Clethra (alnifolia) Honey, Boston Honey Company, Boston, Massachusetts

I got my Clethra honey from the Boston Honey Company. They have a store at the Boston Public Market, a year-round, indoor market that sells locally produced food and crafts that opened in 2015.

The Boston Honey Company, a division of Reseska Apiaries, Inc. out of Holliston, MA, started humbly in 1996 when Andy Reseska, the chief apiarist, got his first bee colony. It looks like that's all it took for him to be hooked. The number of his hives grew- now numbering over 2,100- and four years later he became a full time apiarist. The Boston Honey Company was born.

The Boston Honey Company produces Massachusetts honey, from Eastern Massachusetts (wildflower, Clethra, Black Locust, Japanese Knotweed and Basswood), Northeast honey, from Malone, New York (Goldenrod, Aster, Knapweed, and wildflower), and Southern honey, from Georgia (Orange Blossom, Gallberry and Tupelo). Andy has beehives that winter in Georgia and come up north in early spring to pollinate apple blossoms, but while they are down south they also produce honey. All of the Boston Honey Company's honey is raw, unfiltered and Kosher. Apart from liquid honey, they also produce comb honey, soap, lip balm, hand creams, and beeswax candles.

The honeys local to Massachusetts are from apiaries that are spread across lands that played important roles in US history or are synonymous with early colonist settlements: revolutionary battlefields of Lincoln, the farms of Concord, public park lands in Sudbury and Sherborn, as well as other places with abundant flowers: community centers in Weston and many private lands. These lands- farms and fields- probably haven't changed much, so, in essence, the honey that the early colonists produced likely had many of the same floral sources and would have been very similar to what you can now taste in the Massachusetts honey collection.

Clethra anifolia, showing flowers arranged on racemes

Clethra honey is harvested from a flowering bush, Clethra alnifolia. It is also known as coastal sweet pepperbush, coastal pepperbush, Alderleaf pepperbush, White Alder or summer sweet. According to wikipedia, the "pepper" part of the common name comes from the fact that  the mature fruits look a little like peppercorns. They only looks like peppercorns, though, and are not spicy. Of note, Clethra alnifolia was mentioned in Linnaeus's monumental Species Plantarum in 1753. "Clethra" is the ancient Greek name for alder and "alnifolia" refers to the type of secondary veins of the leaves, which resemble alder leaves. So, the name basically says it is an alder-like plant with alder-like leaves, but not an alder.

"Ruby Spice" Clethra showing the pink flowers

Clethra alnifolia is native to eastern North America, from southern Nova Scotia and Maine to Northern Florida. The flowers, which produce a sweet fragrance that is attractive to bees and butterflies, are white or pale pink, and are produced in racemes- a type of flower clusters with each flower attached to a central stem at equal distances, and with the flowers at the base of the stem developing first. The flowers have also been described at "fluffy and bottle brush like."  These racemes can be up to 15 centimeters long and 2 centimeters broad (!)  and would go a long way to making a garden both visually and olfactorily pleasing. Furthermore if you are a gardener with shady patches, take note: it is one of only a few flowering shrubs that produces a good bloom in a shady location.

Clethra also likes wet conditions. It grows in wet forests, in wetlands and bogs, and alongside woodland streams. In fact is is sometimes planted alongside a stream or pond to reduce erosion. One site I found elegantly described it as "a useful element in riparian restoration projects." It isn't often that you see the word "riparian." 

It is also generally quite healthy. One website stated that "it is remarkably free of any disease, insect or physiological problems." And, it is also not without its admirers. The Virginia Native Plant Society named it "Wildflower of the year" in 2015. 

Clethra honey

However, apart from its use in riparian restoration, as an attractive garden plant, and as a honey source, it doesn't seem to have any other obvious uses: it doesn't have any medicinal or culinary properties. But perhaps as a honey source, it has value enough.

The Clethra honey I have is a lovely golden yellow with a slight tinge of red, and contains some fine particulate matter, which isn't surprising because it is unfiltered. It has a medium to thick texture. It is very easy to swirl it into a good sized swirl on a tooth pick. It is thick enough that it rolls around in your mouth before it starts to dissolve. It has a sweet, herbal, slightly mellow grassy taste with a hint of licorice and a slightly spicy, peppery kick at the end. Very unusual and quite tasty! Too good to bake with, but it would be very nice in an herbal tea, on hot, buttered toast, in hot cereal, or right out of the jar. 

If you are in the mood for a good quality and unusual honey but you aren't close to Boston, you can buy it on line from the Boston Honey Company.  If you are in the Boston area, you can find it, along with other delicious local fare, a the Boston Public Market.

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Miel de Cerises (Cherry Blossom honey), Auxerre, L'Yonne, France

My cherry blossom honey came to me from my aunt Stéphane (merci Stéphane!) whose friends, Nadia and Bruno Poissonnier, harvested it.

honey bee on a cherry blossom

If you haven't seen cherry blossom honey before, I'm not surprised; it is a relatively rare honey. This is not because cherry blossoms don't produce nectar or bees aren't attracted to them, but because of timing. Cherry blossoms bloom early in spring (as early as March in the Northern Hemisphere) and they are one of the first available nectar sources of the year. Unless the colony is very robust, honey bees tend to use the nectar gathered for expansion of hive numbers rather than making honey. Nectar collection also depends on the weather, with rainy or cold conditions-which can be the case in early spring- producing a poor harvest. Cherry blossoms are then followed by an explosion of other floral sources so the window for a mono-floral source, cherry blossom honey closes quickly.

Morello cherry (sour cherry cultivar)

Cherries that most people eat or use in cooking come from a limited number of species that have been cultivated (i.e. are cultivars) from either the sweet cherry (Prunus avium) or the sour cherry (Prunus cerasus). According to Wiki, Prunus avium is thought to be one of the parent species of Prunus cerasus by way of ancient crosses between it and Prunus fruiticosa (dwarf cherry). All three species can breed with each other but Prunus cerasus is now a species in its own right having developed beyond a hybrid and stabilised.

Both sweet and sour cherry species originate in Europe and western Asia. Evidence suggests that humans have consumed wild cherries for thousands of years: cherry pits have been found at Bronze age settlements throughout Europe (circa 2,000 B.C.).  The cultivation of cherries began around 800 B.C. in Asia Minor. As far as I can see, cultivated cherries differ from wild ones mostly by having larger fruit. This practice spread and around 300 B.C. cherries were also being cultivated by the Greeks, Persians and Romans. The Romans introduced cultivated cherries into Britain in the first century A.D. where they became very popular in the 16th century with a number of Kentish growers creating an abundance of new cultivars. In fact, the sour cherries that came with the first colonists of Massachusetts originated from the region and were called "Kentish Red." 

The department of Yonne (red), France

Cherry trees are somewhat fragile. They do not tolerate wetness and are prone to a number of pests (e.g. the black cherry aphid and the cherry fruit fly); and fungal, bacterial and viral infections (e.g. canker, cytospora canker, brown rot, and root rot). Of interest, all parts of the cherry tree except for the ripe fruit contain cyanogenic glycosides making them slightly toxic.

Most sweet cherry trees require cross pollination; they need pollen from a different but compatible cultivar to produce fruit, whereas sour cherry trees are self-fruiting (i.e. they can be pollinated from the same cultivar to produce fruit). In both cases, very few cherry blossoms are wind-pollinated so pollinators (i.e. honey bees) are essential.

Auxerre on the river Yonne

 My cherry blossom honey comes from Auxerre, France in the department of Yonne. The department of Yonne is one of the four departments of Burgundy and is located near the center of France. The department is named for the Yonne river, a tributary of the Seine, that flows through it, and Auxerre is its capital. This region has been inhabited for a very, very long time (some estimate 200,000 years). Palaeolithic hunter-gathers, Celtic and Gallic tribes, and Romans have all called it home.

Printemps by Georges Hosotte (flowering cherry trees)

The area round Auxerre is a beautiful region of France. It is an agricultural area. While better known for its vineyards (just 15 km east of Auxerre is Chablis, famous for its white wine), it also has impressive orchards of apple and cherry trees. In spring it must be a glorious site to see them all in bloom. Local artist  Georges Hosotte has immortalized the beauty of the surrounding landscape, including cherry trees in bloom, in many of his paintings.

My cherry honey is a dark, red-brown prune color, much like the color of cooked cherry juice. It has a medium thickness, and has a slightly earthy, cooked fruit smell, but it isn't that fragrant. Cherry blossom honey is a slow crystallizer but I understand that when it does crystallize the color changes a little, taking on yellow tints. My honey was collected this spring and hasn't begun to crystallize at all.

Miel de Cerises, Auxerre, France

As for taste, it has an uncomplicated cooked cherry or prune like flavor over a more traditional honey flavor. It is not very sweet and almost has a watery quality about it. Imagine the flavor of a prune compote with a bit of cherry juice and honey, and you get the idea- but it is clear, deep red-brown, and a little watery. Very unusual and tasty! I think it is too special to bake with, but on hot buttered toast it would be divine.

Nadia and Bruno Poissonnier's honey is not commercially available (I understand it is collected in very small batches, and for family and friends only) but I did find a few online sites that sell cherry blossom honey, so with only a few clicks you might also enjoy this rare and flavorful honey.   

Angkor Bee Farm Pure (Khmer) Wildflower Honey, Angkor, Cambodia

This honey was a gift from my friend Barbara who visited Angkor in Cambodia recently. Angkor is located in Cambodia's northern province of Siem Reap, north of Cambodia's Great Lake, Tonle Sap, and south of the Kulen Hills. And for her visit she was not alone. Apparently close to a million people visit this area each year. The main attractions are the many, many (1000+) temples of Angkor, with the temple of Angkor Wat, the 7th Wonder of the World, as the jewel of the crown. And it is not hard to see why. 

Angkor, Cambodia

But first a bit of history: Angkor, the capital city and the center of the Khmer Empire, was established by Jayavarman II in 802 AD. Angkor in Khmer means "Holy City," and at its peak it was a mega city. In 2007, satellite photographs of the area showed that it may have been the largest pre-industrial city in the world. It had an elaborate infrastructure system connecting an urban sprawl of 1,000+ kilometers, and a complicated water management network. It is estimated that it could have supported up to a million people. 

Angkor Wat, the main temple located at the center of Angkor, was built in the 12th century by King Suryavarman II as a personal mausoleum. "Impressive" does not begin to describe it. It is perhaps the largest religious monument in the world, and a well preserved example of Khmer architecture. It is surrounded by a moat and the only entrance is via a causeway. It is a little confusing, however, because while "Angkor Wat" is the name of this single temple, it is often used to refer to the collection of hundreds of temples within the region. Other notable examples of Khmer architectures in the area include the Bayon (at Angkor Thom), Preah Khan and Ta Prohm temples.

Angkor Wat Temple

After King Suryavarman II's death there was a period of decline for the Khmer Empire and power struggles with the neighboring Cham people. But things turned around during King Jayayarman VII's reign. He built the walled city of Angkor Thom, defeated the Cham and replaced Hinduism with Buddhism. Then, in the 15th century the fortunes of the Khmer Empire changed for the worse. Thai invaders, pushed out of China by the Mongols, destroyed Angkor. The population dispersed and the Khmer Empire moved its capital to Phnom Pehn, which remains the capital of Cambodia today. The Angkorian period lasted from 802 AD to 1431 AD. Angkor was gradually swallowed up by rain forests and largely forgotten until the French explorer Henri Mouhot rediscovered it in 1860, shortly after which time it was summarily looted by the West. In 1907 restoration efforts began with areas of forest cleared, foundations repaired and drains installed. These efforts continue to the present, with a brief interruption during the 1970s Cambodian civil war. The area is now the Angkor Archeological Park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Of interest, the park has many inhabited villages, where residents farm, mostly rice. 


While honey collection has been practiced for a very long time in the region, it was, up until relatively recently, a smaller operation that supplied honey locally for household consumption. However, given increased demands, high honey prices, and support from the World Wildlife Foundation and the Non-timber Forest Products Exchange Programme (among other wildlife and environmental conservation groups), communities are being trained in sustainable honey harvesting techniques and honey processing. Honey harvesting promotes intact forests and offers communities an income not linked to de-forestation, and therefore promotes forest and wildlife conservation.  

Rafter Beehive

The two main native honeybee species in Cambodia are the Asian Hive honeybee (Apis cerano) and the Giant Asian honeybee (Apis dorsata). If I understand correctly, traditionally honey is not so much produced via bee keeping as collected in Cambodia. Honey hunters go into the forest and locate raft hives ("rafters") and collect honey, or create conditions that induce bees to begin a hive (i.e. place long pools at 30 degree angles to the ground in strategic locations) and go back to harvest honey from the hive when it is more established. However honey was not generally harvested in a sustainable way. The entire comb was harvested (i.e. cut-once-take-all) and some honey hunters used insecticides or fire that destroyed the colony to minimize bee stings. Current practices, however, are to harvest in a sustainable way. Honey hunters now leave enough of the comb behind (the "honey head") for bees to remake it. Bees Unlimited, run by Dani Jump, an American-born beekeeper who has lived in Cambodia for 20 years, offers training in indigenous beekeeping and also does tours of local communities where you can see rafter beekeeping up close. This sounds like it would be a real treat. So, if you are in the area, do check it out.

Angkor Bee Farm photo from facebook

My Khmer Wildflower Honey is produced by the Angkor Bee Farm, a relatively new outfit that is run by Papa Pat Khmom. It was established with the help of world renowned and passionate French bee specialist Bernard Nicollet, who promotes beekeeping that is in tune with nature. M. Nicollet refers to himself as a "shepherd of bees" ("berger des abeilles"). He has invented tools for bee keeping, and taught, and written books and articles on the subject. In fact, he has also helped the police identify and recover stolen beehives. 

From the Angkor Bee Farm website and facebook page it looks like they use box hives and a more traditional (at least from the Western perspective) approach to beekeeping and honey harvesting. 

Angkor Bee Farm Wild Flower Honey

My wildflower honey was produced in 2014. I think this is the first year that the Angkor Bee Farm produced honey. The website doesn't describe the floral sources so I don't know what "wildflowers" were involved. The honey is very clear, pale yellow with little or no particulate matter. I thought the honey would be very thin, but in fact it has some weight to it, although I would not call it thick. It is a medium sweet honey with a very particular taste. It starts with a mellow molasses flavor that becomes a light floral taste with menthol and fruity overtones. It is very tasty! I can't find a way to buy it online but the Angkor Bee Farm's website does have contact information for anyone who wants to inquire if they ship.

Knocknarea Honey, Grange, Sligo, Ireland

I got this honey from my friend John. His wife is Irish and he often goes to Ireland to visit family. He was there this summer and brought me back this honey which comes from Sligo (SLY-goh) county, on the North West coast of Ireland in the province of Connacht.
 

Sligo, on the northwest coast of Ireland

Sligo, a town also in Sligo county,  is a coastal seaport and the commercial center of the county with a population of about 20,000 residents. It is in a beautiful region, located on the banks of the Garavogue river and surrounded by the Benbulben and Truskmore mountains to the north, the Slieve, Daeane and Killery mountains to the southeast, Cope's and Keelogyboy mountains to the northeast, the Atlandic ocean and Queen Maeve's Knocknarea to the west, and the Ox mountains to the south.

"Sligo" comes from the Irish: Sligeach which means "abounding in shells" or "shelly place." It is thought that this refers to the abundance of shellfish found in the river Garavogue and its estuary, as originally the river Garavogue was called "Sligeach." 

The area has been inhabited for a very long time and the area around Sligo has one of the highest densities of prehistoric archaeological sites in Ireland. Two of the most notable sites are: Knocknarea mountain capped by the great cairn of Miosgan Maeve and Cairns Hills, with it two large stone cairns. Sligo bay is an ancient natural harbor that has seen Greek, Phoenician and Roman traders in its time.

Cairns near Sligo, looking towards Knocknarea

The Norman knight Maurice Fitzgerald, the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, is credited with the establishment of the medieval town and port of Sligo, and in 1245 he built the Castle of Sligo. Sligo was a strategically desirable port and many warrior clans fought to gain control of it. It was reported to have been burned, sacked, or besieged about 49 times during the medieval period!

In more recent history, the town suffered badly during the cholera epidemic of 1832, with the majority of the population dying from it. Some speculate that Bram Stoker, whose mother was born in Sligo in 1818 and experienced the epidemic first hand (and survived), was influenced by her stories of the epidemic when he wrote Dracula. Not long after the cholera epidemic came the Great Famine of 1847 and 1851 which also greatly affected the region. Sligo county, like many others in Ireland, was a center of emigration in the 1800s, with Sligo's port offering passage to New York, Boston, Quebec City, and St. John's. From 1851 to 1901, 75,660 individuals from the area emigrated, mostly to North America. If you are of Irish heritage and your ancestors may have come from Sligo county, there is a great website to help you trace your heritage.

Sligo country is also known as "Yeats" country after native son and poet, William Butler Yeats, who is laid to rest in Sligo soil in the Drumcliffe churchyard. Yeats grew up in the area and many of his poems are inspired by his childhood memories there.

"The Lake Isle of Innisfree" is an example:

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattled made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,
And live alone in the bee loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core

W.B. Yeats

Knocknarea showing Maeve's Cairn

Knocknarea (1,078 feet high) ("hill of the stripes," "hill of the executions," "hill of the kings," or "hill of the moon," depending on whom you ask) is a striking landmark in the area- a solitary flat-topped mountain with its ancient 200 foot long by 40 foot high cairn (Meascan Meadhbha or Maeve's Cairn), visible from all sides for miles around. The cairn is thought to conceal a neolithic passage tomb dating from 3,000 BC. Yeats referred to Knocknarea as "the Land of Heart's Desire." You can reach the top of the mountain and the cairn on a well worn path, and it is tradition to pick up a stone on the way and leave add it to the cairn.

The apiarist behind my Knocknarea honey is Keithe Clarke, and, if the internet is to be believed, he is a man of many interests and passions. He is a butcher, who took over his father's business in Sligo, a tour operator who gives offshore island tours (Inishmurray island Tours), and an apiarist. In an interview in 2010 he says that he decided to make his own honey because he liked honey but it was very expensive. "He bought two hives from a schoolteacher in Ballina who taught him everything about beekeeping." The rest, as they say, is history.

Mr. Clarke produces a number of varieties of honey: light flower, dark blossom, chunk, heather, granulated and creamed. On his website he states that this year was a good year for whitethorn suggesting that it was a significant flower source for his current batches.

Whitethorn (Crataegus monogyna)

Whitethorn refers to many different plants, but given the geographical preferences of each, it is likely that in Ireland it refer to Crataegus monogyna (aka common hawthorn), a native of Europe.  It is a shrub with a dense crown that reaches 5-14 meters. Flowers are produced in late spring, and are a favorite of bees. It is commonly planted as a hedge plant and it makes for good firewood. The fruit, which looks like a read berry and is called "haws," are edible raw but more commonly used for jellies, jams, syrups, wine or to add flavor to brandy.

If you are interested lists and descriptions of other flora of the country can be found on the Sligo walking club website and the Irish wildflowers site.


My Knocknarea honey is cold pressed honey that has a classic, mellow, clear, yellow-golden color. It has a subtle floral scent, and is very thin and runny. It is an uncomplicated honey with a clean taste of sweetness that has an delicate undertone of molasses and something else, something floral. The floral flavor is so delicate and fleeting that I can't easily describe it. Given its texture and consistency this honey would be a perfect for drizzling on plain yoghurt or on hot cereal. It would also be good in any tea where you don't want to alter the flavor but do want honey sweetness.

Knocknarea Honey

You can't directly purchase this honey from Mr. Clarke's website but there is a link on it to address any inquiries about it to him. Or, you'll just have to make a trip to beautiful Sligo and pick some up on the way back from laying a pebble on Maeve's Cairn on Knocknarea.

Miele Millefiori (Wildflower Honey), Monterosso al Mare, Cinque Terre, Italy

My friend Barbara recently came back from a trip to Italy and she brought back this honey for me. During her time there she visited the province of La Spezia in the Liguria region of Northern Italy. In this region you'll find a rugged section of the Italian Riviera and a cluster of five villages- Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore- that are known collectively as Cinque Terre, "The Five Lands." The coastline, the villages and surrounding land are part of the Cinque Terre National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site created in 1999.

The Village of Riomaggiore

It isn't hard to see why this area was designated as a World Heritage Site. Over the course of generations inhabitants have built into the rugged, steep landscape creating a magical place. Adding to the charm is the fact that you can not easily reach Cinque Terre by car (Monterosso al Mare is connected to the E80 via a narrow, steep and winding road that has been described as "absolutely not practical"); the area is more accessible by sea or train (built in 1870). There are also mule paths that connect the five villages, and link them to the Via Roma, the main road that connected all of Italy to Rome. Many of the original mule paths are now within the national park system and continue today as hiking trails that offer spectacular views of the sea and the region. You'll notice that houses in these villages are painted a variety of colors. The story goes that when the men went out to fish they wanted to be able to identify their own homes easily, so they each painted their homes in a different, bright color.   

Italy, Cinque Terre is found on the coast in the North

Cinque Terre has been mentioned in historical documents from as early as the 11th century. The villages grew under the rule of the Republic of Genoa and defensive structures and fortifications were built in the 16th century as a defense against the Turks. The completion of the railroad in 1870 made the area less isolated and efforts in the 1970s to promote the area to tourists made it a major tourist attraction.

The terraced lands around Cinque Terre produce wine (Cinque Terre and Sciachetra) and olives, and the area is known for its Genoese pesto sauce, focaccia bread, lemons, seafood (Monterosso is particularly known for its anchovies), grappa and limoncello- the last two being a type of brandy and a sweet liqueur flavored with lemons, respectively. Of note, Corniglia, one of the five villages, is also known for a gelato flavor made with local honey called (rather descriptively) as "miel de Corniglia."

The Village of Monterorosso la Mare

My honey, however, is from the village of Monterosso al Mare, the western most of the five villages. It is easy to distinguish Monterosso from the rest of the villages because it is the only one with a sandy beach and has the bell tower of a San Francesco church as a prominent feature.

There are many micro-climates in the area and as a consequence there is an abundance of floral diversity: oak, Aleppo pine, chestnut, sea fennel, rue, heather, rosemary, lavender, myrtle, red juniper, madder, honeysuckle and sarsaparilla, to name a few honey sources. As you can imagine this lush landscape produces a variety of honeys, notable among them are: heather, acacia, chestnut and wildflower.

Wildflower Honey, Monterosso al Mare, Italy

My honey is harvested by Cantina Sassarini and from what I can gather, which isn't much since I don't speak or read Italian, is that the Sassarini family also produces pesto, wine and olive oil. Giancarlo Sassarini is the apiarist of the family and produced my honey. However, the jar suggests that the honey is distributed by Brezzo S.r.l., a large player in the Italian honey market. I found a website for the Brezzo family business and they package and distribute a variety of honey from Italy and France.

My wildflower honey is opaque and has a dull golden, tan color. It has already completely crystallized, but not in big chunks, more with a uniform consistency that you see in whipped honey. It has the heady smell of summer flowers that reminds me of dandelions on a hot summer day. It twirls easily on my toothpick, a little in sheets. The crystallized consistency gives it a bit of texture, but this melts quickly. It isn't overly sweet and has distinct floral overtones with a subtle hint of molasses, then a clean sweetness with a menthol-herbal aftertaste. This is a somewhat complex and very tasty honey. Given the texture it would be perfect on toast, but may not be runny enough for drizzling on plain yoghurt. It would also add a subtle floral flavor to teas, but may be overpowered by a strong tea.

I couldn't find an online seller for this honey, so you'll just have to make a note to stock up next time you are in Cinque Terre!  

Maquis, Miel du Pays D'Oc, Monséret, France

View from the ruins of Peyrepertuse to the ruins of Queribus

We were recently in Aude, in the Languedoc-Roussillon region in the south of France. It is near the Mediterranean coast and the border of Spain. It is an absolutely beautiful area of France and I highly recommend a visit. Between visiting world renown, local vineyards, sampling wines and local cuisine (cassoulet, a rich, slow-cooked casserole containing meat (usually pork, sausages, goose or duck), pork skin and white beans, is a specialty, especially in the Carcassonne area), visiting abbeys and castles (this is the area of the "Cathar" castles; pictured is Peyrepertuse, one of my favorites), and hiking through some breathtaking scenery, there is a lot to see and do. 

Monséret, France (in red, lower right area)

On one side trip we visited a miellerie in Monséret, La Miellerie de Clauses.  Monséret is a small wine-producing village in the wine district of Corbiers and the miellerie is found on the outskirts of the village in an area of wild scrubland. During the summer season the miellerie offers educational tours of their facility and pony ride tours through fields where their honey is collected.  They do everything from tending hives, to extracting honey, to distributing it. We, unfortunately, were there before the season began so we didn't get an up close view of their production and had to be content with sampling the varieties of honey a their store's honey tasting bar (rosemary, forest, thyme, acacia and others) and perusing other honey products that they make and sell (honey cake, and mead among others).  One of the honeys that they produce is maquis honey, a honey I've never had before. I also didn't know exactly what "maquis" was.

La Miellerie de Clauses

Maquis isn't a flower source but a biome (geographically contiguous area with similar climatic conditions, also referred to as an "ecosystem") in the Mediterranean region. It generally is made up of densely growing shrubs including holm oak, sage, juniper, buckthorn, spurge olive and myrtle (among others) and is found throughout the Mediterranean Basin. The name comes from the plural of the Italian "macchia" which means "thicket." Maquis, given its height and density, provides ideal cover for bandits and guerrillas, and its name has been used to refer to a few guerrilla movements, notably the Maquis in World War II, a band of the French Resistance, and the Spanish Maquis, a guerrilla group that fought against the Franco regime in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War. Interestingly, it has also been used as the name of the fictitious anti-Cardassian resistance movement in an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.  Members of the Maquis were known as "maquisards" and the Italian for "becoming a fugitive" is "darsi alla macchia."

Maquis near Monséret, France

Maquis is similar to the English heath, but with taller (and different) shrubs and it tends to be found in arid, rocky areas supportive of drought-resistant plants. Maquis is also similar to "garrigue." Both are translated as "scrubland" in French. However, maquis is more dense than garrigue and grows in more acidic soil, whereas garrigue is associated with low bushes growing widely spaced from each other on base rich soils (i.e. limestone). Both maquis and garrigue are found in the Mediterranean basin and the two terms are often used interchangeably.

Maquis honey, Meillerie de Clauses, Monséret, France

My maquis honey is an opaque, mellow, orange-brown color. It is nearly all crystals a, so possible a quick crystallizer. It has a heady, summer flower aroma, faintly floral but with herbal and vaguely menthol overtones. I can almost feel the heat of a Mediterranean sun beating down and hear the sound of cicadas and bees. It isn't overly sweet and the medium sized crystals dissolve quickly, so it doesn't have an overly grainy texture. It has a robust herbal, grassy, earthy taste that is slightly bitter, reminiscent of thyme or forest honey, with a very subtle, fleeting, floral and menthol after taste. Very tasty. It may be too strong for a delicate herbal tea, unless you want to add additional flavor, but probably a good choice for a dense honey cake or mixed into thick, plain yoghurt. Right out of the jar it is pretty good too!

Carrot Honey, The Bee Folks, Mount Airy, MD

I don't often think of carrots as having flowers, but they do. The reason, I think, is that most of us dig up our carrots at the end of the summer and don't let them flower or seed. You see, carrots are a biennial crop. This means that they develop their tap root (the bit we think of as a carrot) in the first summer and then they flower and seed in the next. Since most of us don't keep carrots around for that long, to get carrot flowers, in order to get carrot honey, you really need to put  hives near a carrot seed grower- a farmer who grows a carrot crop not for carrots but for the seeds. 

carrots

Domesticated carrots, Daucus carota subsp. sativus, are a form of wild carrot, Daucus carota, and are native to Europe and southwestern Asia. The domesticated variety comes from selectively breeding the wild one to produce larger, less woody taproots. Unlike domesticated carrots, you may have seen wild carrots flowing, but you may know them as Queen Anne's Lace (because of their beautiful, white lacy flowers).

Carrots have been around a long time. You can find carrots mentioned in texts as early as circa 500 B.C. in works by Epicharmus. However, the first recorded use of the word in English was around 1530. And if you've read Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor you may have noticed that he mentions them too. The word 'carrot' comes from the Middle French word "carotte," which comes from Late Latin, carōta, which is from the Greek, καρωτόν karōton, which is originally from the Indo-European, ker. This long linguistic history just underlines how carrots have been a part of our world for so long.  

Daucus carota flower

Carrots are root vegetables. While the most common varieties are orange in color, there are also purple, white, red and yellow types too. However, in the past (1500 years ago) carrots were typically white and not always distinguished from parsnips. In addition, while we usually eat the root bit (the taproot), the green, leafy bits are edible too. 

The carrot flower is truly a lovely thing. The  carrot inflorescence (the complete flower head including stems, stalks, bracts and flowers) is a compound umbel (a type of inflorescence consisting of a number of short flower stalks, called pedicels, that spread from a common point like the ribs of an umbrella; the word umbel derives from the Latin umbella, "parasol."). In the carrot the umbel is compound, meaning that there are secondary umbels called umbellets (also referred to as umbellules). A large primary umbel can contain up to fifty umbellets, each with as many as 50 flowers. The flowers, which are white and sometimes tinged green, are dentripetal, meaning that the oldest flowers are near the edge and the youngest ones are in the center. Individual umbels flower for 7 to 10 days, but given the timing and complexity of the arrangement, the whole flowering process may take up to 50 days. Apart from the carrot, fennel, dill and parsley also have these types of flowers. Of interest to gardeners, if left to flower, umbellifers attract predatory wasps that kill many garden pests.

Carrot seeds

Carrots are a good source of vitamin A, K,  and B6, and dietary fiber and are prepared and cooked in a variety of ways and used in a variety of dishes, both sweet and savory. Not surprisingly, carrots are an economically important vegetable crop. China is the largest producer, accounting for about half of the global output, followed by Russia and the US. Of interest, about 3.6 percent of people are allegic to carrots, and since the major carrot allergen is cross-reactive with similar allergens in birch and mugwort pollen, most people who have a carrot allergy also are allergic to these pollens.

Carrot Honey

 I ordered the carrot honey that I have online from The Bee Folks, in Mount Airy, MD. According to their lovely website, this honey comes from farms in the Pacific Northwest that specialize in carrot seed production. Of interest, I've read that Oregon is famous for its seed production, including carrot seeds, so this honey may come from there.  It has a deep, amber-red color and is quite thick. It has a very interesting and complex flavor. It starts out floral with an almost musky, grassy tone that gradually become spicy and a little smoky, a cross between the taste of Indian incense and anise, and then it ends with a cooked carrot kind of taste. I know my description sounds odd, but it is difficult to describe and this is as close as I can get to it. You'll just have to order some and see for yourself! I think this honey may be too complex to use in baking; I think you'd lose the flavor. But it is delicious out of the jar, and would be quite nice in hot cereal, on hot buttered toast, and perhaps in dark hot tea.