![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The Taste of Nostalgia
Apr. 14th, 2012 10:59 amWhen I was growing up in California, we had a tangerine tree in the front yard. So I grew up with a plentiful supply of tree-ripe, fresh tangerines (and peaches, tomatoes, corn, artichokes, etc, etc). The tangerines were too ugly for the supermarket but were they ever delicious.
While this experience made the tangerine my favorite citrus fruit, actual supermarket tangerines have never matched the experience. Honey tangerines from Florida, those "Cutie" clementines that come in a blue box... good, but not quite what I want out of a tangerine. Then last week I found tiny, irregular "pixie" tangerines at the fruit market.
Wow. Wow. Yeah, that's how tangerines should taste. I ought to use these in that lemon bar recipe that Slate was pushing earlier this week.
-x-
About ten years ago... no, wait, it's been thirteen years now... I went with my Grandma to Hawai'i during my spring break. Grandma and I visited O'ahu, Kaua'i, and the Big Island. She fell in love with the Big Island, to the point where in '08, I made a pilgrimage there with my allotted portion of her ashes to make sure she'd stay there in her favorite place. But that's not what this is about.
Food fiend that I am, I came home with a jar of "rare Volcano Island white honey" from the kiawe tree. Now, the kiawe tree, also known as mesquite, is an introduced and rather invasive species on the islands, but aside from that annoying detail, Hawaiian kiawe honey is nothing like the mesquite honey you can buy in large jars at Trader Joe's. I have both on hand right now and they've nothing in common. Volcano Island honey is thick, cream-colored, translucent rather than transparent. And it's GOOD. I've had lots of Hawaiian honeys, including the highly-touted honey of the native lehua blosson, and this stuff is far and away the best. You just don't want to necessarily use it like you would the stuff in the bear bottle. Save it for your best homemade baked goods, or some premium ice cream... or eat it with a spoon.
And now Vosges chocolates is offering bite-sized doses of white honey in the form of truffles. Reader, I bought the nine-piece set. My most excellent spouse was a little miffed because he hates the combination of honey and chocolate (!) and wanted the bacon chocolate bars instead, but these things are possibly the best creation I've ever bought from Vosges.
But I bought these as well, and we'll just have to see if they measure up.
While this experience made the tangerine my favorite citrus fruit, actual supermarket tangerines have never matched the experience. Honey tangerines from Florida, those "Cutie" clementines that come in a blue box... good, but not quite what I want out of a tangerine. Then last week I found tiny, irregular "pixie" tangerines at the fruit market.
Wow. Wow. Yeah, that's how tangerines should taste. I ought to use these in that lemon bar recipe that Slate was pushing earlier this week.
-x-
About ten years ago... no, wait, it's been thirteen years now... I went with my Grandma to Hawai'i during my spring break. Grandma and I visited O'ahu, Kaua'i, and the Big Island. She fell in love with the Big Island, to the point where in '08, I made a pilgrimage there with my allotted portion of her ashes to make sure she'd stay there in her favorite place. But that's not what this is about.
Food fiend that I am, I came home with a jar of "rare Volcano Island white honey" from the kiawe tree. Now, the kiawe tree, also known as mesquite, is an introduced and rather invasive species on the islands, but aside from that annoying detail, Hawaiian kiawe honey is nothing like the mesquite honey you can buy in large jars at Trader Joe's. I have both on hand right now and they've nothing in common. Volcano Island honey is thick, cream-colored, translucent rather than transparent. And it's GOOD. I've had lots of Hawaiian honeys, including the highly-touted honey of the native lehua blosson, and this stuff is far and away the best. You just don't want to necessarily use it like you would the stuff in the bear bottle. Save it for your best homemade baked goods, or some premium ice cream... or eat it with a spoon.
And now Vosges chocolates is offering bite-sized doses of white honey in the form of truffles. Reader, I bought the nine-piece set. My most excellent spouse was a little miffed because he hates the combination of honey and chocolate (!) and wanted the bacon chocolate bars instead, but these things are possibly the best creation I've ever bought from Vosges.
But I bought these as well, and we'll just have to see if they measure up.
