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Orange Blossom Honey is an especially evocative speciality for the Riverside Contra Dance (see below). We offer it for sale at our dances to help us better pay our musicians and callers. It makes a great gift; buy a few bottles, or case of 12 at a significant discount.
Riverside historically is the center of the California citrus industry. In about 1900 it was one of the wealthiest cities in the nation because of the demand for its sweet fruit. Despite development that has replaced square miles of orange groves with houses, in March when the oranges bloom, they perfume the air of the whole city.
Honey bees eagerly visit orange blossoms to gather nectar, and when they return to their hives, they tell other bees the direction and distance to the sweet rewards they have found by doing dances. The others closely follow these dances, and fly out to gather nectar from the communicated locations. The angle relative to upward at which bees move on the vertical combs while dancing corresponds to the angle a recruit must fly relative to the sun direction to get to the food. The duration of the waggling of bee during the dance corresponds to the distance the recruits must fly. Kirk, who brings you the bees' honey, does research on the details of the dance language and how it is used by the bees (for more information, see his website.)
Kirk keeps bees in the University of California, Riverside citrus groves, and gathers and bottles this honey. Little processing is involved. The bees are shaken or driven off of the honeycombs. Then the honey is spun from the wax combs with centrifugal force, and warmed and allowed to settle so that bits of wax wax and air can float to the top, and then it is bottled. Thats all. The resulting honey retains the aroma of the orange blossoms better than many commercial honeys which are processed with more heat and filtration.
Bees evolved the production of honey as a way of storing food for long periods, so honey does not require refrigeration. Because its sugars are so concentrated, and because of antimicrobial properties added by the bees, microorganisms cannot grow in honey. All honey may granulate in time. In this process, the sugars in the honey crystallize out of solution. The honey is perfectly good to eat granulated; some even prefer it, since it is less runny and easy to spread. Granulated honey may be reliquified by warming it in a pan of hot water (too much heat will deform the plastic bottle, though).
Try this fragrant honey on bisquits, or in your tea. Honey is also famous for the flavor and keeping quality it adds to baked goods. Blend it with peanut butter for a yummy spread. Or, make the special honey/brandy dessert cordial below. If you run out of honey, come to our dance and get some more.
Honey/Brandy cordial: warm 1 part of Orange Blossom Honey and stir it into 6-10 parts of brandy or cognac. The honey will cause some solids to separate from the mixture; if left undisturbed these brown solids will settle below the pale-amber-colored cordial. This can be decanted off, or the mix can stirred back up (try both) before serving in a snifter, cordial glass, or over vanilla ice cream.
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