Just in time for the holidays. This new glaze, “Cranberry Chutney”, is perfect for your next dinner. Try using as a marinade over your favorite meat. Drumsticks were perfect with the Cranberry Chutney and also delicious over mashed potatoes. Try this glaze  for that extra special taste in your next meal.

Available on-line at our web site.

Introducing 3 new vinegars!

The Balsamic Honey Vinegar was featured in Fine Cooking this month. Although the  Balsamic Honey Vinegar leads overall in sales of all products that may be because our new vinegars are just now out.

• Lemongrass Coriander
• Sundried Tomato & Tarragon
• Fire Roasted Chili

And which one does President, Leeanne Goetz prefer, “My favorite of the new vinegars is the fire roasted Chile – on the spicy side!  It’s been great as a salad dressing by itself and very low calorie (10).”

A very nice trio gift pack should be available within two weeks.

All vinegars are shipping. Be the first to try our newest tasty additions. Available on our web site www.honeyridgefarms.com

The award winning Balsamic Honey Vinegar was shown in the October Family Circle on page 17. The food director, Regina Ragone, wrote a very nice mention of Honey Ridge Farms including a recipe for “this utterly delicious sweet-tart Balsamic Honey Vinegar”.

Family Size Salad

1/4 cup of honey vinegar
tsp mustard
whisk with 3/4 cup olive oil
then finish with a little salt & pepper

For those peanut butter lovers out there, here is a recipe you cannot miss.  Peanut Butter Sandwiches with Blackberry Honey Creme places our honey creme inside delicious peanut butter cookies.  YUM!  Found on the blog, Real Food Has Curves, by Mark Scarbough, the honey creme is used as a filling.  Try it out for yourself.  It is sure to be a hit!

We’ve had fun experimenting with our gourmet honeys this month. Try some of the delicious offerings below, ranging from tasty breakfast fare to appetizers that will make guests clamor for more. Honey offers natural health benefits while providing a subtle sweetness to a variety of foods. Experiment with our unique varieties of honey available (Wild  Blackberry, Star Thistle, Pumpkin Blossom, Orange  Blossom and Black Button Sage) to add that “wow” factor to your favorite recipes.

 Honey Vanilla Yogurt with Fresh Fruit
Our gourmet honeys add delicious flavor to yogurt.

2 cups plain yogurt
3 tablespoons Honey Ridge Farms gourmet honey
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon or orange zest
4 cups assorted fresh fruit (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, orange sections, sliced peaches, plums, nectarines, grapes, or bananas, etc.)
¼ cup toasted chopped almonds or walnuts

Mix together yogurt, honey, citrus zest and vanilla extract. Toss the fruit together in a bowl to combine. Spoon fruit into small bowls or parfait cups, top with the yogurt and sprinkle with toasted nuts.

Makes 4 to 6 servings

Goat Cheese, Honey and Nut Coated Grapes
Guests can’t stop eating these bite-sized appetizers.

 8 ounces goat cheese, at room temperature
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/2 tablespoons Honey Ridge Farms gourmet honey
30 seedless red grapes, washed, dried and stemmed
1 1/4 cups finely chopped toasted pecans

Cream together goat cheese, cream cheese and honey. Working one at a time, spoon about 2 teaspoons cheese mixture around each grape, rolling between hands to evenly coat. Place on a baking sheet and refrigerate until slightly set, about 20 minutes. Place nuts in a shallow dish. Roll the cheese-coated grapes in the nuts to cover completely.  Chill about 30 minutes to one hour to set.  Serve.

 Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Cheese and Honey Platter

Cheese platters have been all the rage these past few years. My daughter was visiting recently, and we picked up several local cheeses to sample with our gourmet honeys. Add red and white wines to sip and savor, and you’ve got an outstanding appetizer or after-dinner treat. I like to offer either three or five cheeses, featuring a combination of soft ripened/fresh, blue and semi-hard/hard cheese. Serve a variety of flavors ranging from mild to strong. Arrange cheese wedges on a platter, wooden board or marble slab.

Serve with apple or pear slices, grape clusters or strawberries. Accompany with small bowls toasted walnuts or almonds and baguette slices or crackers.  Include small bowls (with spoons) of Honey Ridge Farms gourmet honey to drizzle on top of the cheeses.  Pumpkin Blossom, Black Button Sage and Star Thistle were our favorites, adding rich flavor, contrast and that “wow” factor to the cheese selections. Encourage guests to cut a slice of cheese, place on a baguette or cracker and drizzle with the honey of their choice. Following are cheese and wine selections to help you get started. Experiment with locally produced cheeses and interesting offerings at your supermarket. But above all, have fun with your pairings.

 Soft/Fresh: Brie, Camembert, Triple Crèmes, Chevre

Blue: Cambozola, Gorgonzola, Roquefort, Stilton

Semi-Hard/Hard: Cheddar, Edam, Gouda, Manchego, Dry Jack, Parmesan, Swiss

Wine Pairings: Pair light cheese with Pinot Gris, Pinot Noirs, Sauvignon Blanc or Chenin Blanc; blues go well with Viogniers, Rieslings and Muscat wines; creamy selections go well with sparkling wines and champagne; full-flavored cheese goes well with Merlot, Zinfandel and Syrahs.

Our friends at wineimbiber.com wrote a wonderful review and created a salmon recipe featuring our Balsamic Honey Vinegar.  Click here to visit their site.

From the Farm to You!

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Host your own tea party and use some of evite.com’s suggestions for serving a honey of a tea. It features our flavored Honey Cremes for hot tea mix-ins and as a delicious spread for scones. Click here to read more.

We were thrilled to see Honey Ridge Farms posted on the Leftover Queen’s website. Here is an excerpt from her blog on the honey creme’s and the balsamic honey vinegar.

Honey Ridge Farms is a really fantastic company. When I read the materials they sent me with the package I was really happy to read this statement: “We are a long time bee keeping family (5 generations) who believe that honey is nature’s best sweetener”. I would have to agree. I am a huge fan of honey, and maple syrup – if I could figure out how to bake with them, that is all I would ever use…sounds like another good project for me…Anyway their artisan honey is minimally processed, gently warmed and strained, but not filtered. This retains all the complex flavors this honey has to offer. The Pumpkin Blossom honey we got has a sweet and spicy robust flavor – and the color is beautiful.

I also received 3 Honey Cremes, and decided to use the Blackberry Creme in this recipe as it would compliment the berry notes in the Shiraz-Grenache wine I was using. Their honey cremes are blended with the finest fruits and spices and are never cooked – again retaining the natural goodness of the honey. It is delicious stuff and there is so much you could do with them – topping for ice cream, yogurt, on hot cereal, even spread on toast.

Anyway, I also decided to make a vanilla – maple cream to go with the pears – you can see the recipe after the cut.

We got another interesting product from Honey Ridge Farms – Balsamic Honey Vinegar. I know, I wondered what it was too when I saw the bottle. So I got to reading labels and literature to figure out what it was. It is a balsamic type vinegar made entirely from 100% honey! This makes it sulfite free and really does have the flavor of balsamic vinegar. You can use it in place of grape balsamic in salads, marinades and sauces. Plus, Honey Ridge Farms donates a percentage of their profits on this product to fund research for maintaining bee colony health – which is very important.

Strawberries are in season here in Florida right now. I am not a huge fan of them, but I do enjoy them when they are soaked in balsamic vinegar. If you have never tried this, it may sound weird, but I promise you that the flavors work together like magic! The vinegar brings out the sweetness of the berries. So I chopped up some strawberries and added 1/3 cup of Honey Balsamic over the top. I also mixed in about a TBS of the Clover Honey Creme (also from Honey Ridge). I let that all sit in the fridge for about an hour or two – you could do it over night, if you can wait that long! It was really delicious over vanilla ice cream! I am also looking forward to having some over yogurt. For additional recipes on her site for using our products go to http://www.leftoverqueen.com/2009/02/19/from-the-farm-poached-pears-and-honey-balsamic-strawberries

Have a great week!

-Leeanne

We are really excited about going to the Natural Products Expo West show taking place in Anaheim, California March 6-8th. We will be in hall E booth # 5629 showcasing  and sampling all of our products. It is destined to be a great show with lots of  vendors. For anyone that is going to be attending this show, please stop by the booth and see us. We have many exciting things going on at Honey Ridge Farms.

-Leeanne

What a great adventure.  The show in San Francisco was awesome.  Not only did we have a blast, but we secured new accounts and made connections with some great businesses and possibly future accounts.  During the show, we were approached by a few bloggers, and we want to thank all who took the time to hear our story and taste our products.  One exciting blog, written by Maureen Clancy, included a great article about our Balsamic Honey Vinegar, titled “A Taste of 2009–The Fancy Food Show, Part II.”  Maureen is an experienced food editor, food columnist, and restaurant critic.  We are excited to have been recognized by her.  She has a lot of talent and provides a professional and personal opinion on our product, and for that we are thankful!  So, put your palette to the test, and order up some delicious honey vinegar to use on your next salad, marinade or reduction, or in a simple dipping sauce with some bread. Mmm Mmm Good!