Halloween Baking with Raw Honey

We love Juniper Cakery's Halloween red velvet cup cake recipe, complete with honey "blood". To make the honey "blood" they suggest mixing 1/2 a tsp of red gel paste food colouring with 6tbsp of icing sugar & 1tbsp of honey, with 1tbsp of room temperature water. Borage honey is particularly good for this as it's light in colour & runnier than other honeys, but add the water to it little by little as you might not need it all to get the right consistency.

For the full recipe see their website:

http://www.junipercakery.co.uk/blog/halloween-red-bloody-velvet-cupcakes/

 The London Honey Company is one of the UKs leading purveyors of fine raw honey of provenance. Since our beginnings in 1999 The London Honey Company has become beekeeper to London’s most iconic rooftops, we supply London’s best restaurants, create honey ranges for the top UK food halls and sell our own range of honey through department stores, delis and specialist food shops across the country and on the continent. Due to the continued success and growth of the company we now need a warehouse operations manager for 3 days a week. This is a permanent position following a 3 month trial period.

The Person

The warehouse operations manager is a hard working, hands-on do-er with experience in managing food production. As the warehouse operation manager, your passion for real food with its own story ensures our honey leaves the warehouse on time and looking beautiful. There are always opportunities for continuous improvement and you have the initiative to use them. As this role is central to the growth of the business this member of the team must also be commercially astute. The warehouse operations manager must communicate effectively with other members of the team, motivating them and bringing out the best in them, often under pressure. The warehouse operations manager will work closely with the office team and business owner, who they report to, to realise new honey formats and ranges and to prioritise multiple orders.

Key responsibilities

•      Overseeing the warehouse floor: receiving of honey into the warehouse, stock management and storage.
•      Overseeing honey extraction and packing room operations, labelling, picking of orders and timely order despatch.
•      The adherence to high health and safety standards throughout the warehouse floor.
•      Maintaining of records associated with honey packing and food hygiene.
•      Prioritising multiple orders through effective production planning both long and short term.
•      To lead the design and implementation of new systems and procedures in the warehouse as the company grows.

Experience and capabilities

•      Health and safety standards, familiarity with SALSA a bonus
•      Working under pressure
•      Delivering projects on time and to tight deadlines
•      Results focused and action orientated
•      Numerate
•      PC literate
•      Several years experience in a food business
•      Preferably a full driving licence
•      Personal alcohol licence is a bonus

Salary:

·         £25,000 circa, pro rata (£15,000 per annum based on three days a week) dependent on experience. The working hours are usually 9am till 6pm Monday to Friday, however flexibility is required at times to meet the needs of the business.

If you are interested in the role please send your CV to Emily@thelondonhoneycompany.co.uk along with a few words about yourself and why you are interested in joining the London Honey Company team.

 

LEMON POPPY SEED CAKE WITH HONEY BLACK TEA FROSTING AND MARIGOLD NEST
recipe from Twigg Studios 

Photo by Aimee, Twigg Studios

Photo by Aimee, Twigg Studios

This week we're inspired to bake for Easter by the talented food photographer and blogger  Aimee at Twigg Studios, here is the recipe for her delicious lemon poppy seed cake with a twist, as featured on her blog. Recipe for the sponge 4 eggs 150g caster sugar 150g self raising flour zest of one and a half lemons juice of one lemon 3 to 4 tbsp poppy seeds Grease and line two 15cm tins and preheat the oven to 160c With a stand mixer with the whisk attachment whip together the sugar and eggs for a few minutes until tripled in size and pale, add the lemon juice and continue mixing then using a spatula fold in the flour, poppy seeds and lemon zest. Pour evenly between the tins and bake for about 30 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. For the frosting 250g mascarpone or other cream cheese 300ml double cream 4 tbsp icing sugar 160ml runny honey, we recommend Ling Heather Honey 1/3 cup of strongly Brewed black tea (cooled) 1 tbsp lemon zest In a mixer whip together the cream cheese, double cream, and icing sugar until starting to get thick then add the honey and mix then add the tea a tbsp at a time and Continue to mix and add the zest. For the curd 3 egg yolks juice and zest from two lemons 1/3 cup sugar 1/4 cup honey,   2 tbsp butter Mix together all the ingredients apart from the butter and stir over a low heat, stir constantly until the mixture starts to thicken and coats the back of the spoon then pour through a sift and stir in the butter and leave to cool To build the cake Drizzle over the curd (I didn’t take it too thick as I wanted it to drizzle down the sides) feel free to just use shop bought curd, then spread on some for the frosting add the next layer. Then spread the frosting around the sides and the top to cover the cake, drizzle some for the curd over the sides and add the marigold nest. For more recipes and beautiful food photography see Aimee's blog: www.twiggstudios.com

As ever our warehouse shop is open on Saturday from 9am till 2pm where you can pick up honey for baking or our Easter gift set of a Leach pottery egg cup with a beeswax "egg" candle and honey.

Order before midnight on Monday the 21st of December and receive your parcel by courier before Christmas Eve. Orders after the 22nd won't be sent out till the 5th of January. The last Saturday before Christmas   Come down to our Bermondsey warehouse this Saturday for your last change to buy mead directly from us retail, as we only have a temporary retail licence, and to pick up gifts and candles. See the map of where we are here. Open 10am till 2pm.

Struffoli: Bea Vo's Italian donut recipe, from Steve's book.

Struffoli Tis the season to entertain family and friends and feed them treats. Bea Vo, the owner of Bea's of Bloomsbury was kind enough to give us her recipe for struffoli as part of Steve's book, The Urban Beekeeper: A Year of Bees in the City. Bea's commercial bakery is in Bermondsey, which is how we know her - it's conveniently close for us to drop honey to and pick up some cakes. Struffoli is Bea's "favourite fried donut treat' , a traditional Italian sweet and works well with London Honey. It's a festive feeling recipe with citrus zest and boozy rum. The ingredients are listed below, straight off of p16 of the book.

How to make struffoli Mix the flour, orange and lemon zest, paprika and salt. To do it the old traditional way, dump the flour on the counter and create a small well. Fill with eggs and 1 tablespoon rum. Incorporate with hands until you get a nice smooth dough. Wrap in cling film and place in refrigerator for one hour. Separate the dough into quarters and roll each into a long rope about 1 inch thick. Cut into small 1/2-inch pieces like gnocchi. Heat the oil in pan until it reaches 190 degrees C. Drop the balls in a few at a time until they turn nicely golden and puffy. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. In a wide pot, add the honey, orange juice and a shot of rum, and heat over a medium heat until it's quite warm and the honey thin. Add the doughnut pieces to the honey mixture, and stir until well coated. Remove from the heat and let the sauce cool in the pan, stirring constantly to keep the honey coating even. Pour onto a nice plate and dust with icing sugar on top.

Our tips on matching cheeses and honey  for your festive table Honey and cheese is a winning combination of two beautiful foods which together are more than the sum of their parts. Some honeys work better with some cheeses than others. Here's our guide to choosing honey for your cheese course this Christmas. Nutty cheeses go well with rich bitter sweet Ling heather honey. Try Parmigiano Reggiano, a good quality cheddar such as Keen's, alpine cheeses (think Comté, Gruyère) or Nic one of our beekeepers recommends Pecorino Sardo. The sweetness balances the saltiness well. Serve squares of cheese with honeycomb on top as a canapé. Sweet and creamy fresh cheeses such as ricotta or goats curd go well with herby honeys such as Woodsage, which is currently only available in our Saturday warehouse shop .  Piquant blues such as Gorgonzola or Roquefort work wonderfully well with a drizzle of honey but go for a subtle honey such as Borage so as not to clash with these strong charactered cheeses.  The wonderful La Fromagerie matched cheeses with our mead for our launch party. Check out their recommendations on our blog. You can buy our mead at our warehouse on Saturdays till Christmas or online from the Whisky Exchange and Fortnum and Mason or from other stockists.

The festive table: beeswax candles, honeyed hams and mead.

Get stocked up on candles and honey ready for Christmas. We particularly like to use heather honey on our Christmas ham as it has a wonderful caramel like taste with bitter notes.  Shop Candles & Honey A Festive Mead Cocktail You can now buy our mead online from the Whisky Exchange and Fortnum and Mason , as well as from our warehouse on Saturdays till Christmas. Perfect straight or in cocktails, try this festive cocktail with cloves as suggested in an article about our mead by BarLifeUK The Monkey’s Banquet 30ml Monkey Shoulder or another whisky 2 cloves 20ml lemon juice 10ml borage honey or sugar syrup  10ml white wine Shaken and served over cubed ice in a highball Topped with mead

Free postage when you spend over £50 till the 27th of November

use the code: HONEYGIFTS

The Honey Doctor

It’s important to stay healthy, avoid winter illnesses and not to get down in the dumps on dark days during winter. So it’s a good time to talk about honey and health. Luckily we’ve always got honey on hand for our ailments, but don’t sue us for claims about our products if your cold persists, it’s just what our granny always recommended. 

Honey has been used as a healing substance since ancient times and modern analysis shows it contains naturally occurring hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide is a colourless liquid just slightly more viscous than water. The fact that every honey jar contains this liquid is good news, as many claim it has several health benefits which add qualities to our honey beyond taste. Our body produces hydrogen peroxide in our white blood cells to fight disease and defend against pathogens. However, in honey it is produced from glucose with the aid of a specialist enzyme from the bees. The hydrogen peroxide in honey can help to fight infections or heal wounds and the medical world is cottoning on to this and developing treatments using honey*. Although it does not help with pain relief as hydrogen peroxide is not a pain-killer, it can however act as an anti-viral, antibacterial and anti-fungal agent, which could help to make it effective at treating the pathogen that is causing the infection. We are not saying rub honey on your teeth when you have toothache, but honey is special stuff so maybe think beyond putting it on your toast next time?

Steve’s favourite ritual when he lived in Shropshire to celebrate the end to a good year of beekeeping was to drink hot toddies with the local landowners, farmers and the gamekeeper on the land where he still keeps the bees. David King, the gamekeeper who lives near Steve’s beloved Butler’s Cottage where he used to live up in Shropshire, is responsible for getting Steve into this simple drink. He has been a helping friend of Steve’s for may years and still to this day checks on the bees whilst we are busy back in London.

So if you are struck down with a cold this season we’ve got a comforting hot toddy recipe for you as a cough syrup alternative! We find it works well even if you don’t have a cold!!! But this is not the answer for your 8 year old no matter how much they are complaining. And if it doesn’t cure you of your symptoms it will most probably help send you to sleep forgetting that they exist! Enjoy!

Kingy’s Hot Toddy:

Bushmill’s whiskey (a healthy dash)

Heather honey (a teaspoon or so)

1 lemon

Cloves and a cinnamon stick

Turn to page 267 in Steve’s book to see how this warming winter drink is made. 

Another drink to help keep you in good health this winter, this creation belongs to Steve’s friend Lara, it was her grandfather’s recipe and we feel that it is a delicious restorative that everyone could do with every once in a while. Lara’s grandfather was a doctor in Chichester and swore by this recipe for a cure of all ills both for him and his patients. We hope it will help to restore your health, strength and well-being.

Dr Bernay’s Honey Gar recipe

Runny honey

Cider Vinegar

Carbonated water

A glassful to be drunk once a day to aid good health and longevity.

Mr Bernay’s doctors orders can be found on page 57 of Steve’s book ‘The Urban Beekeeper- a year of bees in the city.’ 

*Please consult your doctor for professional advice on using honey medicinally.

Bonfire night : spiced London honey dressing

Winter is drawing in fast and today it’s bonfire night! Broken hive parts are superb at getting a fire going. We like to put baked potatoes in foil to cook in the fire over the course of the evening, ready to be broken open, accompanied with slow cooked pork shredded and a winter salad of grated carrot, oriental leaves and a warming spiced London Honey Dressing. This dressing goes well with a roast pork, pigeon or chicken. The recipe comes from the chef Mickael Weiss who Steve met on a cookery programme around 4 years ago. His restaurant, Coq d’Argent, is based in the heart of the financial city where he serves our honeycomb. Here is the perfect bonfire night spiced dressing recipe:  you will need:   1/2 tsp turmeric  1/2 tsp cumin     1/2 tsp ground ginger  1/2 tsp star anise powder (or a whole star anise) 1/2 tsp curry powder 1 lime 1 lemon 50g sugar 150g of London honey 100g of soft butter For more detail, cooking instructions, and a story about Steve’s nephew getting lost, flick to page 248 in ‘The Urban Beekeeper, a year of bees in the city.’

The London Honey Company in Korea

In mid-September The London Honey Company (LHC) were invited to a very special beekeeping event which happens every 3 years, this was the 44th Apimondia International Apicultural Congress in Daejeon, South Korea. The theme was “Bee, Connecting the World!”. We felt like this was an opportunity not to be missed. Steve sent his right hand man, London Honey Company beekeeper Nic Bishop who was keen to learn about Korean beekeeping and how people have been inspired by Steve’s work across the globe! The LHC was invited to the congress by Nicola Bradbear of Apimondia and Professor Seungwang Lee of Seoul National University.  Nicola is one of the upmost personalities in the world of beekeeping and rural development, she introduced a section on Urban Beekeeping to Apimondia for the very first time this year and deserves a big thank you for inviting us to such an incredible event. Nic’s presentation included a brief history of the company and how it developed, offering amazing pictures of bees around the London rooftops, as well as technical insights on how to be an urban beekeeper! Back in 2013 Steve's Book ‘The Urban Beekeeper, A year of Bees in the City’ was translated into Korean. Professor Seungwang, who invited the LHC to visit the bees at the university, and other beekeepers Nic met, such as Jin Park, had all read the Korean copy of the book several times. Jin was actually inspired by Steve's book in setting up this operation with the rest of the Urbees Seoul team.    There were many interesting organisations at the conference, such COLOSS ,Prevention of honey bee COlony LOSSes, to more extravagant projects like Denis Anderson's work on reintroducing sustainable beekeeping in the UAE. The Rural Development Series offered presentations ranging from the role of women beekeepers in Zambian villages to the introduction of new technologies for the transportation of hives in Ghana.   In Seoul, South Korea’s capital, Nic had the opportunity to meet up with Jin Park of Urbees Seoul and his gentle bees on the UNESCO House in the heart of the city. His bees forage on acacia and chestnut trees from the hills around the N Seoul Tower and access early pollen from the numerous willow trees in the various ecological parks. They exchanged jars of honey and had a two hour bee chat at the UNESCO house bar after which Jin left to check on hives at one of the western embassy's in the city. On his second day in Seoul Nic visited the Seoul National University where Professor Seungwang Lee showed him around his department including the University's huge insectary which was about the size of our warehouse in Bermondsey! He then visited the rooftop bees of Seoul National University which has vast foraging sources offered by the wild mountains and hills that spread out from the south border of the city. The professor was very interested in the foraging sources that London offers our city bees. He told Nic he was in the process of making a recommendation to the Korean Government regarding which trees should be planted around the city and on roads.  In the bee farmer business there is no time for rest and it was a good job that Nic never quite adjusted to the local time zone. Within a few hours of his arrival back in the UK he was off to the Long Mynd heather moors for the Ling harvest and the migration of bees back to the warmer temperatures of the south! We hope to be given the opportunity to attend the next Apimondia conference again in 2018 when it will be held in Turkey and to help to develop urban beekeeping further into the future.