Today is Blog Action Day 2010, and this year’s theme is Water (because apparently almost a billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean, safe drinking water).

And as anyone who’s lived in the West for any extended period of time knows, Water is a hot topic around here. More specifically, water comes up very often in conversations about our honeys, because one of our honey varieties is Tamarisk Honey. And Tamarisk is a bad word in the West.

Tamarisk Tree in the West

Tamarisk Tree

The plant genus Tamarix is comprised of about 54 species native to North Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. Popularly called “tamarisk” or “saltcedar,” it usually grows as a woody shrub or small tree in areas where water is at or near the surface. (Source)

Starting in the 1850s, several species of tamarisk were imported to the United States as ornamentals and for use in erosion control. Since its introduction, tamarisk has quickly spread into natural wetlands, where it tends to form dense thickets along streams and springs, displacing native trees such as cottonwood, willow and mesquite. Tamarisk has invaded almost all watercourses and other wetland habitats throughout the Southwest, taking over more than one million acres of wetland.

Tamarisk is distinguished by its feathery, needle-like leaves and numerous small, pink flowers at the ends of the branches. Up to 500,000 small, windblown seeds can be produced per plant

Tamarisk can usually out-compete native plants for water. A single, large tamarisk can transpire up to 300 gallons of water per day. In many areas where watercourses are small or intermittent and tamarisk has taken hold, it can severely limit the available water, or even dry up a water source.

Tamarisk can grow in salty soil because it can eliminate excess salt from the tips of its leaves. When the leaves are shed, this salt increases the salinity of the soil, further reducing the ability of native plants to compete. Because of its ability to spread, its hardiness, its high water consumption, and its tendency to increase the salinity of the soil around it, the tamarisk has often completely displaced native plants in wetland areas.

Tamarisk vs Water Links:

• A tamer view of tamarisk The Durango Telegraph
• Tamarisk removal no boost for water supply The Pueblo Chieftain
• Tamarisk’s bad rap may not be earned The Durango Herald
• Killing tamarisk frees water High Country News
• The De-Monstering Of Tamarisk Chance of Rain Blog
• Tamarisk Removal Helps Restore a Western River The Nature Conservancy
• Feds nix bugs for tamarisk control on Colorado River Summit County Citizens Voice
• Of Water And the River and Collaboration WEAD

As complicated as the issue is, one thing is for sure – Tamarisk flowers make a delicious honey!

Just got back from moving the bee down south to Rodeo, New Mexico. Bees traveled well and at their desert home for the winter. Time for some rest. see photos:

Our Hives in Rodeo, NM

Our Hives in Rodeo, NM

Our Hives in Rodeo, NM

Our Hives in Rodeo, NM

Our Hives in Rodeo, NM

This is the first official entry into the Project: Taste the Honey.

A backyard Denver beekeeper responded to me by Twitter about a month ago after I had asked if anyone knew a local wine sommelier who could be interested in tasting honey like it was wine. Not only did she (her name is Holly) know someone in the wine world (and we’ll be doing a proper honey tasting with them next month…) but she also stopped our booth at the farmer’s market to do a honey swap. Holly makes amazing Linden honey, which much lighter in color than even our lightest Clover – and tastes totally different from anything that Grampa’s Gourmet makes.

Below is a re-post (with permission) from her blog:

“An Organoleptic Tasting”

Grampa’s Gourmet White Honey is a blue ribbon cuvée of mesquite and clover honeys. Like a new bag of sugar, it has a faint aroma of feet to it. (Seriously, when you open a 50lb. bag of sugar, it smells like feet.) ANyway, made in part using the Dyce method, then whipped, it is a sublime textural experience. Reminiscent of freshly made marshmallows, it is softly sweet and would be delightful on strawberries, but alas those are out of season now. In lieu, I recommend it on a bar of dark chocolate.

Their Seasonal Honey is a vintage 2009 Chamiso, pulled from the honeyteca reserve. (Yes, I made up a word there.) Driving around Colorado, you’ll see its floral source, Rabbitbrush, blooming singly or in drifts across the Plains. It seems to be the only plant that can shine in this heat and drought. Similarly, chamisa honey glows golden in the Mile High sun. It has a hint of burnt caramel on the nose but it’s not in the least bitter. Mildly sweet with a medium body, it’s equally comfortable in a cup of tea or with a hearty dark bread. The perfect garnish would be a local charcutier’s version of lardo di Ardo.

The Tamarisk Honey is the darkest and most complex of the trio we selected. With notes of molasses on the nose, the flavor is assertive yet not overwhelmingly so. The earthiness, and slight grittiness, of this one makes it good for savory applications. We found it happily married with Maytag Bleu Cheese, even sans pears.

The chunk honey we traded in was from our 2010 Summer Harvest. Extremely pale amber and almost as clear as water, it has a woodsy aroma and a smooth, mellow start with a distinctively minty finish – the giveaway that the informing floral source was Linden. I take it in my daily coffee or tea, and despite the heat, the apitherapeutic effects are noticeable. A lot less sneezing than in years past.

We’re is participating in a few events this weekend – all food/honey related. Totally overwhelmed and excited:

Honey Tasting with Red Bee Honey at the Denver Botanic Gardens

The Denver Beekeeping Association invited Marina Marchese (who wrote my favorite book about honey called “Honeybee: Lessons of the Accidental Beekeeper”) to come to Denver Botanic Gardens for a lecture/book signing and a honey tasting. Along with the honeys produced by the local Denver beekeepers, we’ll have Grampa’s Gourmet honeys to taste as well. This is going to be our first true honey tasting event.

Friday, October 07 at 7pm at the Denver Botanic Gardens. Tickets are FREE ($10 suggested donation).

Honey Giveaway at La Petite Soiree (BlogHer Food 10, San Francisco)

The kind organizers of La Petite Soiree “A lovely little party that will be held for food bloggers” have graciously offered to share information about our “Project: Taste the Honey” with their guests, and will also be giving away a gift pack of our honey.

Honey Giveaway at #BHF10PP.

The food bloggers who couldn’t make it to the BlogHer Food 10 conference in San Francisco this year started an online event to wallow in their misery. I love the sense humor here (note the fun blog widget they created) – and we’re giving a 4-pack of our varietal honeys to one of the participants.

Farmer’s Market on Sunday

And as always, on Sunday we’ll be at the City Park Esplanade farmer’s market in Denver from 9am to 1pm.

Our good friend Yvonne at My Halal Kitchen recently did a Multigrain French Toast recipe using our Clover Honey, and let us re-post it here. Enjoy!

Multigrain French Toast

Multigrain French Toast

Serves 4

Ingredients

Directions

1. To a large mixing bowl, add the eggs, cinnamon and salt. Whisk completely. Add the heavy cream and whisk again.
2. Warm 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large, deep saute pan over medium heat. Once the butter has frothed, add the honey.
3. Quickly dip one piece of bread completely into the egg batter. Remove and add to the butter-honey mixture heating in the pan.
4. Add up to four slices of bread to the pan. Increase the heat and cook for about 2 minutes one each side, or until each side is well-browned.
5. With the next batch of toast, add 1 tablespoon of butter. Allow it to froth and then add the honey, then the pieces of toast that have been dipped in the egg mixture. Cook and repeat the proces until you have finished the batter.
6. Prepare a serving platter by sprinkling it with cinnamon cocoa mix or ground cinnamon. Place the cooked pieces of toast on this platter when serving.

Serve real maple syrup, honey, creme fraiche and homemad jams alongside for toast toppings.

“Project: Taste the Honey” is a result of many conversations I’ve had this summer – with people I meet at the farmer’s market, other local beekeepers, as well as lots of people who are just passionate about food.

There seems to be a real disconnect between what honey is (totally amazing natural sweetener with endless distinct varietal flavors) and what too many people think honey is (generic yellow sugar substitute that comes in a plastic squeeze bottle).

The truth is that there isn’t just one “honey”. There are thousands varieties, based on flower sources, regions, etc. Here at Grampa’s we happened to make about 5 of the varieties that are unique to Colorado and New Mexico.

I want to change the way honey is viewed in the United States.

I want people to think of honey more in terms of wine (with it’s own “gout de terroir“), and when buying honey ask questions like “where does this honey comes from?” or “which variety of honey is this?”

And I want you to discover the small batch, traditional beekeepers in this country who are having to compete with the industry that has standardized their product to be able to sell it as cheap as sugar.

I’ve got lots of ideas about how to breathe life into this project and here’s a list of some planned activities:

• Raising awareness of the project at the La Petite Soiree at BlogHer Food 10′ in San Francisco by doing a honey give-away
• Raising awareness of the project with the sad, sad people :) of #BHF10PP by doing another honey give-away.
• Doing a “honey tasting” with Denver back-yard beekeepers. Blog post coming soon…
• Doing a formal “honey tasting” with a wine sommelier and wine instructor at the Cook Street School of Fine Cooking in Denver. I think this will result in a short video.
• Reaching out to local restaurant chefs to develop proper “honey pairings” with cheese and wine or host a “honey tasting party”. More on this later…
• Tentatively planning a “honey conference” in Denver for Fall of 2011. More on this later…

I welcome any/all ideas you might have in spreading this message.

In my last post on varietal honeys, I listed lots of variations of honey based on the flower sources. But honey can also be unique based on where it comes from. The regional combination of flowers will affect the distinct flavor and identity of a honey.

Often it’s not even apparent which types of flowers the bees visited to make the honey, and the blend of flower sources will be different from hive to hive, even if the hives are right next to each other. And it’s the blend, that unique combination of flowers that defines the “vintage” of a regional honey: it’s unique to that place, that season, that year.

And the region can be anywhere – as long as there are flowers blooming. Southern France, Tuscany, New Zealand and Hawaii are some of the popular places to make honey (you can find these in your local gourmet food shops). Recently, there’s been an increased interest in urban beekeeping. Some people even think that urban honey makes better honey.

Grampa’s Gourmet honeys come from the beautiful San Luis Valley, in Colorado, as well as from as far south as Rodeo, New Mexico (our Desert Wildflower Honey is from there).

Here is a random assortment of links of some of US urban honey locations:

• New York Honey
• Denver Honey
• Boston Honey
• Chicago Honey
• San Francisco Honey (these guys pack honeys unique to the neighborhood of the city!)

Here’s an interesting honey company in Minnesota, and another one near the Glacier National Park.

Here’s a link to an amazing bee photographer who travels the world taking pictures of bee hives and their locations.

The variations by regions are endless!

Honey Bee on a Chamiso Plant in Colorado