Ok, you lot will have to "take it as given" that it can be very hard work getting hold of "proper" Buckwheat honey here, and probably many other places where the range of varietals is more limited than how it appears in the US market.
I sometimes read of people on the "Western side of the pond" moaning about having to ship from one side of the US to the other. If that was my only problem, then I'd be "like a pig in sh1te".
So, it's like this. I've got one source I'm going to try out here, but so far, the only Buckwheat honey I've been able to obtain was sourced from Poland, courtesy of a hell of a lot of assistance from Marek (u/n Male).
Anyway, it's lovely stuff. Yet I've also read conflicting descriptions of US sourced Buckwheat honey, and that "Eastern" buckwheat is the one that is often dark and has been known to have a "farm yard" character, whereas it would seem that "Western" buckwheat is lighter in colour, with a less sweet, possibly "malty" characteristic to it (maybe someone with personal experience of them can confirm or deny, or just do a better job of explaining the appearance/flavour).
Now it would seem that the Polish sourced buckwheat honey is more like my description of "Western" buckwheat honey.
With all that lot in mind, and having been reading recipes where buckwheat honey is used, I have a mind to try to "approximate" or "fake" buckwheat honey here, with a view to approximating it so we who find it hard to get/locate easily, can enjoy something close to it.
I was thinking that 1lb of a wild flower honey, with maybe 1 teaspoon of Black Treacle (proper molasses isn't routinely available, other than as animal feed here) and maybe 2 teaspoons of liquid Malt Extract might do the job and come close enough to the genuine article ?
Of course, I could vary the amount of Black Treacle and Malt Extract either way, but not having ever had "proper" Buckwheat honey other than the supply I got from Poland a couple of years ago, I could only ever approximate how I "see the taste" in my mind (that's if you can imagine such a thing ;D ).
Any comments or suggestions as to whether this is a practical idea would be much appreciated. I do have a local Apiary supplier who also sells bulk honey, but nowhere near the range of somewhere like Beefolks etc....... and certainly no "proper" Buckwheat honey.......
I sometimes read of people on the "Western side of the pond" moaning about having to ship from one side of the US to the other. If that was my only problem, then I'd be "like a pig in sh1te".
So, it's like this. I've got one source I'm going to try out here, but so far, the only Buckwheat honey I've been able to obtain was sourced from Poland, courtesy of a hell of a lot of assistance from Marek (u/n Male).
Anyway, it's lovely stuff. Yet I've also read conflicting descriptions of US sourced Buckwheat honey, and that "Eastern" buckwheat is the one that is often dark and has been known to have a "farm yard" character, whereas it would seem that "Western" buckwheat is lighter in colour, with a less sweet, possibly "malty" characteristic to it (maybe someone with personal experience of them can confirm or deny, or just do a better job of explaining the appearance/flavour).
Now it would seem that the Polish sourced buckwheat honey is more like my description of "Western" buckwheat honey.
With all that lot in mind, and having been reading recipes where buckwheat honey is used, I have a mind to try to "approximate" or "fake" buckwheat honey here, with a view to approximating it so we who find it hard to get/locate easily, can enjoy something close to it.
I was thinking that 1lb of a wild flower honey, with maybe 1 teaspoon of Black Treacle (proper molasses isn't routinely available, other than as animal feed here) and maybe 2 teaspoons of liquid Malt Extract might do the job and come close enough to the genuine article ?
Of course, I could vary the amount of Black Treacle and Malt Extract either way, but not having ever had "proper" Buckwheat honey other than the supply I got from Poland a couple of years ago, I could only ever approximate how I "see the taste" in my mind (that's if you can imagine such a thing ;D ).
Any comments or suggestions as to whether this is a practical idea would be much appreciated. I do have a local Apiary supplier who also sells bulk honey, but nowhere near the range of somewhere like Beefolks etc....... and certainly no "proper" Buckwheat honey.......
It's kind of hard to approximate something you've never tasted with something we've never tasted, no idea how black treacle compares to anything. I haven't had straight local buckwheat honey in years because as a kid I found it weird and preferred regular clover honey but barnyard wasn't the kind of description I remember. Earthy, perhaps. I'll have to get some more and see what I think of it as an adult, I'm kind of surprised myself that I never bothered to taste it when I have used it in meads.
