honey!

My buddy called me up this morning to invite me over for a play date with our kids; and to hand off some of this amazing honey he received as a thank-you from his elderly neighbors after shoveling their walk during the snow storm. The neighbors are backyard beekeepers! My friends are already concocting plans to have their own flock of backyard chickens in the spring, and trading eggs for honey. I am seething with jealousy, of course.

So, I made it home with a large baby food jar of honey, and I haven't the faintest idea of what I'm going to do with it. I have all the time in the world, of course- honey lasts for years. But I'm so excited! Any type of backyard cultivation gets me pumped, homegrown eggs are delicious, everyone knows that backyard gardens are the way to go, and backyard honey! Oh, my lord. My friend was explaining to me the different flavor notes in the honey, (let's just say he has a very refined palate- he's a wine buyer.) and speculating on the various flowers the bees could be getting their pollen from. The smell is intoxicating, and the flavor is light and almost tangy. It's not as viscous as some honeys I've tried, maybe because it's so fresh?





So, dear readers- I leave it up to you. Aside from drizzling it into my nightly chamomile, over a piece of warm toast, or into the bottom of a hot toddy- what on earth should I do to feature this lovely honey? I'm hoping to think of something really creative, where honey will be the star of the show. Feel free to drop your suggestions, and as I use it up, I'll post my concoctions here.