Good native Irish honey is in. Now, honey is not a cure all, a wonder substance which can transform your health and life. You may remember that book which was so popular, Folk Medicine by Dr Jarvis of Vermont, USA, on the honey and cider vinegar way to health. Lots of intriguing sidelights on what is known as the Green Mountain State. "Climatically one of the most unstable areas of the world" says the book cover, "has bred generations of hardy, long lived inhabitants, and it possesses a rich and unique lore of folk medicine."
In a later book by the same author, the publishers thought it prudent to insert a note pointing out that folk medicine was to be taken as folk medicine suitable to this unique environment. In some European countries, there are people who attribute almost miraculous qualities to honey. A big selling book by one Rika Zarai made extravagant claims, the less spectacular of which are: it builds up your natural defences; it contains natural anti biotic substances protecting you against microbes and infections, especially in winter against flu and colds. It keeps you young; it deals with wrinkles, by internal use and by application as a beauty mask. Good for your nerves, it helps you to sleep. It is a mild laxative. She insists she is talking only of unheated or unpasteurised honey. Then there is pollen and royal jelly. On the other hand, there are doctors who laugh and say it's a pleasant form of sugar, no more. Addicts will just keep the faith.
The first lot from Sean Cronin of the Gourmet Shop, Rathgar in Dublin is mild, but flavoury and of good consistency. Mostly from hawthorn, he believes. He hasn't enough of his own to sell, but you can get other good honeys in the shop. He says that when he retires he might go into it commercially.
Graham Hall, Chairman of the County Dublin Beekeepers Association, says that the following wave of honey would probably come from a mixture of clover and blackberry blossom. Then there would be heather honey, which some find the best of all. The Association holds its annual show early in November. Bewley's were selling honey recently, but at the end of last week, stocks had gone. Leaving aside far out assertions, honey in your morning coffee, honey in your yoghurt and honey over porridge or cereal is delicious. Rika Zarai tells us that as he made that first succesful ascent of Everest, Edmund Hillery consumed several kilos of honey!
