Thank god for antibiotics - after almost 4 weeks of feeling like crap I'm sort of human again. I vaguely remember a time when cold and flu type bugs didn't floor me, and that however snotty I was, I could at least still read a book. I can't do that anymore. I sleep, and when I can stay awake long enough, I go back to work, come home, and sleep again, hence the lengthy absence from posting.
I saw this book at work yesterday and pounced on it with an enthusiasm and energy that definitely heralded a return to full health though. It's been a long wait for a new River Cottage handbook, the last one came out in 2020 (there has been the not quite a handbook guide to Christmas in between), and I'm wondering if Bees & Honey has had a considerable rewrite at some stage in the intervening years.
It differs from the previous books in that it does not assume you want to keep bees or even to eat honey if you're vegan (the chicken book definitely assumes you want chickens), and it strongly suggests that keeping bees might not be the best thing you can do to help them. What we can all do, even if a window box is the only option, is plant better and understand more. It might make sense to create bee friendly habitats for wild species that you wouldn't take honey from and instead buy good quality local honey, use less of it, and appreciate it more.
The recipe element of the book takes a less is more approach on how to use honey and honey products, which I like. Honey is a strong flavour that needs to be treated with respect and a light hand, and I will admit I'm particularly curious about the not quite a recipe that's a spoon of honey with black coffee. There could be a lot of fun to be had finding the perfect bean and blossom matches.
Overall, it's the combination of information about bees, bee related products, and what's good to eat or should be left alone (pollen, bees need it more than we do) and how to make a better world for bees which makes this book so good. And if it's bee-keeping you really want there's all the information you could need to start down that road too.
I have loved this series from the outset, Handbook number 2 (Preserves, Pam Corbin 2008) came in the first flush of my enthusiasm for making my own jam and Marmalade, Handbook number 3 (Bread by Daniel Stevens 2009) taught me how to make all sorts of breads and is still my go to guide. They are consistently useful and inspiring - I hope there will be more to come, or at least one more to round out the numbers at 20 volumes. I have a lot of cookbooks, but nothing else comes close to this series in looking at food holistically.
