Connecticut is lucky to be the home of Red Bee Honey.  And, lucky for me, I was able to have the opportunity to visit!

Carla Marina Marchese is the beekeeper behind this iconic brand and I couldn’t ask for a better source to learn about honey!

How did she become involved with beekeeping and honey?

In 2000, Marina was unexpectedly invited to visit a neighbor’s apiary where her first taste of fresh honey from the beehive would change the course of her life. This moving experience inspired her to take a risk and quit her job, build a beehive, and acquire a colony of Italian honeybees to become a full-time beekeeper.  It was on a visit to Montalcino, Italy, “The City of Honey”, that Marina became passionate about the diverse flavor profiles of varietal honey determined by the type of nectar gathered by the honeybees.

Today, I want to share the five honey pairings I tasted during my visit.  They were all so yummy!  I think this will help expand your imagination on how to serve different varieties of honey:

1.  orange blossom honey paired with goat cheese and rosemary

2.  goldenrod honey paired with strawberries

3.  tulip poplar honey paired with brie, walnut and arugula (pictured in opening photo)

4.  raspberry honey paired with dark chocolate

5.  clover honey paired with coconut and flower blossom

Sounds yummy, right?  Honey is the perfect addition to a summer cheese tray!

I hope I have inspired you to look for interesting honey varieties at farmer’s markets and specialty stores (True, quality honey is not sold at grocery or big box stores!) and to think about interesting pairings!

Note:  Marina is a member of the Italian Register of Experts in the Sensory Analysis of Honey and founder of The American Honey Tasting Society.  Her best-selling book Honeybee: Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper chronicles her entrepreneurial journey into beekeeping.  Marina also wrote the chapter on honey in the international best-selling book Beekeeping for Dummies.

Herbal tea ice pops molded in glass test tubes.

Thanks for stopping by!  Remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie