, of course)...it has a distinct flavor and, while you can get it around here at places like the farmer's market, it's pricey compared to store-bought clover honey...i love it, though...it's one of my favorites"

I don't think my grandfather's is sourwood, as it's pretty dark in color. He had a lot of blueberry, raspberry, and blackberry bushes near the hives, so I'm sure they might have had an impact. Are there any honeys from the Appalachians that are typically pretty dark?

[Edited on September 4, 2009 at 2:38 PM. Reason : ]

9/4/2009 2:37:28 PM

Quote :

"beat me to it in pulling knowledge, and taught me a few things as well! quagmire02 "

when my parents decided to get some hives for their orchard, i went with them when they joined the NC beekeepers association and learned some cool stuff...bees are awesome

they usually have a lot of honey, which they sometimes sell at their local farmer's market, but i usually get enough for a batch of mead each season...this last batch came out like champagne...i didn't mean for it to be, but that is some bubbly stuff

i started with a single hive for my blackberries/raspberries/blueberries/apples, but i think i'm going to start a second hive next spring

9/4/2009 2:40:16 PM

Quote :

"I don't think my grandfather's is sourwood, as it's pretty dark in color. He had a lot of blueberry, raspberry, and blackberry bushes near the hives, so I'm sure they might have had an impact. Are there any honeys from the Appalachians that are typically pretty dark?"

sourwood is usually pretty dark...but any of the fruits bushes will do that, too...clover and "wildflower" honeys are usually lighter...in this area, the sources of dark honey are usually berries and/or sourwood

also, as a general rule, darker honeys contain higher levels of anti-oxidants

[Edited on September 4, 2009 at 2:45 PM. Reason : oops, didn't mean to double-post...my bad]

9/4/2009 2:43:01 PM

Jail for 'honey trap' murderer

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/8237490.stm

Haha, I just had to post that... I am trap and I love honey!

9/4/2009 7:29:42 PM

man, you really could not be more pretentious if you tried.

9/4/2009 8:05:11 PM

if you weren't pretentious, you wouldn't be on a fucking internet messageboard in the first place... now leave this thread to people who care.

9/4/2009 8:09:26 PM