Is honey used also for cooking?

Honey in cooking is not a particularly widely used food, except for confectionery (where it is still underused compared to other natural sweeteners). A kind of prejudice hangs over this precious product, perhaps because of its aromatic bouquet that is difficult to put together with other dishes.

Yet, if properly and wisely used, honey can be a valuable adjuvant on an organoleptic and nutritional level for a very wide variety of savory preparations, especially those based on meat and/or cheese.

Of course, not all types of honey are the same. Depending on the flowers on which bees feed, this food takes on different gastronomic qualities, even to a radical degree.

To an untrained palate, tasting honey in its pure form (uncontaminated with other foods) may suggest very little. This happens because of the high presence of sugars in it, which often cause a diffuse sweetness to prevail indistinctly. However, when carefully dosed on or with other foods, honey in cooking is an excellent ally. It will be able to release truly amazing aromas and flavors.

At the end of this article though, you will be convinced, as we are, that honey in cooking is great for tasty foods. But the question is, honey in the kitchen is ok but which honey to choose?

We want to offer you a guide to the conscious use of the main varieties of honey in order to enrich tasty dishes with flavor and aroma. In our excursus we will focus on unifloral varieties such as the ones offered by Asphodel, mainly for one reason: wildflower honey - that is, honey made from the nectar of a greater or lesser variety of flower species - has extremely variable organoleptic and nutritional properties depending on the nectars involved in its production and thus an incredible an always slightly changing taste.

Recipes for using wild honey in cooking

Types of Honey in Cooking: Wild mediterranean bush honey

This is a distinctly fluid honey whose decongestant qualities have been known since ancient times. Because of its low sugar content-not accidentally, it is among the few honeys that does not crystallize it can be consumed in small amounts even in a dietary regimen.

It goes very well with savory dishes with a very structured taste: therefore, its pairing with aged cheeses - Parmesan or Sardinian pecorino in primis - or fresh cheeses with a strong flavor is recommended. In particular, wild Mediterranean honey works with those fresh dairy products with a sour and pungent flavor, such as feta.

Types of Honey in Cooking: Wild white thistle Honey

This honey has a cooking performance that is the perfect opposite of that of wild mediterranea bush honey.

This product has in fact a decidedly high degree of crystallization due to the high amount of sugars it contains.

Its crystallization times are short, so it is not uncommon to find it in semi-solid, solid or lumpy form.

On tasting it has a strong and persistent herbaceous aftertaste. This type of honey in cooking is suitable for lacquering grilled meats, especially those with a strong wild scent such as duck, pheasant, pigeon or quail.

Types of Honey in Cooking: Asphodel Honey

This type of honey in cooking has roughly the same characteristics as wild Mediterranean bush honey, but with a lower degree of crystallization.

Recipes can vary, and with them the aromatic bouquet. What does not vary-and could not be otherwise-is its fruity flavor. Because of these characteristics, asphodel honey is ideal for pairing with poultry ( both grilled and baked) or turkey meat.

Types of Honey in Cooking:  Strawberry Tree Honey

Like chestnut honey, strawberry tree honey is also characterized by its bitter aftertaste.

It is differentiated from chestnut honey by the presence of a gentler bouquet of floral scents.

Arbutus honey is excellent for lacquering on particularly savory red meats such as hare, venison or wild boar.

Fantastic with caffè espresso for people that do not like a too bitter coffee nor too suite, this pairing is starting to conquer Italians on their more famous drink.

Also this honey is recommended with sardinian ricotta as a dessert or with the typical Sardinian dessert called seadas, a crunchy, fried cake with cow cheese inside.

Types of Honey in Cooking:  Eucalyptus Honey

One of the most distinctive honeys by virtue of its full flavor, reminiscent of malted and fermented cereals. Precisely because of this characteristic, it can be used on smoked meats, including fish. It also becomes an excellent compendium for snacks to accompany the tasting of complex spirits such as whiskey, rum or vodka.

Types of Honey in Cooking: Bramble honey

With its characteristic dark color, it is perhaps the honey that, in terms of consistency and persistent fruity aromas, comes closest in taste to jams, especially-and it could not be otherwise-those made with berries. It is ideal for accompanying preparations that pair a savory food for example, meat with fresh or cooked fruit.

Where you can find wild flowers honeys?

This is a tough question: very difficult to find, you should start investigating in your area about the exixtence an organic beekeeper with a loyal face and start asking many questions about his method of work. Ask first if the artifically feed their bees and if they don't look convinced, then probably he is not the beekeeper for you.

If you found these suggestions useful, try experimenting with them in your own kitchen and if you will buy our Asphodel honeys you will taste what we have been talking about!

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