Kitchen Tip: Use More Honey

Since I started this food blogging thing, my pants have suddenly started to shrink and I have somehow amassed a freezer full of baked goods.

Coincidence?

Probably, yes, since I started my blog in May and I can still fit through door frames. I’ve worked my way through a few pounds of flour, had my first foray with biscuit cutters and bought my very first vegetable steamer (I can only dream of a food processor…sigh).

Since I’ve been getting more hands on experience in the kitchen I find myself thinking about new ingredients I can experiment with.

How long will fresh herbs keep in the fridge?

What two cheeses will taste best together in a quesadilla grilled with roasted red peppers? (I chickened out and used part-skim mozzarella with a sprinkling of parmesan. Not bad…not bad at all…).

I find myself not just wanting to try new ingredients but trying to find new food combos that will keep meals interesting. I mean, we might as well take this food blogging adventure and make it educational, no?

So I’ve decided that I’m going to dedicate the occasional post to learning something new about food and this week our hero is honey.

It turns out, honey is amazing drizzled on english muffins, stirred into oatmeal or mixed into thick, creamy greek yogurt.

Thanks to Winnie The Pooh, everyone knows that honey is produced by colonies of honeybees.

But I didn’t know farmers rely on bees not only for honey production, but also for their role in pollinating crops. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that bees add approximately $15 billion to the US agricultural industry every year – producing fruit, nut and berry crops.

Even the national media is interested in the apparent honey bee crisis.

Companies like Haagen-Dasz who rely on the honey bee population to produce ingredients used in over 40% of their ice cream flavors – strawberries, raspberries, almonds,etc – have been supporting the dissipating honey bee population by donating a portion of their sales to honey bee and sustainable pollination research at Penn State and US Davis.

I think it’s interesting how bees are such an annoyance to most people- not to mention a threat to the people who are deathly allergic to bee stings but so important for our survival. Rarely do we give thought to such an integral piece of the US food production puzzle.

Here are some more fun facts I found about honey bees in my travels:

• There are seven recognized species of honey bees, making up approximately 20% of the bee population (there are different species!? I thought that a bee was a bee…).
• Bees have an active role in the production of cherries, strawberries, pears, peanuts, macadamia nuts, almonds, raspberries, almonds…and yes…honey…shocking.
• Bees aren’t attracted to all flowers, but populate areas heavy with glory bushes, jasmine and rosemary.
• There are over 200,000 bee keepers in the United States.
• Honeybees communicate by “dancing.” Honey bees do a dance which alerts other bees where nectar and pollen are located. The dance explains direction and distance. Bees also communicate with pheromones.
• The average human consumes approximately 1.31 pounds of honey each year.
• I don’t know about you but I think I consume WAY more chocolate.

It turns out, honey is a great topping for apples, banana slices or graham crackers (though I haven’t tried the latter it sounds good). It’s naturally sweet so you only need a small amount to satisfy.