Red Bee Apiary Honey Tasting Workshops-2012

Honey expert, beekeeper and author Marina Marchese presents

Tasting and Pairing Italian Honey at

La Scoula EATALY - NYC

Here is a preview of Marina's

The American Honey Tasting Society's

2012 summer calendar of Honey Tastings

at Red Bee Apiary in Connecticut

Sunday, May 27 - East Coast Honey - Local Honey from Red Bee Apiary's perspective. A Taste of East Coast Terroir. Sweet and buttery blueberry blossom, dark rich tulip poplar, grassy alfalfa and fragrant goldenrod are a few favorites.

Sunday, June 3 - Italian Honey - Explore La Dolce Vita, Marina introduces you to the Italy honey experience. Light buttery acacia, dark bitter chestnut, nutty sunflower and aromatic eucalyptus are just a few you'll fall in love with...It's amore! Learn how to speak the language of honey in Italian too.

Sunday, June 10 - East Coast Honey - Local Honey from Red Bee Apiary's perspective. A Taste of East Coast Terroir. Sweet and buttery blueberry blossom, dark rich tulip poplar, grassy alfalfa and fragrant goldenrod are a few favorites.

Sunday, June 17 - West Coast Honey - A Taste of Honey Terroir from the West Coast. Delicate sages and fireweeds, desert cactus and wildflowers and dark avocado. Welcome to the wild west!

Saturday, June 23 /Slow Food MetroNorth Sponsors- Join us for a Taste of Local East Coast Slow Honey. We'll make Carlo Petrini proud as we learn how to speak the language of honey in Italian.

Sunday July 1 - Greek Honey - Learn about honey from one of the Ancient Honey Cultures. Camphorous thyme, forest pine and fir, healing chamomile all Mediterranean treasures.

Sunday, July 8 - Exotic and Rare Honey - Not for the Faint of Heart. Smokey Africans, bitter cherries, medicinal manuka and leatherwood from the land down under and rubbery ulmo from Chile. You'll learn that all Honey is not Sweet!

Sunday, July 15 - Local East Coast Honey - Local Honey from Red Bee Apiary's perspective. A Taste of East Coast Terroir. Sweet and buttery blueberry blossom, dark rich tulip poplar, grassy alfalfa and fragrant goldenrod are a few favorites.

Sunday, July 22 - Italian Honey - Explore La Dolce Vita, Marina introduces you to the Italy honey experience. Light buttery acacia, dark bitter chestnut, nutty sunflower and aromatic eucalyptus are just a few you'll fall in love with...It's amore! Learn how to speak the language of honey in Italian too.

Sunday, July 29 - Local East Coast Honey - Local Honey from Red Bee Apiary's perspective. A Taste of East Coast Terroir. Sweet and buttery blueberry blossom, dark rich tulip poplar, grassy alfalfa and fragrant goldenrod are a few favorites.

Reserve your seat now!

Are you interested in traveling for the ultimate honey tasting experience? Join Marina to the Settimana del Miele - The Honey festival in Montalcino, Italy. Renown for it's famous Brunello wine, this ancient Medieval town is also known as the City of Honey for the 50 different types of honeys produced in the Tuscan region. The Honey Festival is September 9, 10 and 11, 2012 and held in a castle with breath taking views of the local landscape.

For more information: Email redbee@optonline.net subject "Honey Festival"

Honey Tasting Laboratory Workshop

You're Invited!
RED BEE APIARY'S
next
Talk, Tour and Honey Tasting Laboratory Workshop
on Sunday, July 3rd, 2011

Learn about artisanal honey, learn how honeybees
make this liquid gold we call honey,
how location and nectar source determines
a honeys color and flavor and how honey is
harvested and extracted from the hive.
Marina will take guest through the
sensory analysis of tasting and evaluating
the honeys based upon the
Honey Sommelier chapters of her book
HONEYBEE Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper.

Only a few coveted seats available!

Sign Up Here Today!

MAY: Blossom by blossom the spring begins!

Do you like honey? Then you have come to the right place...I have a special invitation for you honey lovers, On Sunday, May 29th Red Bee Apiary is hosting our first Tour, Talk and Honey Tasting Laboratory Workshop of the year. Held in our spectacular apiary gardens, you will be treated to the amazing world of honey and the bees who make this liquid gold. Here, all your senses will be delighted as you enjoy a tasting menu of locally and estate produced accompaniments. Bring your honey and your taste buds for a memorable afternoon, reserve your place now. Seat are limited!

Red Bee Events: Places where you can taste our honey and learn about honeybees!

May 5

A Taste of Westport

Red Bee Signature Honey Tasting Table

May 7

Inpromptu Sustainable Skin Care Workshop

Learn how to make your own personal products from your own kitchen apothecary

Preview recipe below for Honey Ginger Body Scrub

May 8

Honey Tasting at Mario Batali's Tarry Market

Come taste Red Bee Honey at a true European Artisan Market

May 14

Red Bee Apiary's Annual hiving of the Honeybees

May 14 (don't know how I'm going to pull off 2 events in one day)

Sustainability Talk Falls Village CT

Honeybee book talk and signing

May 19

Honeybee Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper

Stamford Suburbanites Book talk and signing

May 19 (Again, don't know how I'm going to pull off 2 events in one day)

Share our Strength A Taste of Hartford

Red Bee Signature Honey Tasting Table

May 29

Tour, Talk and Honey Tasting Laboratory Workshop

This IS it!

Honey Ginger Body Scrub

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar in the raw

1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

1 tablespoon sweet almond oil or olive oil

1 teaspoon of honey

Blending Procedure:

Measure all of the ingredients into a bowl. Mix well to combine completely.

Use this body scrub in the shower. Scoop up some of the scrub and rub it in circular motions all over your body. Rinse well with warm water and pat skin dry with a towel.

Blooming and Buzzing!

Our gardens are blooming and the bees are buzzing! It's finally June at Red Bee® and is it just me, or is everyone crazy for honey? Now more than ever, people are paying attention to where their food comes from and now...even their honey. Did you know that honeybees are responsible for pollinating 100 different fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, spices? My personal favorites that I could not live without are coffee, chocolate and the cotton for my blue jeans. Beekeepers nurture natures greatest pollinators while providing local honey at their source. They are the rising rock stars of today's green movement. We find ourselves here at Red Bee Apiary are busier than ever, educating the public on honey and beekeeping. People are reading labels too! They understand that what you put on your body is as important as what you put in it. With that said, our Rossape sustainable skin care products are getting attention too. Could bees and honey possibly be getting a little bit of respect?



So if your interested in learning more about the health benefits and the culinary delights of honey, join us at one of our workshops here at Red Bee Apiary. There are a few coveted seats left for our next Seven Flight Honey Tasting Workshop on Sunday, June 20th at 1:00 pm till 3:00 pm. Reserve your seat on our web site.


Learn how honeybees make this liquid gold we call honey, how location and nectar source determines a honeys color and flavor and how is harvested and extracted from the comb. Beekeeper and Honey Sommelier, Marina Marchese will show us how to taste and evaluate honey using the Honey Sommelier tasting guide in her new book HONEYBEE Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper.

Read: What Fairfield Green Food Guide says about our Honey Tasting Events!


If you can't make our formal events, our Honey Tasting and Bottling Kitchen is opened 12:00 noon till 4:00 pm seven days a week by appointment only. Honey lovers are invited to join us for a Tasting Flight of any seven honeys of your choice with accompaniments locally produced bread and goat or brie cheeses for $5.00 per person. Groups of six or more could reserve our veranda overlooking the apiary and gardens.

Red Bee® JUNE EVENTS

SATURDAYS •••••••
Farmers Markets have officially begun and Red Bee Honey can be found at the New Canaan and Fairfield Brick Walk markets.

JUNE 3
Ocean County Library Stafford Branch • 129 N. Main Street, Manahawkin, NJ 08050
Honeybee Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper Book Talk

JUNE 5
Sculpture Barn Art Center • Preservation Celebration • 3 Millltown Road RT39, New Fairfield, CT
Honey, Cheese and Wine Tasting

June 12
Centennial Bee Day Party • Brooklyn Botanical Gardens
Honey Tasting and Honeybee book signing

JUNE 20
Seven Flight Honey Tasting
at Red Bee Apiary

JUNE 25
Artisanal Cheese Center • Honey, Cheese and Wine
Beekeeper and Honey Sommelier Marina Marchese and Affineur Erin Hedley

Here is one of our favorite recipes It is so easy and elegant...
Honey Figs with Goat Cheese and Pecans Recipe

Goat cheese or Chèvre cheese is cheese made from goat's milk (chèvre is French for goat). In regions where domesticated goats are kept, many kinds of goat's milk cheeses are produced.
Caprino is a Italian goat's milk cheese and Castelo Branco is a Portuguese goat's milk cheese. So don’t be afraid to experiment.

Servings: 6
Prep Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:
1cup pecans, finely chopped
3/4 cup of wildflower honey
6 oz log of goat cheese
12 fresh figs Calimyrna or black missions, halved
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper


Methods:
Place the finely chopped pecans in a shallow dish. Season with salt and pepper. Roll the goat cheese log in the pecans to evenly coat. Refrigerate log until firm. To serve, cut evenly into rounds. Divide figs evenly between 6 dessert plates. Top figs with a round of pecan crusted goat cheese. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of honey over each serving. Serve immediately.

Honey, not just for your Tea

Honey and tea has been a staple for as long as we could remember. Grandmother's swore that it would ease symptoms related to colds and flues. The latest buzz is that local honey helps seasonal allergies and our customer swear by this. They stop by daily, specifically to purchase our local honey.

Here at Red Bee Apiary, we use honey on just about everything and there is no food that has escaped the drizzle of our liquid gold, from home baked breads to a sweetener for our morning coffee. YES, I said coffee. Who ever thought honey could be the perfect "green" sweetener for your morning Joe? It's full of minerals and vitamins that you won't find in processed sweeteners.

To help you explore the possibilities of coffee and honey, we are hosting a Coffee Roasting Workshop here in our gardens at Red Bee Apiary and posting three of our favorite honey recipes below. Coffee and Honey are the perfect accompaniments for home baked breads. We will be serving up all three of these tasty honey spreads with locally made Wave Hill breads and the freshly roasted coffee at the workshop.

Please join us for a Coffee Roasting Workshop with Peter and Junalyn Duveen of the Siberian Pipeline Coffee Company in NY. Learn how to roast your own coffee beans for a much fresher, robust flavor. Find out about pan-roasted coffee, and automatic roasting machines, and taste the result--freshly brewed coffee with delicious locally made Wave Hill Bread and Red Bee Honeys! Each guest will receive one sample sized bag of coffee beans.

Sign Up for our Coffee Roasting Workshop

Here's a sneak preview of what's on the menu at
Red Bee's Coffee Roasting Workshop
RECIPES:

Coffee Creamed Honey

Makes 1 cup

• 9 oz. creamed honey
• 1 Tablespoon instant coffee
• 1 teaspoon hot water

In small bowl, bring creamed honey to room temperature. Combine instant coffee and hot water. Add to creamed honey. Stir in quickly but do not blend completely, leaving some swirls of coffee. Chill until ready to serve. Makes 8 2-Tablespoon servings.

Chocolate Honey Hazelnut Spread (Nutella)

Makes 1-1/4 cups

• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup ground skinned roasted hazelnuts
• 1 teaspoon raw cocoa powder
  

Cream honey and butter; add hazelnuts and stir until smooth. Serve spread at room temperature; store in refrigerator, tightly covered. Cream honey and butter; add hazelnuts and stir until smooth. Serve spread at room temperature; store in refrigerator, tightly covered. * Roast hazelnuts on flat pan at 325°F for 15 minutes or until skins blister and nuts are lightly browned. Cool slightly; rub between palms of hands or with clean towel to remove skins. Grind in blender or food processor until fine but not pasty.

Whipped Honey Cinnamon Butter

Makes 1 cup

• 1/2 cup (6 oz.) whipped or creamed honey
  
• 1/4 lb. (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  

In a medium bowl, mix together honey and butter. Spoon into jars with tight-fitting lids. Store in refrigerator.

Honey Bee Open House

What’s Buzzing at the New Canaan Nature Center?
Honey Bee Open House
144 Oenoke Ridge
New Canaan, CT 06840
Phone: (203) 966-9577
Saturday, July 25, 2009
10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Did you know that one third of our food is pollinated by honeybees? Did you know that we have lost 50% of our honeybees in the United States due to environmental stresses and a little known condition called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)?

Everyone is invited to our Honey Bee Open House to learn more about honey bees and honey, pollination, the amazing health benefits and the importance to our environment and ecosystem.

• 10:00AM Unveiling of the new honeybee observation hive in the Discovery Room
• 11:00AM – Noon Marina Marchese, owner of Red Bee Honey will share her experiences as a beekeeper and conduct a honey tasting to highlight different nectar sources that create each unique flavor profile
• Noon – 1:00PM Encaustics (beeswax) art demonstration with Silvermine Guild artist Elizabeth Back, Nash Hyon, Kari Englehart, Leslie Guiliani and Maria Marchese
• 1:00PM Wildflower walk & talk
• 1:30PM Honeybee costume parade - prizes will be awarded!

Signs of Spring-2009

As the first of our crocuses begin to pop their bright purple heads up from beneath the frozen ground, I spotted honeybees dancing around them. This worker bee in the photo was covered with bright orange pollen and as I watched her sipping nectar to bring back to her hive. Finally, spring has arrived but not without a fight. Here in Connecticut we were slapped with over a foot of snow on March 2nd and tomorrow will be April 1st- the ground is still frozen but the sun is shining. It was a long, bitter winter here and I have been in my own self imposed hibernation, reading and writing but not blogging-apologies.

I did manage to escape for a week with my honey to the deserts of Arizona and we hunted around for beekeepers and native honeys. There I discovered prickily pear and saguaro, two types of cactus honey and something called cats claw. Cats claw is an herb and it's honey is delicious with flavors of the desert. Catcus honeys are exotic and fruity. You must try them when you visit Arizona. These plants are unique to the desert and the bees are all over them. I was treated to an unexpected honey tasting by an artist who lives off-the-grid in a remote part of the desert. I had the pleasure to taste their local Rodeo honey which is a rare brand to find since the beekeeper has retired. Needless to say, I brought back one suitcase dedicated to just desert honeys.

The rest of the winter was spent researching and writing for my upcoming book where I share my experiences as a hobbyist beekeeper and my love of honey. Due to be released on September 1st stay tuned for details.


Red Bee ® has many events planned for this year, our favorites are presenting honey tastings at fundraisers for Share Our Strength which raises money for Childhood hunger. We will be returning to our local farmers markets and even hosting some events here at our apiary. Check our events page on our web site for details. www.redbee.com

Happy Spring-Beekeeping season has finally begun!



RECIPE

Camembert Grape Salad with Honey Vinaigrette

- Makes 4 servings -

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 Tablespoons orange juice
• 1 Tablespoon poppy seeds
• 3/4 lb. seedless grapes
• 3/4 lb. sliced fresh figs, apricots, plums or nectarines
• 4 oz. camembert or brie cheese, cut into narrow wedges
• 1/2 cup pecan halves, toasted
• 2 quarts salad greens

Directions

Combine honey, vinegar, oil, orange juice and poppy seeds in a jar. Shake well. Arrange clusters of grapes, fruit, cheese wedges and pecans on salad greens. Shake dressing and drizzle over salads. Refrigerate any remaining dressing.

Honey & Cheese Class

For those of you who missed this fabulous How Sweet It Is: Cheese and Honey Class at Murray's Cheese Shop down on Bleeker Street, here are the pictures! Guest were treated to a Tasting and Pairing of 7 of Murray's finest artisan cheeses and 7 varietal honeys from us at Red Bee Honey. Amy Sisti, Murray' mail order manager is seen on the left and Taylor Cocalis, Murray's Class coordinator on the right and me in the middle.Take a peek at how these ladies set up each place setting for the event. All 24 place setting were spectacular each with its own red and white wine and Lurisa Italian bottled water. The cheese were set up in a clockwise fashion beginning at 12 noon and the honeys presented in line to pair up with each cheese. For more detailed information about the cheeses and honeys visit our Recipe pages.