“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.

Tagged as:  "Project: Taste the Honey", artisanal honey, varietal honey   ·   Categories:  Blog