Taste of Honey

A comprehensive cookbook and guide to honey “packed with good recipes [from] one of the absolute best food writers around” (Mollie Katzen, author of Moosewood Cookbook).

Honey is a lot like olive oil: How do you know what type to select at the farmers’ market or store? Are all honey bears created equal? What makes one variety different from another? Which is better for baking or best for savory dishes? Why is one darker than another, and what does that mean? These questions and more are answered in Taste of Honey. Marie Simmons reveals the life of a bee, and how the terroir of its habitat influences both the color and flavor of the honey it produces. Then she explains how these flavor profiles are best paired with certain ingredients in over sixty sweet and savory recipes including:

Snacks and Breakfast: Flatbread with Melted Manchego, Rosemary and Honey; Honey, Scallion and Cheddar Scones; Honey French Toast with Peaches with Honey and Mint

Main Dishes: Crispy Coconut Shrimp with Tangy Honey Dipping Sauce; Salmon with Honey, Miso and Ginger Glaze; Baby Back Ribs with Chipotle Honey Barbecue Sauce

Salads and Vegetable Side Dishes: Pear, Stilton and Bacon Salad with Honey Dressing and Honey Glazed Pecans; Mango and Celery Salad with Honey and Lime Dressing; Roasted Eggplant Slices with Warmed Feta and Honey Drizzle

Sweets: Honey Pear Tart with Honey Butter Sauce; Chunky Peanut Butter and Honey Cookies; Honey Zabaglione; Honey Panna Cotta; Micki’s Special Honey Fudge Brownies

Each recipe includes a guide for the type of honey that will work best with it, and ideas to experiment with. In addition, there are fast, simple things to do with honey at the end of each recipe chapter; a glossary covering forty different varietals of honey; information about its healing properties; and tidbits about bees and honey through history. Photos by Meg Smith capture the intimate life of the bee and its activity producing honey—along with the gorgeous food you can make with it.

“Holy honey! Taste of Honey, with its lush photos and delectable recipes, not only teaches how to best use single-origin honey in the kitchen, it reminds us that honey is an almost magical substance, connecting us to our landscape, and to the hardworking honey bee. Marie Simmons’s book has made robbing the hive even sweeter.” —Novella Carpenter, author of Farm City

“I’m a honey collector, too, but unlike Marie, I tend to stick to a drizzle of honey over cheese, toast, or hot cereal and the occasional dessert. There are so many more ideas here for using honey . . . And I do hope that the appeal of honey itself with lead us to care more for our struggling bee populations.” —Deborah Madison, author of Local Flavors