Honey Honey How You Thrill Me

The Honey Tasting Class last night was awesome.

Summit Spice & Tea is one of my favorite shops: they have just about any kind of spice you can think of, a whole entire wall shelf filled with hundreds of different types of tee, and their Tea Room is a great place to sit with a book and relax over a good cup of tea and a sweet something. They offer many different classes: Tea Tastings, Chocolate Tastings, Oil & Vinegar Tastings, that sort of thing. This was their first Honey Tasting, and it was a really good class.

There were 4 tables set up for the class, seating 8 per table. Each place setting had 6 different honeys to try with a coordinating information sheet to go with them. We got to talk with a local honey farmer - Joe Dunham: owner OF Alaska Honey, Pollen & Comb (AKHPC) - who explained the dynamics of a hive, the life cycle of a bee, and how honey is made.

We even got to go shopping afterwards with a 15% off coupon in case we wanted to pick up our favorite honey from the class. I had intended to get a jar of raw honey (I infuse it with lemon and ginger for my teas at home) but ended up getting a Meadowfoam Honey made by Bee Raw (soft and sweet with notes of caramelized custard and a hint of burnt sugar) instead. It was my absolute favorite.

The other ones we tried were: Fireweed Honey by AKHPC, Wilelaiki Blossoms by Big Island Bees, Macadamia Blossom by Big Island Bees, Spun Honey by AKHPC (this one was my second favorite – it tasted like liquid taffy!) and Whole Honey Comb by AKHPC.

One interesting thing we learned is that bees actually make 6 different marketable products, or substances: not just honey – which everybody is familiar with – but also wax, pollen, royal jelly, venom, and propolis (the "stuff" they use to coat the entrance to their hive).