Fervent Foodie

If you’ve never had the pleasure of doing a honey or maple syrup tasting, I suggest you give it a shot, flight style. I did my first honey tasting at the farmer’s market this summer, and it was surprisingly grounding to compare the light, floral flavor of the spring harvest to the rich, butterscotch flavor of the fall harvest. I’m all about tastings because it’s often difficult to tell just how complex or special a flavor is without a benchmark. So you know I jumped for the spoons when a box of Republic of Vermont goodies showed up at my doorstep.

I happened to have one local honey and one not-so-local store brand syrup in the cabinet for comparison. The contrast between the store bought syrup and the Republic of Vermont organic maple syrup was STARK. The store bought syrup tasted flat, and though the label didn’t list it, it had a faint hint of liquid smoke. I’d had this store-bought 100% maple syrup many times, but I didn’t pick up on these weird flavor points until I compared it to the Vermont syrup. The VT syrup was robust, with buttery smooth full-mouth flavor and just a hint of floral in the background. This syrup was leagues ahead of the store bought variety.

As for the honey tasting, since both the local option I had on hand and the Vermont raw honey were very high quality, the contrast was less severe, BUT what was very cool was the difference in flavor notes across the two. I struggled to come up with a proper adjective to describe the Republic of Vermont raw honey, and I am settling on ZIPPY. The flavor was very complex and bright and the honey itself was thick, like a crystalized paste.

If you google raw honey health properties, you’ll find all sorts of claims, from cures for indigestion to diabetes. I have no idea if any of this is true, but claims aside, I can get behind choosing minimally processed and organic goods wherever your budget allows.

Republic of Vermont is a family farm in (you guessed it) Vermont that specializes in organic maple syrup and chemical and treatment free raw honey. If you’re interested in stepping up your honey and maple syrup game, definitely check them out! Not only are the products incredibly high quality, but each comes in a beautiful glass bottle. Perfect for a gift (to yourself).

And if you were wondering…. those pancakes you’ve been eyeing were made using the BA’s Best Buttermilk Pancakes recipe.

Did you know if takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup? (I just learned that on the Republic of Vermont website, and I feel real smart.)

Republic of Vermont

https://www.republicofvermont.com/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/republicofvermont/