Honey For The Jewish New Year

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins Wednesday evening September 4th. It’s customary to serve honey to ensure a sweet new year.  So what kind of honey to choose ?

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According to the National Honey Board, there are more than 300 unique kinds of honey in the United States, from diverse floral sources as Clover, Eucalyptus and Orange Blossoms.  In general, lighter colored honeys are mild in flavor, while darker honeys are usually more robust in flavor. The color and flavor of honey differ depending on the bees’ nectar source (the blossoms).  Honey comes in 5 different forms: liquid; comb (honey in it’s original form); cut comb (liquid honey with chunks of comb inside); naturally crystallized; and whipped or cremed ( crystallized so that it’s in a solid state and can be spread like butter).

Honey choices at the UES Fairway

All supermarkets and specialty stores carry at least a few varieties of honey. Many farmer’s markets also have stands with locally produced honeys. For convenience and variety, I found that Fairway was a  good place to shop for both the most common and the most exotic honeys; honeys from the US and around the world. Some examples:

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Langnese Country Honey is from Germany. It’s a creamy natural honey “made from the honeycomb after the bees have sealed it tightly with wax. This means that the honey is mature – it has a full taste and all the nutrients are intact,” according to the company. A different German honey is made by Bihophar and it’s an acacia flower blossom honey with comb. Attiki honey is from Greece. It’s derived from a select variety of Greek thyme, wild flowers and herbs. Aleluya is pure honey from Argentina and is mild and creamy.

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Dutch Gold Honey is a Lancaster PA company that has been making honey since 1946, Fairway sells a variety of different blossoms of their liquid honey including buckwheat, clove, and orange blossom. Tupelo honey comes from the blossoms of the tupelo gum tree and is mostly produced commercially in areas along the Choctawhatchee, Apalachicola, and Ochlockonee rivers. Honey produced from only the white tupelo is the only honey that will not granulate, according to the Tupelo Beekeepers Association.

Fairway also offers its own brand of reasonably priced honey made from wildflower blossoms.