And now for something completely different...

...really! I'm just about finished reading a book by Stepehn Buchman called Letters From the Hive: An Intimate History of Bees, Honey, and Humankind. It's a decent book covering ancient honey hunting, Mayan stingless honey bee beekeeping, medicinal use of honey and much more. Buchman also includes a chapter on cooking with honey.

Cooking and eating is near and dear to me as I'm a bit of a foodie. Generally speaking, I'll try anything at least once. For example, when I worked at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, I made the mistake of telling one of the gift shop employees that I would try the chocolate cover insects they had for sale as a bit of a gag gift if someone else bought them. Well, long story short, she told a co-worker and I found out they were kinda bland and the only bad part was when a cricket leg got stuck between my teeth.

In some countries, when a fresh honey comb is offered to you, the author says that even the larvae tastes pretty good. This recipe, however, is very likely to be much more palatable than super fresh food like that. A staple of entertainment during the reign Queen Elizabeth I was gingerbread. This recipe hails from then and might be a bit different than one would expect as compared to modern gingerbread cookies and is quoted directly from Buchman's Letters:

Gyngerbrede

Gingerbread was a popular staple thoughout medieval and Renaissance Europe. The recipe below is not significantly different from those found in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century manuscripts and would have been familiar to the busy chefs of Hampton Court. Gingerbread was traditionally boiled rather than baked and was usually stamped with decorative designs. You may wish to express your own creativity with a cookie or butter press while your loaf is still warm and malleable.

Serves 8

1 cup honey                                                1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon powdered ginger                      1 tablespoon anise (fennel) seeds

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves                       1 3/4 cup dry bread crumbs

Heat the honey in the top of a double boiler. Add all the spices except the anise seeds and stir to blend. Now add the bread crumbs and mixthouroughly. Cover and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes. The mixture should be thick and moist. Place the gingerbread on a large sheet of waxed paper and mold the dough into small rectangular shapes. Sprinkle the anise seeds on top and press them gently into the dough with the side of a knife. Allow to cook, then cover and refrigerate for 2 hours. Serve the gingerbread at room temperature in thin slices.

This will make a nice spring and summer snack since very little stove time is required. I'll be trying it this weekend, I do believe!

Posted by Bob Nelson