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Honey Connoisseur

Selecting, Tasting, and Pairing Honey, With a Guide to More Than 30 Varietals

Honey Connoisseur Open the full-size image

Contributors

By C. Marina Marchese

By Kim Flottum

Formats and Prices

Price

$13.99

Price

$17.99 CAD

Format

Format:

  1. ebook $13.99 $17.99 CAD
  2. Hardcover $26.95 $32.45 CAD

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From honey experts C. Marina Marchese and Kim Flottum comes this comprehensive introduction to the origin, flavor, and culinary uses of more than 30 varietals of honey, from ubiquitous clover to tangy star thistle to rich, smoky buckwheat

Like wine, cheese, coffee, and chocolate, honey has emerged as an artisanal obsession. Its popularity at farmers’ markets and specialty food stores has soared as retailers are capitalizing on the trend. The Honey Connoisseur teaches consumers everything they need to know about how to taste, select, and use a diverse selection of honey.

After a brief explanation of how bees produce honey, the authors introduce the concept of terroir, the notion that soil, weather, and other natural phenomena can affect the taste of honey. As with wines, knowing the terroir of a honey varietal helps to inform an understanding of its flavor.

The book goes on to give a thorough course in the origins of more than 30 different honeys as well as step-by-step instructions, how to taste honey, describe its flavor and determine what other flavors pair best with a particular honey. Also included are simple recipes such as dressings, marinades, quick-and-easy desserts, and beverages.

Beautifully illustrated and designed, The Honey Connoisseur is the perfect book for foodies and locavores alike.

Praise for The Honey Connoisseur:

“Of all the near-perfect food we generally take for granted, honey suffers more than most (except for cheese). The Honey Connoisseur lays it all out on the table; Marina Marchese and Kim Flottum tell the whole story including its dark side in an eloquent style. The reader will never look at the honey jar the same way.” — Max McCalman, author of Mastering Cheese, Cheese: Connoisseur’s Guide to the World’s Best, and The Cheese Platebr>
“Eureka! This is the book I’ve been looking for. As a restaurateur who has traveled high and low in search of the world’s finest wines, I have always respected the role terroir plays in creating and nurturing a region’s culinary personality. Ever since I took up beekeeping, I’ve been on the hunt for the definitive guide to the essence of honey: how to taste it, which local factors influence its flavor, and most importantly for me, how to pair it with other ingredients like an expert.” — Julian Niccolini, Owner of The Four Seasons Restaurant, New York City

“With the authors’ depth of knowledge, I cannot think of a better resource on honey. This book makes me want to bake with all the varieties. Finally, a honey bible!  The Honey Connoisseur is truly a great book.” — John Barricelli, author of The Seasonal Baker and The Sono Baking Company Cookbook

“Marina Marchese and Kim Flottum’s knowledge of this fascinating and increasingly popular subject is unparalleled.  Together, they have composed the preeminent book about honey and its regional culinary food pairings.” — Nicholas Coleman, Chief Olive Oil Specialist, Eataly NYC

Genre:

On Sale
Jun 4, 2013
Page Count
208 pages
Publisher
Black Dog & Leventhal
ISBN-13
9781603763325

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C. Marina Marchese

About the Author

C. Marina Marchese is the designer and beekeeper behind the iconic brand Red Bee Honey, and the author of Honeybee: Lessons from An Accidental Beekeeper and the co-author with Kim Flottum (editor of Bee Culture Magazine) of The Honey Connoisseur: Selecting, Tasting, and Pairing Honey. She is a Member of the Italian Register of Experts in the Sensory Analysis of Honey and founder of The American Honey Tasting Society.

During her studies at The School of Visual Arts, Marchese mastered her visionary flair for color, texture and design. Her work was featured nationally in Victoria Magazine, Macy’s, and Woman’s Wear Daily launching an international design career licensing her own designs to clothing, giftware and stationery manufacturers. In 2000, Marchese 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. Compelled by the philosophy of terroir, Marina studied wine tasting in order to transfer those skills to honey tasting which lead her to curate a collection of single-origin seasonal honeys launching the Red Bee Brand. Her best selling book Honeybee: Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper chronicles her entrepreneurial journey into beekeeping. Red Bee Honey is the proud recipient of the Slow Food Snail of Approval.

Marina wrote the chapter on honey in the international best selling book Beekeeping for Dummies by her mentor and friend Howland Blackiston and has appeared in a variety of television series like ABC-TV’s “The Chew”, “On the Road with Edible Nutmeg”, and “The Splendid Table.”  Award-winning author Rowan Jacobsens wrote about Marina obsession with varietal honey in his book, American Terroir. 

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Kim Flottum

About the Author

After receiving a degree in horticulture from UW Madison, Kim Flottum worked four years in the USDA Honey Bee Research Lab, studying pollination ecology. After that, he spent two years raising acres of fruits and vegetables, where bees played a large role. He brings this experience, plus nearly 20 years of writing and editing articles for beekeepers in the monthly magazine, Bee Culture. He is the publisher of books on honey bee pests and diseases, marketing, queen production, beekeeping history, beginning beekeeping, and the classic industry reference, The ABC & XYZ of Bee Culture.

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