Posts Tagged: Beekeepers Feast

A Feast Fit for a King and Queen (Bee)

You like the taste of honey, right?

How about “A Taste of Mead and Honey?”

That’s even better!

The UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center is planning a "Mid-Winter Beekeepers Feast: A Taste of Mead and Honey" on Saturday, Feb. 8 in the foyer of the Sensory Building, Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science.

The gala, one-of-a-kind event will take place from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. and will include appetizers, drinks, salad, main course, cheese course with honey comb, and dessert and mead flight.

Amina Harris, executive director of the UC Honey and Pollination Center, teases us with: “It is early February. Pink and white buds are peeking out on the burnished branches of the almond trees all over central California. Bees come out to bask in the warmth of the afternoon sun following the dark, cool days of winter. They gather pollen and nectar to begin building their strength and their colony for the coming year. Each evening they return to the warmth of the hive.”

Wait, there’s more.

“Our night will begin with sparkling mead cocktails and end with a mead flight, guided by Darrell Corti. Music, a silent auction, and great food will fill the evening.”

Great food? Indeed! Check out the menu, the kind you’d find at a five-star restaurant.

Appetizers:
Cracked Dungeness crab on Belgian endive, and shitake mushroom soup shots.

Drinks:
Sparkling mead, sparkling water and wine pairings with each course

Salad:
Navel and blood oranges over winter greens and tupelo honey vinaigrette

Main Course:
Roasted lamb shank with dried fruit and rosemary infused sage honey, polenta squares with tomato and mushroom ragout, and oven-roasted Brussels sprouts with thyme butter

Cheese Cream with Honey Comb:
Honey comb paired with Laura Chenel Orange Blossom Chevre, and Point Reyes Blue and Manchego cheeses

Dessert and Mead Flight:
Three select meads, Häagen-Dazs Honey Vanilla Ice Cream, and old-fashioned butter cookies with pistachios

Designing the menu:  Ann Evans,  nationally known consultant in consumer food and agricultural education and founder of  Slow Food Yolo County, and chef Mani Niall of the Sweet Bar Bakery, Oakland, and  author of “Covered in Honey” and “Sweet." The Buckhorn of Winters is catering the event.

Tickets will be available Ded. 2 at http://rmi.ucdavis.edu/events. Single tickets are $125, and table for eight, $1250. (Contact Amina Harris at aharris@ucdavis.edu or Tracy Disslin at tdiesslin@ucdavis.edu)

Is it February yet?

When February arrives, honey bees will be out pollinating the almonds. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

When February arrives, honey bees will be out pollinating the almonds. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)