Honey is really good with tea, but tupelo honey is also great straight from the spoon.
If you can find some, take a spoon and drip a bit on the end of your tongue. Your taste buds will begin to rock the rumba, and you might need another lick or two. Go ahead, I won’t tell.
Then, once you’ve satiated yourself with tupelo honey’s flowery sweetness, put a bit of this yellow green nectar on a nice southern biscuit or a bit of toast. For those of us who can’t eat wheat, Udi’s basic white sandwich bread is a good companion, and as for biscuits, unless I make my own, I like 1-2-3 Gluten Free’s mix best.
“She’s as sweet as tupelo honey,” sang Van Morrison, and if that’s true, she was something for tupelo honey is the rarest in the world. I’d heard about it all my life, and finally when Diva and I were walking through Williams-Sonoma last Friday, I saw it for the first time.
Trumpets blared, and angels sang.
As my friend, Elizabeth from Gardening While Intoxicated, says, I’m a bit of a foodie, and since I no longer drink wine (a long and not very interesting story), I now drown my sorrows and express my joys with really fine chocolate and other foods with flavor notes, like honey.
Did you know honey is one of the most complicated foods in the world? Wherever those darling bees visit, they bring a bit of the flower back with them. As Isaac Newton proved, for every action, there is a corresponding reaction. Therefore, lavender, sourwood, orange blossom and clover honey each have a particular taste, and some are graded like fine wines.
By the by, have you been following the discussion over at Garden Rant about Scotts/Miracle Grow, and how they think clover and dandelions are nuisances to be eradicated?
Maybe we should send them a case of clover honey. Perhaps, a bit on their tongues would sweeten their minds. Perhaps not. Just so you know, before we all became obsessed with our perfectly green lawns, lawn seed mixes included clover. As for dandelions, I’ve always let my children blow their powder puff heads over the lawn. I just ask that they turn away from the garden. Dandelions are difficult to pull out of the soil, but some always show up there too each spring. Have you noticed that by mid-summer most dandelions are gone without chemical warfare? Probably because of summer heat and close mowing.
As for tupelo honey, I wonder if the Scotts people would consider the native Nyssa ogeche, Ogeechee tupelo tree, a/k/a swamp gum, or tupelo gum, a weed? These trees bloom along rivers and in the wetlands (swamps) of Georgia and Florida for only two to three weeks every year in April. Because of the trees’ difficult location and processing, tupelo honey is the most expensive honey. It also has a high fructose content and won’t granulate like other honeys. Like agave nectar, tupelo honey is raw and is not heated or processed. Because of the high fructose content, it’s better for diabetics. The raw foodies love it. I do too.
As for the honey bees, they’ve been taking it on the chin for years. Let’s not kill them with chemicals. Instead, let’s plant more flowers they enjoy like clover.
Oh, and more of those swamp trees in Georgia and Florida. I love this honey.
© 2010, Dee Nash. All rights reserved.
Excellent. I didn’t know about tupelo honey, but now if I see it, I’ll definitely want to taste it. More clover, more bees!
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Carol, it’s wonderful, but of course, I already wrote that.
~~Dee
That song is one of my favorites from him or anyone else for that matter. You will be pleased to know that my garden center carries white clover seed, and no Scotts products.
Me too Les. I love Van Morrison, but I wasn’t familiar with this song until Bill started singing it at the dinner table. Then, I had to find it. I am please you have clover seed. I truly have a large patch of clover in my backyard, sideyard etc. I even have spring dandelions. For goodness sakes, children need something outdoors to do. What would childhood be without daisy chains, clover crowns and dandelion wishes?~~Dee
I have never heard of Tupelo honey. I’ll have to keep an eye out for some next time I’m out and about at a foodie store. I love Agave Nectar, so hopefully I can add some Tupelo Honey to my sweet stash.
Don’t you just love the smell of clover blooming in the summertime? I think it is one of the best smells to compliment a back-roads summer evening drive.
Anne, if you like agave you’ll adore tupelo honey. Both are light and delicious. Yes, I love clover. It even smells good when its cut.~~Dee
Tupelo honey: Egg-zackly.
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Susan, and a big amen to that.~~Dee
Honey Girl,
I am SO PROUD of you for this. And yes, I love Garden Rant laying it out there the way you do.
You’re the best. Now I have to go lick my Maine clover honey spoon.
Love,
Sharon
I will have to try some. You make a great sales pitch!
Shoot, I may just have to run up the road a piece to Williams-Sonoma and grab me a jar of that there honey!
Awww, now you’re talkin’, girlfriend! I start every single morning with honey in my tea (with French vanilla soymilk)! I am so fascinated that it NEVER dies. Imagine that. And the work the bees do to create it is awesome. Thanks for the big nod to preserve our bees. So important!
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You have certainly tempted me with this sweet post, Dee! Love honey and now on my MUST list of goodies to try!
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I have never heard of this type of honey. I would love to try it. Did you get it while vacationing down South or is it available in your area? It sounds yummy.