natural | The Foodies' Kitchen

Honeycomb: Ways to use it

At TFK, we’re always on the lookout for new ingredients to try out, we like to read about how ingredients are used and what their health benefits might be, not only to share this information on our blog, but so that we too can learn about these things.

I came across this honeycomb that I got from Super Verduras, and it took me back to my childhood. My mom would always keep some around together with a spreadable honey that we used on black bread slices for breakfast. We used to buy this bread from a bakery called Jensen, which sold the absolute best Christmas cookies. Sigh… it seems like ages ago. I miss those cookies.

Let’s not go into how honey is made, or how the bees keep the nectar they gather from the flowers inside honey sacs inside their bodies, because in all honesty, and with much love to Nature… it’s a little gross. There’s bee saliva involved, people!
Let’s keep honey a wonderful, golden, sweet nectar gathered by bees using little blue buckets, shall we?

The honeycomb comes into play, when the bees return with the honey (inside their little blue buckets) and they deposit it inside a network of little hexagonal cylinders made out of wax. We’re not going into how this wax is made, either. As the cylinders are filled with honey, they are “sealed” by another layer of wax on top.

You can find honeycombs in gourmet stores or farmer’s markets; they are usually sold in either round or rectangular tubs. The darker the honeycomb, the better. It means the honey will have a more intense flavor.

Aside from chewing on it, because it tastes great, I looked around for other ways to use it:

Cut little cubes of honeycomb and place them on top of a salad.
Put a chunk of honeycomb on top of hot oatmeal.
Mix in with natural yogurt, or vanilla ice cream. (when ready to serve and eat)
Slather a baguette with Brie, then top with chunks of honeycomb. (this is the first thing I’ll try!)
Make a salad of arugula, grilled chicken and slivered almonds. Top with crumbled soft goat cheese and small chunks of honeycomb (… or maybe this will be the first thing I try)

So, whenever you see a honeycomb you can ~~think of me~~ use these tips to enjoy it!

If you have kids around, it’ll be cool for them to see the honeycomb and taste the natural honey. Here are some fun bee facts you can share with them:

Bees are the only insect in the world that make food that people can eat.
Eating honey can help you get smarter! It is the only food to contain ‘pinocembrin’ that is an antioxidant that improves brain function
One bee will only make 1/12 of a teaspoon on honey in its entire life
A colony of bees can contain between 20,000 and 60,000 bees, but only one queen bee
A bee’s wings beat 190 times a second, that’s 11,400 times a minute!
Each colony smells different to bees, this is so they can tell where they live
It would take 1,100 bees to make 1kg of honey and they would have to visit 4 million flowers
Bees have two separate stomachs; one for food and another just for nectar
Bees have been around for more than 30 million years
Bees communicate by smells called ‘pheromones’ and by performing special ‘dances’
Bee keepers only take the honey that the bees do not need, but this can be as much as 45kg from one hive!
There are lots of different types of honey which taste different depending on the flowers used to make it

Source
The Food Network
Bees4Kids

Strawberry Milk

There are a few things that I really, really, don’t like (flavor-wise…) and one of them is the taste of artificial strawberry. Anything that has this artificial flavoring tastes like kid’s cough syrup to me. I don’t know how I came across this recipe, but when I saw it was naturally flavored strawberry milk, I wanted to make it for my kid. Turns out, she prefers straight up, regular cold milk… no extras. But let’s not pay attention to her, nowadays she doesn’t even like me to put chocolate in her milk for God’s sake! Although, she will happily drink hot Guatemalan chocolate with a pinch of chili pepper… I think my influence is really kicking in.

Anyway, Mariano and I ended up drinking the strawberry milk and I can honestly say it is good. It does taste like natural strawberry, but it is a little bit sweet for my taste. Next time, I will try it with less sugar than the recipe calls for… I recommend you start with 1/4 cup sugar, if you’re like me and prefer a less sweetened beverage.

Strawberry Milk

Recipe from The Kitchn
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 cup strawberries, chopped
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 1/2 cup whole milk

Procedure:

In a small pot, heat strawberries, sugar and water until boiling (it’s a bit like making jam). Let boil for about 10 minutes; mixture will reduce and thicken slightly. Using a fine sieve or mesh strainer, strain the mixture into a small bowl.
You can save the cooked strawberries to add to yogurt or put on pancakes. Set the strawberry syrup aside.
Chill two small glasses in the freezer for about 10 minutes. Add 3/4 cup milk to each glass. Swirl in 3 tablespoons of the strawberry syrup into each glass of milk (more or less, depending on desired sweetness). You will have a little strawberry syrup left over, perfect for pancakes or adding to soda water.

Papaya Coconut Bread

My husband’s grandmother sometimes sends us fruit, which we love, but sometimes I already have a few varieties in my refrigerator and end up with two watermelons, or in this case with two papayas. With only three of us, including my three year old (as you can guess… she’s no wild about papayas), I had to think of something to make with the extra fruit. All I knew is I didn’t want to make a beverage out of it. Then, it occurred to me: Papaya Bread! Can it be done? I searched and searched for a recipe but none of them “spoke” to me. Finally, I found a great one from Eat the Love. The original Papaya Bread recipe calls for crystallized ginger and white chocolate, which I decided to omit and I added cinnamon, shredded coconut and nutmeg to the mix.

Now I need to figure out what to do with the 15 oranges I have in my basket! We’ll probably eat half of them with salt and pepitoria (powdered squash seed)… yum! Now, what to do with the rest? No juice, no jam… I’m thinking something baked. I’ll let you know what I come up with!

Papaya-Coconut Bread

Adapted from Eat the Love recipe
Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients Cooked Papaya:
1 medium papaya (about 1 lbs)
6 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter
Zest from 1 medium lemon
Juice from 1 medium lemon (~2 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Ingredients Bread Batter:
2 ½ cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon fresh papaya seeds, ground
3 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt
½ cup + 2 tablespoons or 1 ¼ stick unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup dark brown sugar
3 large eggs
½ cup whole milk yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 cup natural flavor shredded coconut
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg

Procedure:

Split the papaya in half and scoop out the seeds. Save the 1 tablespoon of the seeds for the bread batter and reserve the rest for another use. Dice the papaya into 1/2” chunks.
Place the papaya chunks, brown sugar, butter, lemon zest, and juice in a pan. Cook on medium heat until the papaya chunks start to fall apart, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add vanilla extract. Remove from heat and puree. (Wait until it has cooled to use your blender.)
Preheat the oven to 350˚F and generously spray and flour a 9 inch x 5 inch loaf pan.
Place the flours, papaya seeds, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a medium bowl. Using a balloon whisk, vigorously stir until uniform in color.
Place the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat the butter until light and creamy, about two to three minutes on medium speed. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides with a spatula between additions. Add the yogurt and vanilla extract and beat to incorporate.
Add half the dry ingredients to the batter and beat until incorporated. Add the papaya puree and beat until incorporated. Add the remaining dry ingredients and beat until incorporated. Finally, fold in the shredded coconut.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 60 to 70 minutes or until a toothpick or skewer placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Be sure to test several areas, as the toothpick may hit a wet papaya chunk area and look not done yet. You don’t want to over bake the loaf.
Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes on a wire rack, before removing from pan to cool further.