I found it - sort of

"Passing time adds false memories and modifies real ones." Stephen King

Remember yesterday my despair at not finding the tube of hot honey that I was sure was in my pantry? In my head, it was definitely 'hot honey' because of my thought that this was going to be difficult because of David's aversion to chilli. It was also - in my mind as it turns out - a reddish colour - of course. And all I found was a tube of Cambodian Atama honey - about which I shall write some other time.

Had I imagined it all I wondered? Well the answer is sort of because here is what I found today, and I do now know that this was what I was thinking of. A small jar of Espresso honey.

I am simultaneously relieved and depressed/worried. I think I sort of know how this false memory has been created but nevertheless I am wondering whether this is a new aspect of my memory or whether it isn't and therefore a whole heap of memories that are so vivid to me are in fact false and always have been. Is Salvador Dali right when he says:

"The difference between false memories and true ones is the same as for jewels: it is always the false ones that look the most real, the most brilliant."

And my tube of hot honey certainly looked brilliant red and spicy in my head. So what I think has happened here is a fusion of two different things. which replaced what actually existed. A memory of a tube of 'special honey' - a gift from my son and almost daughter-in-law (or maybe just one of them) - and the awareness/memory of lots of references to hot honey that have cropped up here and there of late, and about which I have been meaning to write. I did not remember the espresso part at all, but I now see that it became confused/mixed/transformed into 'hot' as something difficult to know what to do with. I also obviously did not remember that it was, in fact, in a small bottle. All of which is somewhat troubling.

Enough of me. Now for a ramble around my small bottle, and the hot honey phenomenon - well flavoured honey phenomenon really.

I'll begin with the family who run Shorthive, the makers of my Espresso honey - shown here - who have been making honey for over 50 years. They live in Victoria. Their story about Espresso honey goes:

"One chilly afternoon, we were sitting around the farm table talking all things bee-keeping when someone had the brilliant idea of infusing our honey with different flavours."

Initially they tried and tested and sold - in 2017 - espresso, salted and chilli honeys to which have since been added cacao and chai. Of course they are not alone in adding extraneous flavours to honey, indeed people like the native Americans for one have been adding chilli to honey for centuries - for the taste and also for medicine. Brazil is often mentioned as the primary source, but I'm guessing it was also in other parts of America.

In modern times however the various additions are more recent. It began with my imagined chilli honey, in New York and on pizza. From there it spread but some time ago and slowly. Today it's a craze and crops up everywhere, including your supermarket shelf Why and how? Well the how is pretty easy I guess - social media - TikTok, Instagram et al., celebrity chefs, fashionable eateries ... as epitomised in this sort of rave that you see here and there:

Why? Well it's a fad, a craze, a trend:

"It's just a trend. It's not that it's good, it's that it's photogenic. You have the visual of the wooden honey spoon and the drizzling." itisoktodance/reddit (see above for the visuals)

"Every so often it pops up as "new" or a "forgotten secret". It is not new, nor is it forgotten and it is not a secret." onlynegativecomments/reddit

But I can indeed see that hot honey is good, although why you would buy it when all you really have to do is add some chilli flakes to your honey I don't know.

"Hot honey can add a depth of flavor to dishes that you didn’t even know you were missing. It’s like that secret ingredient in your grandma’s famous recipe—the one she never told anyone about, but everyone knew was in there. Hot honey is a flavor enhancer, a taste-bud tickler, a culinary game-changer. And once you’ve tried it, you might find yourself drizzling it on everything from your morning toast to your late-night snacks." Pikliz

And now of course, there is crunch added to it as well. So that it ends up looking a bit like gochujang - another craze.

I will say that although the two reddit comments are mildly negative, in a way it's part of the larger trend of drizzling and topping all manner of things with stuff:

"This all taps into a wider trend for ‘swicy’ flavours (a blend of sweet and spicy" Country and Town House

But what about espresso honey? What can you do with that? Nothing immediately sprang to mind, which is why it got hidden in the pantry.

First I searched the net, which misunderstood me somewhat and mostly just offered me Espresso Martinis and Espresso coffee flavoured with honey in various ways. So I went to the source as it were - Shorthive - who offered this general advice:

"Spread it on your toast. Fall in love with it on warm, freshly baked scones. This Australian honey infused with locally roasted espresso is too good not to share." Shorthive

Drizzle it on things in other words. However they did have a couple of actual recipes: Espresso honey slow-cooked brisket; Espresso honey breakfast cookies and Choc espresso almond protein bars

From which I get, that, yes, you could use it to rub on to meat for a barbecue or grill, or even a slow-cook and maybe to flavour cookies and suchlike. But really it is probably better used when you next make iced coffee, or to drizzle over ice-cream, pancakes or waffles, or sweet scones. Which is what I think I shall do.

I really tried to find recipes from others, but just came up with two, which weren't really using a product, more combining coffee and honey - Baklava with espresso and honey syrup from Sarah Hobbs/Taste and Espresso and cardamom granita with honey cream - Jamie Oliver/delicious. which is perhaps a bit wide of the mark

I think the drizzle on things is the answer here, and I well may do that, but at the end of it all I am left somewhat anxious about my mind slowly disintegrating, as my brain embroiders my memories into something possibly better than they actually are. Just to make my life more interesting and colourful than it really is. Well probably we all do a bit of that.

"What we have instead are false memories aroused later and more pertinent to this later perspective than to the original events."  Creatosaurus - an AI created quote I think. But a good one.

YEARS GONE BY

April 26

2024 - Underestimating geography - the food curriculum

2023 - Nothing

2022 - Curry from the jungle - a lucky dip

2021 - Soave - a new (to me) Italian wine

2020 - Deleted

2019 - Not really Wiener schnitzel

2018 - Why is bird shit white?

2017 - The cake or the decoration?