Ballard Farmers Market – Karen/Brookfield Farm – 19 March 2023
Karen is my favorite honey vendor at BFM, although truth be told, I haven’t sampled every honey at the market. I suppose like everyone else, my honey preferences are idiosyncratic. Complicating matters is the stochastic nature of honey production by the bees, which is invariably linked to their sugar sources (not always necessarily floral), which are influenced in turns by plant biologies, and their growing conditions, such as weather and climate, all so unpredictable. So, as is the case with wines and their vintages and terroirs, when you find a goodie, buy in quantity, because it can never truly be precisely duplicated. Nonetheless, some broad generalizations are useful, with the obvious chacun-à-son-goût disclaimer. To me, buckwheat’s intensity (nearly umami-leaning?) renders it good only for cooking. Clover is fine, but its flavor profile skews sweet, without significant additional complexity. I’d expected orange-blossom to have a citrusy component, but after several tries found this not to be the case. In New York I once scored a superb squash-blossom honey from a roadside truck vendor. It had a very slight greenish tinge to its modest opacity, and the intensity of its other flavor elements was striking but not ovewhelming. Alas, that vendor was never to be seen again, nor was this honey type, at least so far. New Jersey Pine Barrens (from Sullivan Street Tea & Spice Company in Greenwich Village) is my paragon, but I’m good with supporting PNW small-batch producers. My favorite of Karen’s is her “Mountain Wildflower” variety. Unfortunately, 2022 was not a good year for this particular kind of honey; hopefully, this year will be more cooperative, and I’ll be able to stock up again.
Karen, Brookfield Farm