DENISE PHILLIPS’ ORANGE BLOSSOM HONEY & LEMON THYME CAKE
Wrecently. Bees have oils on their bodies and traces will be left on the flower.” So if the flower smells of bee, nectar will be low or gone. Once flower-side, the bee uses its proboscis to drink the nectar and stores it in its crop — a honey “stomach”. They can carry as much as half their weight, says Reed. The magic begins even before the bee reaches the hive. In the bee’s honey crop are enzymes which begin to transform the nectar. Once it arrives at the hive, the bee brings the nectar back on to its proboscis and repeatedly moves its tongue in and out for 15 to 20 minutes, to evaporate some of the water from the nectar.
“As well as stretching their own proboscis in and out, the bees then pass the nectar from to each other on their probosces before eventually storing it in a cell. The temperature in the hive is about 35°C, so the water continues to evaporate off until reduced from 80 per cent to between 15 and 20 per cent. At that concentration, it is stable but if there is too much water in the nectar, it can start to ferment”.
Once it is ready — or “ripe” in bee keeper speak — and the cell is full, the bees will cap it with wax. They make this wax themselves from little scales that come off their abdomens.
“They chew up the scales and reshape them. That will last for years, once capped.”
It is a lot of work for a relatively tiny reward. “They might forage for 30 to 45 minutes, visiting 200 to 300 flowers. That produces only 0.05g of nectar, and most of that is then evaporated away.
“On a good day, 10,000 bees will visit 20 to 30 million flowers, amounting to 5kg of nectar and 1.5kg of honey. A hive will contain between 10,000 and 50,000 bees.”
Then there is the question of how much money to spend on your New Year honey. Will your Yomtov be as sweet with a supermarket jar or is it worth seeking out a raw honey from a small producer? Is orange blossom better than the unspecified varieties?
Honey comes in different types according to the flowers in which the bees have foraged, as well as the different production processes. As wines are made from one grape variety or a range of them, honey is either mono-floral (from one flower) or from many types — polyfloral. The colour, flavour and texture of the honey will reflect that.
“Bees are quite loyal to a type of flower for a few days and then they move on to the next,” says Reed. “If you place hives in an area planted with a particular flower and if they do go for those flowers, you can make a particular flower honey.
“Our ling heather honey is made in Shropshire and our wood sage honey is from a wild area of the Kent coast where this plant is prevalent. Experienced bee keepers can taste if the bees have made their honey from wood sage. It has a herbaceous flavour. Borage honey is a clear light and fairly thin honey and comes from hives in Essex and Oxfordshire.”
Polyfloral honeys include Salisbury and London honeys. Both areas have a huge diversity of flora.
“Salisbury honey comes from an area of incredible bio-diversity. The honey notes are very floral and quite light-tasting, while London honey, made from a huge variety of plants from residential gardens, is complex and lively,” says Reed.
Honey can be raw or processed. Raw honey is minimally processed, with nothing added and taken away. It is unpasteurised but some manufacturers heat the honey to be certain it will not contain botulism. Raw honey retains all the goodness and tends to be more pricey but if you are eating honey for its nutritional value, it is worth it. It will also have the more interesting flavour.
If you are going to dip your apples in honey, you might as well make it a good one. After all, a lot of work goes into every jar.
A honey afternoon tea is available at St Ermin’s Hotel in London St James’s during September. The hotel has its own beehives and a “bee and bee” hotel for any small striped guests on a flying visit.
Orange blossom honey and delicate lemon thyme give this cake a good hit of flavour and fragrance. Made with no flour or refined sugar, this cake has a wonderful texture.
Serves: 8-10 Preparation: 20 minutes Cooking: 50 minutes
INGREDIENTS
150g unsalted butter/non-dairy margarine 150g orange blossom honey
3 eggs separated
Zest of one lemon
200g ground almonds
100g polenta
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
3 tbsp lemon thyme leaves, plus extra sprigs for garnish
Vanilla cream
100g double cream/non-dairy whipping cream 100g natural yoghurt/non-dairy vanilla yoghurt ½ tsp vanilla paste
Honey lemon glaze
75g orange blossom honey Juice of ½ lemon
2 lemon thyme sprigs
METHOD
Grease a 1kg loaf cake tin and line with baking parchment. Preheat oven to 170°C, gas mark 3.
In a large bowl, cream butter and honey until light and fluffy.
Beat in the egg yolks and lemon zest, then the almonds, polenta, baking powder, salt and thyme.
In a separate, clean bowl, whisk egg whites to stiff peaks.
Gently fold into honey mixture, stirring gently to maintain as much air as possible. Transfer to the prepared cake tin.
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Leave to cool for five minutes in the tin before removing and transferring to a rack.
For vanilla cream, whisk cream until thick, then whisk in the yoghurt and vanilla paste. Set aside.
For the glaze, heat the honey and lemon in a small saucepan until bubbling. Pour over cake.
Top with lemon thyme sprigs and slice. Serve the cream separately.