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RECIPE 4 – BEET SALAD WITH HONEYED APPLE is a lovely fall weather side dish.
INGREDIENTS: 4 fresh beets / 2½ tbsp olive oil / 3 tsp Acacia or Orange Blossom honey / 2-3 tbsp cider vinegar / sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste / 1 red onion, finely sliced / 3 tbsp finely chopped dill / 2 Gala apples or another sweet-sharp variety
DIRECTIONS: Preheat the oven to 400*F / 200*C
Wrap each beet individually in foil and bake for 1 ¼ – 1 ½ hours, until tender.
DRESSING: 2 tbsp of the oil into a serving bowl and use the oily spoon to measure out 2 tbsp honey so it slips easily off the spoon. GREAT IDEA! Add 2 tbsp of vinegar then whisk the dressing together; season with salt and pepper. Mix the onion slices with the dressing. Cover and leave to marinate for 1 hour. When the beets are cooked, remove the foil and leave until cool enough to handle, peel off the skins and trim off the stalks. Cut into quarters, then slice each quarter. Add to the onion, along with the dill. Stir well.
Cut the apples into quarters and remove the cores. Slice the quarters around ½ inch/ 1 cm. Put the remaining ½ tbsp oil in the frying pan over a medium heat. Add the apple slices and cook for 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper; drizzle over the remaining 1 tbsp honey. Turn the apple slices over and let the honey bubble up for up to a 1 minute. Scatter the honeyed apple slices over the beet mixture and stir in. Taste the salad; sprinkle a little more vinegar if you prefer a more sharp-sweet version. Season with a grind of pepper and serve warm or at room temperature.
SOURCE: Celia Walker, Nashville, TN from “Honey: A Selection of More Than 80 Delicious Savory & Sweet Recipes” by Hattie Ellis (New York: Sterling Epicure) 2014.
FACT 4 – BEE TEAM! Bees live for six weeks. Every worker bee is an active member of the colony; attending to different jobs in the hive as their bodies grow and they learn about their environment. Every NEW worker bee hatches into darkness and after a quick meal starts their first job – to clean their room/cell; making it ready for their queen to lay another egg.
The NURSE bee comes by to inspect the NEW bee and to feed her. We know winter bees HEAT the hive, but summer bees FAN the hive to keep the temperature down to 95*-98*F. NECTAR TRANSFER occurs when a FORAGING bee gives their collected nectar to a waiting bee. This transfer means the foraging bee can leave right away for more nectar and the receiving bee can scurry off to the honey frame to deposit nectar. Very efficient! At 12 days, WAX MAKING begins when beautiful white discs are emitted from the WORKER bee’s abdomen. Can you imagine what a surprise that must bee!
Finally at 18 days, the mature worker becomes a GUARD on or near the landing board; this is where they observe SCOUT bees dancing to share the location of the nectar and FORAGING bees deliver honey and pollen. Most important, this is where they learn how to protect the door of the hive against intruders – mice, hornets, other bees. Finally, in the last week of their lives, worker bees become FORAGING bees. A foraging bee collects nectar and pollen from flowers, trees and bushes. At the end of their lives, their wings are tattered and they are exhausted from being an active, contributing member of the BEE TEAM.
Tennessee Artisan Honey 