How to Hold a Honey Tasting

I'm always looking for new and creative ideas for food themed parties. A honey tasting is a fun and sweet way to spend time with your friends!

We had about six people for this party, but this idea can be expanded if you have more room.

Varieties and Types of Honeys to Serve

First, you'll need to do a little investigating. Each honey variety comes from a different type of flower or different way of processing. You'll want to choose honeys that are as dissimilar as possible.

Remember, not all honeys are going to look like the stuff you're used to. Some are white and creamy; others are served in a crystallized paste. Choose light and dark colored honeys for a variety of tastes.

Here's link to the wiki list of monofloral honey (coming from one type of flower). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monofloral_honey

Here are three honeys that are easy to find, but can be included in your tasting.

Cactus Honey- You've got have at least one weird honey in the bunch. This very thick honey is naturally gritty and crystallized. It's intense and doesn't have much moisture to it, it spread like peanut butter instead of honey. You can find this at most Oriental markets or stores. Don't bother getting the powder.

Clover Honey- Not hard to find, this is your standard, baseline honey. This is a must have for your tasting because it gives you jumping off point in flavor.

Local Wildflower Honey- Not a monofloral. Basically they just let the bees take from a variety of wildflowers. Tends to taste a little herbal and is darker than clover, but will vary by locality.

My personal favorite is sourwood honey, because it lends such a fantastic flavor to barbecue and goes well with sliced strawberries.

Where to Get Your Honey

Rather than tracking down different types of honey at different stores, you can also order variety packs on-line, like this one at localharvet.org: http://www.localharvest.org/store/item.jsp?r=fr&id=6162

Gourmet markets, specialty and gift stores sometimes carry tiny jars of different types of honey as well. Calling about instead of driving when you're looking for a particular variety is the way to go!

Another thing to do is to get your guests to bring the honey. Assign some of them a honey. Either give them characteristics to fill (ie. a dark honey, a thin honey or a chunk honey) or a particular type.

What to Serve with the Honey

I know that some people want to experience the unadulterated flavors of honey so they opt for "blank slate" foods, such as squares of toast, rice cakes or unsweetened waffles. I'm not in favor of that because I think using cheese and fruits can really bring out flavors you might not have noticed before. This well written article about organizing a honey tasting on AC disagrees with me on that notion: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/502793/how_to_organize_a_honey_tasting_party.html?cat=22

Think about the sorts of things you might serve at a wine tasting. Then think of those things drizzled with honey. Most of the things served with wines are there to serve as a contrast in flavors--to shake up your taste buds and get you to experience the wine more fully and in a new way. They also can serve the same purpose at a honey tasting.

I actually like feta and blue cheese with honey, but both tend to crumble if you dip them in honey. If you use either one of these, instruct your guests to drizzle the honey on the cheese instead of dipping it. Fresh sliced Parmesan, Gouda and goat cheese can round out your selection. The salt of cheese makes for a great counterpoint to the sweet of honey.

Fresh fruit such as melon or strawberries is wonderful. I like to use fruits with a high water content at honey tastings and I tend to avoid more dense fruits such as apples or pears. This is just a preference. Sliced strawberries bring out some incredible flavors in honey. For some reason, this pairing helps to show distinction between the varieties of honeys.

Different varieties of dark chocolates and nuts, such as walnuts also pair well with honey.

I don't recommend milk chocolate because it gets far too sweet. An 80-90% dark chocolate is best.

Do make those blank slate foods available though, because everyone has different preferences and they can really cleanse the palate between tastings.

Beverages

Hot tea goes with honey, but to keep the palate cleansed we also provided water. Milk goes well with honey too. We opted not to serve any sodas, strong flavored or sugared beverages. That doesn't mean you can't serve wine, we just figured that would complicate things.

Organization

We talked about honey and honey facts. If your friends are the knowledge seeking type, do what a wine host would and tell them what you know about the honey as they taste each variety. Introduce each honey, allow everyone to taste it and discuss, then move on to the next. When you're done with introducing each honey and tasting it, things can get less formal and people can nosh at random!

Oyster plates, with their shallow indentations are actually really great for a honey tasting. Give each guest one of these, along with a small flat plate. You can decide how many honeys you'll taste based on how many indentations your plates have. Most have from 4-6. Each honey should have its own spoon because you won't be able to go from one honey to another without washing the spoon.

CAUTION: Children under one should not eat honey. Their intestinal tracts are not developed enough. Pregnant women can though!