Something Special for Your Cheese Board: Whipped Seashore Honey
You know how some things are just better with a textural twist? Think about these: butter, cream cheese, cottage cheese, heavy cream. When whipped, they’re just tastier. If you have yet to try whippped honey, get ready to flip — and not just for the concept, but for this exact brand — from Québec. I’ll tell you how to get it, what cheeses shine most brightly alongside, and the two most inspired ways to serve it on your next cheese board.
I’ve had whipped honey before. It’s tasty. And generally speaking, it’s tastier than just plain honey. Because of its texture, there’s added complexity, and the flavors taste fuller.
But this whipped honey, called Seashore Honey from Société Original, is an entirely different animal. It’s even more over-the-top. With a velvety smoothness that’s truly, well, velvety, you’re left with a mouthfeel that’s more akin to butter than honey. It’s barely sticky, actually. It just feels like a luscious, slightly tacky marshmallow sauce, if such a thing even exists. Above all, this honey is creamy. Totally stunning, really, the way it’ll coat your tongue.
The makers churn the current season’s honey with some of the crystalline product from the previous year, which transforms both into the most scrumptious version of all. And the flavor? It’s floral, orange blossom-y, bright, and citric. It’ll make your mouth water. It first dissolves on your tongue, and then it lingers. With a pretty extravagant price tag — $24.99 for 11 ounces — you should give this honey more face time than as a mere addition to your tea. It belongs next to cheese, indeed.
With cheese, honey shines. Or rather, with honey, cheese shines. Either way, this honey is like, primo for a cheese plate. Most cheeses are excellent with honeys, but with one of this caliber, I’d choose a hefty, buttery mountain cheese, like Hoch Ybrig or Comte, that could stand to fly as a solo slice without the need for baguette or a cracker. Just cheese and honey. And you’re set.
Most recently, I served this honey to a small crowd with fresh ricotta, cracked black pepper, and smoked sea salt. We had trouble not filling up on it before dinner. I left the pepper mill at the coarsest grind and we passed it around, peppering each others’ crostini to order.
And then I served it with a hard chorizo and gruyere. Something about the pimentón with that unctuous honey and nutty cheese worked in a really special way. It was like an intersection of sweet and salty and fatty and it made me realize that a honey with such heft can carry serious influence. Though I rarely propose that anything could ever outshine cheese, a honey like this just might steal its spotlight.
→ Buy Société Original’s Classe Ouvrière Seashore Honey → exclusively at Murray’s Cheese for $24.99/11 oz.
Nora Singley used to be a cheesemonger and the Director of Education at Murray’s Cheese Shop. Until recently she was a TV Chef on The Martha Stewart Show. She is currently a freelance food stylist and recipe developer in New York.
Related: How to Make Herb-Infused Honey
(Image: Nora Singley)