Honey Journal – Entry #10

Name:  Hill Tribe Gourmet Honey from Lychee Flowers.  You can find out all you want to know about lychees here.

You can buy it here:  On the internet.

Country:  Thailand

Purchased:  February 2008

Color:  Light Gold

Flavor:  Flowery with a sharp, piquant finish that lingers on the palate.  The lychee fruit is known for its “rosy” flavor and you can definitely taste it in this honey.

Consistency:  Syrupy

Fragrance:  Very mild brown sugar scent.

Notes:  I wouldn’t recommend this to someone who I wanted to introduce to glories of honey.  It’s a sophisticated, unusual taste that can probably be best appreciated by the aficionado. I bought a jar in Phuket, Thailand, a stop on the Prager listener cruise. The cruise was glorious in many ways, one of the best we’ve taken (and that’s saying a lot), but as a honey expedition it was kind of a bust.  I was hoping to score all kinds of exotic  brands.  I looked for them high and low, but without much success.  Mostly what I found were standard, processed supermarket-style honeys.  Still, this one was a worthy find.

I discovered it at the Wang Talang Jewelry Store and Emporium in Phuket, one of the most amazing stores I’ve been to anywhere. Try to imagine this:  a square football field full of case after case of every gem you can imagine – rubies, sapphires, diamonds, opals -- all exquisitely displayed.  It took my breath away. Susie found the pearl case (Thailand is known for its pearls) and was lost to me for the afternoon.  

Most of the salespeople had Western-style names on their name tags like Ben or Anna. Dennis wanted to know their real names and then expended much effort trying to pronounce each one correctly and other Thai words he insisted they teach him. Thai is not easy for the Westerner because of its subtle, complex accents, but this didn’t faze our Den. The sales people cracked up as he spoke his newly- learned Thai phrases with the confidence of a native.  Of course, they fell in love with him at the same time.  He tried to leverage the love into a bigger discount, but didn’t get too far with that.

You can find all the previous Honey Journal entries here:

#1 Lufa Natural Honey
#2 Natura Prime UMF 16 Manuka Honey
#3 Honey Pacifica Creamy Wildflower (Cold-packed)
#4 Zambezi 100% Organic Forest Honey
#5 White Gold Honey
#6 Rare Hawaiian Organic Winter Honey
#7 Eucalipto Honey
#8 Rees Estate, Private Reserve Honey
#9 Living Foods Hawaiian Lehua Honey