Honeybee_ Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper - C. Marina Marchese [82]
BOTANICAL NAME: Pinus brutia
COMMON NAMES: Calabrian pine, east Mediterranean pine, brutia pine, and çam bal, which means “pine honey” in Turkish.
PROVENANCE: Aegean region of Turkey, Greece, Italy, France.
TERRIOR: Prefers mild, wet winters and dry, very warm summers.
HONEY COLOR: Light amber.
TASTING NOTES: Sweet and spicy, with rich, woody pine flavors. Considered a valuable honey.
PAIRINGS: A popular Turkish breakfast is bread or yogurt topped with pine honey butter.
51. PITCAIRN ISLAND
A rare honey named after its place of origin. The Pitcairn Islands, in the South Pacific, were settled in 1790 by mutineers from the HMS Bounty. The island’s bee population has been certified as disease free, and Pitcairn honey is one of the island’s main economic resources. The island’s approximately fifty residents and thirty beehives produce all of the honey. If you are inclined to hunt down this delicious honey, it will take three to five months to receive written permission from the government.
PROVENANCE: Pitcairn Island.
TERRIOR: Humid, tropical climate with moderate rainfall and sandy fertile soil.
HONEY COLOR: Creamy white.
TASTING NOTES: Thick body. Smooth and cool on the tongue. Tropical flavors, including notes of mango, lata, passion fruit flower, guava, and rose apple flowers.
PAIRINGS: Decadent enough to eat straight from the spoon. Mix with ginger and cashews as a marinade for duck.
52. PRICKLY PEAR
PLANT CHARACTERISTICS: These evergreen segmented cacti spread in clumps and have yellow or red flowers, which grow on the green oval pads that look like a beaver tail. Prickly pear or tuna is the edible red fruit that grows on the cactus and is named for its yellow needles, called glochids.
BLOOMS: July till September.
BOTANICAL NAME: Opuntia engelmanni
COMMON NAMES: Indian fig, Cactus apple, cow’s tongue cactus, desert prickly pear, Texas prickly pear, calico catus, Engelmann’s prickly pear, fico d’india, nopal, abrojo, joconostle, and vela de coyote.
PROVENANCE: Texas; baja; California; Sonoran Desert; Arizona; Chihuahua, Mexico: and Sicily
TERRIOR: Arid desert regions with sandy soils with good drainage. Needs full sun and will survive on very little water once established.
HONEY COLOR: Medium to dark amber with bright red tint.
TASTING NOTES: Heavily bodied. Granulates in large crystals that float in the liquid rather than at the bottom. For this reason, this honey is called buttermilk honey. Fragrant, floral, musky, tangy, often bitter. Hints of watermelon, strawberries, and figs.
PAIRINGS: Drizzle over ricotta or Gorgonzola and serve with prosciutto and pinot grigio. Mix with lime and ginger as a glaze for pork chops or tenderloin.
53. PŌHUTUKAWA (pronounced pM-hu-tu-ka-wa)
PLANT CHARACTERISTICS: An evergreen tree that, at around Christmas time, explodes with masses of brilliant crimson to deep bloodred flowers. The Pōhutukawa tree lives to be a thousand years old yet blooms infrequently, making this honey rare.
BLOOMS: November to peaking in December (New Zealand winter).
BOTANICAL NAME: Metrosideros excelsa
COMMON NAMES: New Zealand Christmas tree or fire tree.
PROVENANCE: Coastal areas of the north and Three Kings Islands of New Zealand, as well as Rangitoto, an island in the Hauraki Gulf.
TERRIOR: Coastal forest on cliffs overhanging the sea. Light, sandy, moist soils. Sunny locations.
HONEY COLOR: Pale—the whitest honey in world.
TASTING NOTES: Known as the Queen’s honey, this honey has a distinct butterscotch flavor with wonderful floral, citrusy lime flavors followed by a slightly salty finish.
PAIRINGS: Drizzle over emmental and Gruyére or mild Havarti.
54. RASPBERRY
PLANT CHARACTERISTICS: The name refers to the edible sweet-tart fruit of the thorny American red raspberry shrub. Usually, the cane growth is attained the first year, then the fruit is produced the second year. Raspberry is an excellent honey plant.
BLOOMS: June through September.
BOTANICAL NAME: Rubus strigosus
COMMON NAMES: American red raspberry, lampone, framboisier, frambueso.