A Month of Sweetness
Experimenting with new ways of putting sweetness in your life.
Do alternative radio stations still exist? The stereo in my car is broken and if it did work, I’d probably be listening to a lot of love songs on a pop station.
Syrupy lyrics? I don’t really hear the words. I’m listening for the hooks. But at work I’m angsty. I do want the alternative and lots of options!
With V Smiley Preserves, I’ve wanted to know how fruity and delicate of a jam or marmalade could we make using honey and no pectin. At Minifactory, I wanted to learn if we could eat honey-sweetened vanilla custard together. Instead of chocolate, can we shave thin slices of maple halvah and eat them with cheese?
I’m always excited to explore new wavelengths of sweetness and this month we’re diving into multiple alt-sweets (maple halvah) and big time via our H-O-N-E-Y collaboration with Runamok Honey. Nearly 12 months in planning, tasting, cooking and more tasting, our Runamok x VSP collection is here!
I’ve selected 3 flavors that feature fruit harvested close to the forage date of each honey, flavors whose simplicity yields transparent taste potentials and flavors like Strawberry Grapefruit that rely on a lot of honey for balance and can really show out a beautiful, mono-floral honey like Basswood with all its minty, crispy notes.
Let’s taste!
V Smiley Preserves x Runamok
Three of VSP’s perennial favorites and bestsellers, made in special edition jars using Runamok Raw Honey—each adding a unique and new flavor profile.
Dolgo Crabapple Rosehip Butter
Humble fruit, troublesome flowers. MANY words have been put to paper on Japanese Knotweed. The joke goes that the only way to get rid of knotweed is to move (houses). I heard the joke first and tasted the honey later at a Seattle farmers market. I immediately thought how good this flower could taste with fruit. While the flavor is “darker”, its sugary, straightforward sweetness profile means it lets the fruit shine alongside it. Here in the Northeast, finding retail monoflorals is less common than out West. We’ve made a lot of honey jam knowing Knotweed was part of the bee forage, but this is our first 100% Knotweed sweetened jam.
This butterscotch-y honey made an especially rich and maroon version of the Dolgo Rosehip Butter. I love this flavor so much. Simplicity is a beautiful thing.
Strawberry Grapefruit Jam
Strawberry dominates any jam it joins and grapefruit always brings some bitterness to the flavor party, which means that together these two fruits have a lot going on. So why put a delicate, early-season honey into the middle of this fruit duel? Strawberry Grapefruit uses A LOT of honey in proportion to the fruit. It’s one of our sweetest flavors—definitely candy territory—and I’m always struck by how-much-you-taste-the-honey when I sample this jam. There is 100% a honey solo happening here and as collaborators go, strawberries and grapefruit are light-bodied, further letting the honey shine.
Cornwall Plums & Honey Jam
As the beekeepers bring in the last of the honey for extraction, the goldenrod is spent, the Aster indigos unfurl and in Cornwall, Omar Fugaro begins to harvest plums. Every year is different and some years there are no plums. I tuck and collect them (Pipestones, Mount Royal, Seneca, Tokas, Black Ice), waiting for the big red Superiors to appear. Then we can make Cornwall Plums & Honey.
This preserve is a celebration of season (September & October in Vermont), hyper-locality, a relationship and my favorite way to start the conversation about how good honey makes fruit taste.
Runamok Raw Honey
Runamok gently filters the honey, ensuring it retains much of the original pollen and propolis, providing raw honey with many incredible medicinal qualities. While Runamok does have a mild heating process to pack the honey, they ensure these temperatures don’t exceed those naturally created within the hive, keeping beneficial enzymes alive.
SPECIAL TREAT FROM RUNAMOK! Use code VSMILEY20 to receive 20% off your order on the Runamok website through Feb 29, 2024.
Local Sweetness!
Created in the heart of the Green Mountains of Vermont, with maple syrup from down the road, each small batch is made with care and intention.
Holy Halvah started on a whim, with a desire to create a halvah recipe that isn’t loaded with sugar or corn syrup.
This high protein, high energy treat boasts a creamy, flaky texture and a sweet, salty, nutty flavor profile.
It’s free of grains, refined sugar, and is even vegan.