Friday, February 26, 2010: New Products- Honey and Maple Syrup!

Valley Green Feast just got a little bit sweeter! We are now carrying honey from Warm Colors Apiary in South Deerfield, and maple syrup from Zawalick’s Sugarhouse in Northampton. Warm Colors is owned and operated by Dan and Bonita Conlon. In addition to keeping bees and making excellent honey, they also make candles and other beeswax products, sell bees and beekeeping supplies, and teach a series of bee keeping classes each year. Warm Colors honey is a raw product, which means it is not heated above 100 degrees. This preserves the delicate flavor and healthy enzymes that can be lost in commercial honey production. Raw honey contains vitamin, minerals, amino acids and antioxidants. In addition, some people believe that eating raw, local honey helps prevent seasonal allergies. Zawalick’s Sugarhouse is owned and operated by Stan and Kathy Zawalick. They use a wood-fired evaporator to turn maple sap into syrup each spring. Maple syrup is a delicious local treat, and also contains trace amounts of vitamins, minerals and amino acids. Maple syrup is great on pancakes, waffles, French toast and warm breakfast cereals, but it has many other uses bedsides just breakfast! Use it in sauces, dressings, as a sweetener for tea and coffee, or try replacing maple syrup for sugar in your favorite baked goods. See the next page of this newsletter for a few recipes using local sweeteners.