AN ENTREE WITH ACACIA HONEY:SALAD WITH CHEESE AND PEARS

Acacia Honey

The Acacia honey is a very delicate variety of honey, very sweet and any kid’s honey of choice. It is the most sough after honey in Northern Italy thanks to its purity, and transparency of colour. The honey is harvested way before the end of the acacia blossom season to avoid its contamination with other blossoms (Bees are a hungry bunch of people: they don’t give a damn if their honey is of a pure variety or a blend; they are just thinking of feeding their queen)

Colour: very fair, almost colourless

Crystallisation: absent, liquid

Scent: very light and similar to the scent of the flowers from which it derives.

Flavour: definitely sweet and slightly acidic. The aroma is vanilla like and very delicate, it is not persistent and has no aftertaste.

Eat with: this honey variety is so delicate in colour, scent and flavour that it can be used on almost every recipe. Its high fructose content make it ideal to sweeten drinks, yogurt and fruits in lieu of the traditional sugar. It can also be added, in small quantities, to the bread dough, to heighten the colour and scent of the bread’s crust. It is also often recommended by paediatricians as an additive to milk from twelfth month on.

A Curiosity

The acacia is native of North America. It is considered an intrusive variety. It grows almost anywhere, and it grows very fast. Its bloom is spectacular both in colour (mostly rich white, entirely covering the tree as if it was dusted with delicate snowflakes) and in scent (very pervasive). For ten days, the times it takes for the bloom to succeed, the forest resonate with the buzzing of the bees.

The acacia tree blooms in May, a month with very uncertain weather. It is a very risky harvest. A stronger than usual thunderstorm may reduce the harvest to noughts, whereas light rain will keep the bees away and achieve the same. A windy weather will also keep the bees in the beehives and dry the nectar. So does the cold. In other words, by the thing when available: you might not gat any for as long time.

Now the recipe from Roero: “Salad of Cheese and Pears”

6 to 8 Servings

Difficulty: Easy

Time to prepare: 15 minutes.

Ingredients:

4 pear

400 gr. of seasoned goat cheese

12 nuts

Liquid acacia honey

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt

A bit of chicory

Preparation:

Cut goat cheese and pears in small cubes,

Add 4 tea spoons of extra virgin oil, a pinch of salt and 2 tea spoons of honey and stir thoroughly,

Take the leafs off the chicory, wash them thoroughly, dry them, than fill the leafs with the salad of pears and goat cheese,

Sprinkle with pepper