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World Bee Day - May 20th

Today is World Bee Day! I’m a big honey aficionado. Honey is nature’s most delicious, interesting and biodiverse sweetener.

Honey has long been prized for its medicinal properties, now backed up by modern medicine and a growing body of scientific research..

 

Ancient Ireland was known as the Land of Milk and Honey and coincidently the name Ballymaloe means the Townland of Sweet Honey. The anglicised version of the Irish Baile Meal Luadh — ‘meal’ means ‘honey’ and ‘luadh’ means ‘soft’ or sweet. These names entered into the language more than 2,000 years ago and have always reflected a particular attribute of that place. So Ballymaloe must have been well known for the quality of the honey from the area.

 

At Ballymaloe Cookery School we have some hives in the pear and apple orchard looked after by our local beekeeper. Both honey and bees are utterly intriguing, the colour, flavour and aroma of honey reflects the flora from which the bees collect the nectar. Heather honey tastes and smells quite different from mixed flower or apple blossom, ivy, rapeseed.

Honeys from further afield have their own distinctive taste. Lavender honey captures the aromatic essence of the lavender plant as does chestnut, orange or acacia blossom. Honey from pine forests which I also love, tends to be more resinous and a deeper amber colour.

 

The New Zealanders did a brilliant marketing job on Manuka honey when they discovered that it was most effective in killing antibiotic-resistant infections such as MRSA. However, it’s not the only honey with these and many other healing attributes. Raw honey is increasingly being used to treat wounds and burns that are difficult to heal. Other studies have shown its efficacy as a cough soother.

Raw honey is the term used for honey that has not been heat treated to extract the honey from the combs. It still has its full complement of antioxidants, enzymes and anti-bacterial properties. It looks paler in colour, and sets almost solid in the jar. In Ireland we have an astonishingly wide range of honeys.

 

Check out the local beekeeper(s) in your parish. I seem to favour honey from small local producers. Talk to the beekeeper, hear the story, each honey will taste different and contain the antibodies and enzymes of the area, which help to counteract eczema and hay fever. Look out for city beekeepers too. The Dublin Honey Project is intriguing as is Belfast Bees; there are similar projects in London, Paris and New York.

How about keeping bees yourself? It’s really thrilling to have your own honey. It’ll be slightly different every year depending on what the bees are feeding on and the prevailing weather.

The EU banned the use of neonicotinoids in 2018 after a major report from the European Food Safety Authority concluded the widespread use of these chemicals is in part responsible for the plummeting number of pollinators, vital for global food production.

They pollinate three-quarters of all crops. Finally, governments appear to be listening to their citizens’ concerns, so hopefully the bee numbers will begin to recover. Nature, given half a chance, has an amazing ability to heal and regenerate.

Honey is not only brilliant lathered on toast, I regularly add a spoonful to savoury dishes, dressings and salads to balance acidity and add a sweet-sour element.  

 

TOASTED GRANOLA

A toasted grain cereal

Serves 20

12oz (350g) honey

8fl oz (225g) oil e.g. sunflower

1lb 1oz (470g) jumbo organic oat flakes

7oz (200g) organic barley flakes

7oz (200g) organic wheat flakes

3 1/2oz (100g) organic rye flakes

5oz (150g) seedless raisins or sultanas

5oz (150g) peanuts/hazelnuts, or cashew nuts split and roasted

2 3/4oz (70g) wheatgerm and /or millet flakes

2oz (50g) chopped apricots, (chopped dates are nice too)

toasted sunflower or pumpkin seeds are also delicious

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.

Mix oil and honey together in a saucepan, heat just enough to melt the honey.  Mix well into the mixed flakes. Spread thinly on two baking sheets.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes, turning frequently, making sure the edges don’t burn. It should be just golden and toasted, not roasted!

Allow to get cold.  Mix in the raisins or sultanas, roasted nuts, toasted seeds, chopped dates, apricots and wheatgerm.  Store in a screw top jar or a plastic box, keeps for 1-2 weeks.

Serve with sliced banana, milk or yoghurt.

SALAD OF ARDSALLAGH GOATS CHEESE WITH ROCKET LEAVES AND LOCAL HONEY

Such a simple combination but surprisingly delicious.

Serves 4

4 handfuls rocket leaves

2 soft Ardsallagh Goats cheeses

1 tablespoon best quality local honey

maldon sea salt

coarsely ground black pepper

olive oil

1 lemon

Divide the rocket leaves between 4 large plates or 1 large flat serving plate.  Slice or dice the goat’s cheese and sprinkle on rocket leaves.  With a teaspoon, drizzle the honey over the rocket and cheese in a grid pattern.  Drizzle the salads with olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice.  Finally, season with sea salt and black pepper and serve.

KINOITH GARDEN SALAD WITH MUSTARD AND HONEY DRESSING

The herb and vegetable gardens beside the Ballymaloe Cookery School are bursting with a myriad of lettuce and salad leaves and edible flowers. The gardens are open to the public every day except Sundays.

A selection of fresh lettuces and salad leaves:

eg. Butterhead lettuce

Oakleaf lettuce

Iceberg lettuce

Lollo Rosso

Frisee

Mesclum or Saladisi

Red Orah

Rocket (Arugula)

Edible chrysanthemum leaves

Wild sorrel leaves or buckler leaf sorrel

Wild garlic leaves

Salad Burnet

Pennywort

Borage or Hyssop flowers

Young Nasturtium leaves and flowers

Marigold Petals

Chive or wild garlic flowers

Herb leaves eg. lemon balm, mint, flat parsley, golden marjoram, annual marjoram, tiny sprigs of dill, tarragon or mint.

Green Pea Shoots or Broad Bean tips

Tiny Chard & Beetroot leaves

Mustard and Honey Dressing

150ml extra virgin olive oil

50ml white wine vinegar

Salt and freshly ground pepper

2 teaspoons honey

2 heaped teaspoons wholegrain honey mustard

2 cloves garlic crushed

First make the dressing: Mix all the ingredients together and whisk well before use.

Wash and dry the lettuce and salad leaves.  If large, tear into bite sized bits. Put in a deep salad bowl, add the herb sprigs and edible flowers.  Toss, cover and chill in a refrigerator until needed.   Just before serving toss the salad in just enough dressing to make the leaves glisten, save the remainder of the dressing for another day.

SALAD OF BEETROOT WITH RASPBERRIES, HONEY AND MINT

Serves 4

2 cooked beetroot, peeled and very thinly sliced on a mandolin

24 raspberries

16 small mint leaves

honey

extra virgin olive oil

lemon juice

Maldon sea salt

cracked black pepper

Divide the sliced beetroot between 4 white plates.

Cut some of the raspberries in half lengthways and some in cross section slices, and scatter over the beets. Season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

Dress the salads evenly with a drizzle of honey, a squeeze of lemon juice and a drizzle of olive oil. Sprinkle on the tiny tender mint leaves and serve.

Note

I sometimes place a few teaspoons of thick yoghurt or labne on the salad when assembling.

If the mint leaves are a bit coarse as they sometimes are in late Summer, remove the spine, roll and slice into a chiffonade instead.

MOROCCAN CHICKEN TAGINE WITH TOMATOES AND HONEY

Serves 4

This wonderful Moroccan dish, which Claudia Roden gave us, derives its special flavour from the tomatoes in which it cooks ( there are mountains of them which reduce to a thick sauce ) and from the honey which comes in at the end.

1 free-range chicken

3 tablespoons butter or oil

salt and freshly ground pepper

1 onion, grated

1 clove garlic , crushed

1-2 teaspoons cinnamon

¼  teaspoon ginger

A pinch of saffron (optional )

1 ½  kg ( 3lb ) very ripe tomatoes , skinned and cut into pieces or 3 tins x 14ozs

2 tablespoons honey (with a good perfume like Hymettus )

FOR THE GARNISH

50g ( 2oz ) blanched almonds ( optional)

oil (optional)

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

It is considered more elegant to cook and serve the chicken whole but more sensible to cut it into pieces . Claudia prefers to cut it into quarters as this ensures that the flesh is impregnated with the sauce at all times .

Put the pieces in a large pot with the butter or oil, salt, pepper onion, garlic and spices , and the tomatoes Cook gently , covered, stirring and turning the chicken over frequently until it is so tender that it can be easily pulled off the bone.

Remove the chicken and reduce the tomato sauce further to a thick cream

which sizzles in the separated fat. Stir often and take care that the bottom does not stick or burn when the tomatoes begin to caramelize. Then stir in the honey and put the chicken back to heat it through.

Fry the almonds in oil or toast them and toast the sesame seeds in a dry frying pan or under the grill.

Serve the chicken hot covered with the sauce and garnish with almonds and sesame seeds.

RACHEL’S DATE AND ALMOND HONEY CAKE

This fantastically dense, moist cake has echoes of sticky toffee pudding. It contains no refined sugar, all the sweetness coming from the honey and dates, while the wholemeal flour imparts its lovely nutty flavour.

Serves 6–8

100g (3oz) chopped dates


200g (7oz) butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

200g (7oz) honey, plus 2 tablespoons for drizzling

3 eggs

100g (3 1/2oz) ground almonds

125g (4 1/2oz/generous 1 cup) wholemeal flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

25g (1oz) flaked almonds

20cm (8 inch) diameter cake tin with 6cm (2 1/2 inch) sides

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4, then butter the sides of the cake tin and line the base with a disc of baking parchment.

Place the tin on a baking sheet, as some butter may seep out during cooking if you are using a spring-form cake tin.

Place the dates in a saucepan and pour in 50ml (2fl oz) of water. Set over a high heat and cook for 2–3 minutes or until soft, then remove from the heat and set aside.

Cream the butter and the 200g (7oz) of honey until soft in a large bowl or in an electric food mixer. Whisk the eggs together in a small bowl for a few seconds until just mixed, then gradually add them to the creamed butter and honey mixture, beating all the time.

Stir in the cooked dates, along with any remaining cooking liquid, followed by the ground almonds, then add the flour and baking powder and fold in gently to incorporate. Tip the mixture into the prepared tin, smoothing the surface gently with a palette knife, then scatter the flaked almonds evenly over the top.

Place in the oven and bake for 45–50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. It will be quite dark-looking, but don’t worry – the cake will be perfectly moist inside.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Loosen the sides using a small, sharp knife and carefully remove the cake from the tin before transferring to a cake stand or plate.

Use a skewer to pierce a few holes in the top of the cake, then drizzle over the 2 tablespoons (2 1/2 American tablespoons) of honey and allow to cool before cutting into slices to serve.


This is a recipe by
Darina Allen
View all my recipes

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