Unexpected food discoveries lead to a tasty Halloween and Diwali

There are few things that get me more excited than discovering something new to eat. In the name of unearthing an unusual and original taste, I will scour local markets, steal tastes at farm stands, pilfer fruit from neighbor's trees or wild bushes. I will endure excruciating heat, verbal abuse, gastrointestinal discomfort, endless hours of searching, even potential jail time.

Of course, the joy multiplies tenfold when new products practically jump into my undeserving hands, which is exactly what happened not once but twice over the weekend at our local farmers market.

Making my usual rounds, my blood hound mind was distracted by every aroma and shiny object. I paused here to sample a glistening pear, there to sniff the rose geraniums. I was as insatiable as Condoleeza Rice at Ferragamo.

The sight of a giant bee out of the corner of my eye momentarily yanked me out of my reverie. Once my reptilian brain relaxed, I realized the over five-foot tall bee was actually Helene Marshall of Marshall's Farm Natural Honey dressed as a bee, a la John Belushi.

Having my foot swell to the size of a basketball after stepping on a bee when I was a toddler didn't dampen my enthusiasm for honey. Neither did the discovery that the liquid amber is essentially bee vomit. I adore the sweet nectar.

In the Bay Area, the folks at Marshall's are the ambassadors of the bee kingdom. Their selection of dozens of varieties range in color from pale gold to dark chocolate and in flavor from floral to bittersweet. I decided to veer from my usual favorite "star thistle" and sample their seasonally changing collection of sticky wares.

After licking enough samples to send a dozen diabetics into shock, my clear favorite was endearingly named "Haunted Honey." Made from the pollen of pumpkin blossoms, this bright orange syrup has distinct undertones of roasted butternut squash and butterscotch.

Haunted Honey for Halloween. How appropriate. Unbelievably, I next stumbled upon a product worthy of Diwali, the Indian festival of lights which takes place today.

This time, I spied a product that stopped me in my tracks - a local version of an Italian cheese that some readers know I am inordinately fond of. While I paused to take a picture of the sheep's milk cheese, another cheese grabbed my attention.

Apparently a month or two ago, the local cheesemakers at Cowgirl Creamery teamed up with noted Indian food expert Niloufer Ichaporia King (whose cookbook I am excitedly awaiting) to create a creamy "Parsi style" version of panir (also spelled paneer). The Cowgirl version of this cow's milk farmer's cheese tastes like a smoother, saltier version of fresh ricotta, remarkably similar to a fresh cheese I often enjoyed in Catalonia called mató.

And guess what! Mató is almost always paired with honey* as a light and refreshing end to a Catalan meal. So I married my Halloween honey with my Diwali panir, added a few toasted California walnuts, and ended up miraculously with the best version of mel i mató I have had outside of Spain. Kismet.

Happy (belated) Halloween! Happy Diwali! And, most of all, happy tummy!

*Thanks also to the brilliant NS of San Francisco Gourmet San Francisco Gourmet who just a month ago reminded us all what a simple yet wonderful combination fresh ricotta-style cheese is when drizzled with a flavorful honey.

Food|and Drink|Recipes|Cheese|Desserts

Comments

[Indira]

Hi Brett, wishing you and N, a Happy Diwali.

That honey looks gorgeous. Finding two of your favorites on the same day, that's kismet, indeed.

(You are no Condi. She behaved like Nero, what a heartless human being she is.)

[David]

I love Marshall's (rare) pumpkin honey and regret not bringing some back with me on my last visit. Glad you're enjoying the vomit, er, fruits of their bee's labor!

[Lindy]

Oh, do I envy you that honey. It sounds like it tastes marvelous, and it looks absolutely beautiful.
Bees are pretty much the original model for "eating locally", and we are the lucky beneficiaries - all these myriad wonderful different honeys!

[CadmiumRed]

Funny, the Greeks do the something similar with their very thick yogurt...dribble wonderful Attiki honey on top & then scatter broken walnuts for a tart/sweet dessert.

[Kalyn]

Looks absolutely wonderful. I haven't tried paneer, but I have read about it and been curious.

[mzn]

I was going to say basically the same thing as CadmiumRed. One of my favorite things to eat when I get hungry in the late afternoon is yogurt cheese drizzled with lots of honey. But yours is prettier than mine.

[cookiecrumb]

Brett, that's just totally crass, calling honey "bee vomit." It's Bee Barf!
Great photo.

[Jennifer]

Brett, you never disappoint! What a fabulous idea - I've been meaning to try that panir ever since I read about it in the Chron. Keep on scouring, stealing and pilfering... and we'll keep cheering you on!

[Brett]

Indira, hope you had a happy Diwali too. I like your analogy. Condi did indeed fiddle while Rome burned.

David, I wonder how Marshall's honeys compare to some of the interesting French and Italian honeys, like chestnut honey. I suppose it depends on the intended use.

Lindy, artisan honeys are very local, aren't they? The folks at Marshall's claim that using honey produced from the local wild flowers helps to combat allergies by building up some sort of immunity. I don't know how true that is (I eat plenty of their honey and my allergies haven't improved), but it's an interesting theory.

CadmiumRed and mzn, that is a typical Greed dessert, isn't it? There's probably some version of this dessert in every Mediterranean region. In the Lombardy region of Italy, I've read that gorgonzola dolce is often served the same way.

Kalyn, the more typical, firmer version of paneer is actually quite easy to make at home. Basically, you heat up milk and add something acidic, like vinegar, lemon juice or, my favorite, buttermilk. Then the milk separates into curds and whey. You skim off the curds, drain them in a cheesecloth, press them if you desire firmer cheese, and presto! you have paneer.

Cookiecrumb, bee barf. That's good, but do you really want to encourage me to come up with more alliterative phrases? Before you know it, I'll accidentally make a dinner of foods all beginning with the letter B!

Jennifer, thanks for the encouragement. I didn't realize the Chron (darn! they scooped me) had written about the Cowgirl panir, or I would've tried it sooner!

[LisaSD]

What a serendipitous day at the farmers market! And I agree, there's not much more exciting than finding something new to EAT! Nice to find another gawker reader, too. Do you also read defamer?

[jane]

The mel i mató looks wonderful

[NS]

Brett - I've been completely buried at work for the past three weeks so I'm just now catching up on my blog reading, but I wanted to thank you for your much-too-kind words! I love that panir from Cowgirl and Marshall's honey is fantastic, so the combination that you put together sounds absolutely spectacular. I will definitely give it a try!