Looking for Natural Honey? Try these 3 Family-Owned Brands from California
Most honey is good for you, but the kind that comes from small family-owned producers is often the healthiest, and the tastiest. California is world renowned as being an excellent source of artisan honey. It is also one of the largest honey producing states, right Behind North Dakota and often ahead of Montana, South Dakota and Texas. Each year California produces almost 14,000 Pounds of Honey. In fact, for this reason as well as sustainability, all bees are considered valuable that in California even wild native bumble bees may become protected under the California’s Endangered Species Act.
We’ve tried many honey producers from the Golden State, and here are three family-owned brands you should try right now:
3 FAMILY-OWNED CALIFORNIA HONEYS
TRUE GOLD HONEY
True Gold is owned by mother-son duo Sarah and Tyler Sample, both of whom are 3rd and 4th generation beekeepers. They’ve grown up in the apiary business, and know their way around the hives with skills and experience. Their bee farm is called the Sample Family Apiaries, with their separate honey business called True Gold.
ORANGE BLOSSOMEZ HONEY & WILDFLOWER HONEY
The True Gold Orange Blossom honey is a golden color with a citrus element of course, plus some zest. The Samples say that it can only be harvested where the weather is mild enough for orange trees to survive. Fortunately, the trees for their orange blossom honey basically come from around their own homes.
True Gold is well recognized for excellence, and has won Good Food Awards, Cal Expo Awards, and others.
KISS THE FLOWER HONEY
Kiss the Flower Honey Company was founded in 2010, and focuses on best practices for bees, people, and the planet. They use only natural methods, and have several hives in Sonoma County, including a Santa Rosa property, as well as in the West County. The flowers used in the honey include eucalyptus, Himalayan Blackberry, apples, and acacias. Kiss the Flower produces only about 3,000 pounds of honey per year.
WILDLFLOWER HONEY
The Kiss the Flower Wildflower is classic honey. Their wildflower honey comes from hives on Mount Taylor in Santa Rosa.
STARTHISTLE HONEY
The Kiss the Flower Starthistle honey is a light gold color, with a mild and flowery flavor profile, as well as a bit of anise and cinnamon.
https://kisstheflowerhoney.com
SEKA HILLS HONEY
Seka Hills has a line of tribal products that honor Northern California’s Capay Valley. The Native Tribe is known as the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation
meaning ‘Home by the Spring Water.’ In the native Patwin language, ‘Séka’ means ‘blue.’
The Tribe’s product decisions are based on good environmental stewardship, with over 22,000 total acres in production in Yolo County
WILDFLOWER HONEY
The Seka Hills Wildflower Honey gets its taste and dark amber color from variety of wildflowers, such as redbud, rose clover and ceanothus, which are found on over 9,000 acres of tribal land. They produce the artisan honey in partnership with beekeeper John Foster
Vinfolio Creates a Program to Manage Investments in Fine Wine
Vinfolio, one of the country’s leading fine wine companies, recently announced the launch of a new cutting-edge fine wine investment program. Now, in addition to securing some of the most sought after wines by the bottle, Vinfolio clients can also gain access to a selection of investment-grade stock in original cases directly on the company’s e-commerce platform, or by working directly with Vinfolio’s executive team to build a bespoke fine wine investment portfolio.
“From the time of my initial investment in Vinfolio back in 2016, it seemed that the U.S. market was lacking a player who could bring the idea of fine wine as an investment opportunity to the mainstream in a clear and accessible way,” says Don St. Pierre, Executive Chairman of Vinfolio. “Now, with the addition of more than 5,000 cases of investment-grade wines to our platform and the launch of our full-service investment program, we are proudly assuming that mantle.”
“Historically speaking, fine wine has outperformed many of the traditional asset classes available and we are seeing more and more people looking to diversify by building a wine portfolio,” Vinfolio President Adam Lapierre says. “We believe we are in a unique position to support clients embarking on this journey thanks to our deep knowledge of the collectible fine wine market, unmatched global network of suppliers and innovative business model. I’m particularly excited by our full-service investment program: the process is extremely simple, fully transparent and, at the same time, low cost to the investor. It’s a game-changer.”
Vinfolio’s strength lies not just in the sourcing of fine wines at the best prices, but also in its use of technology to create a platform that provides both buyers and sellers with all the requisite tools and intelligence to successfully build and liquidate a wine portfolio. In addition to its marketplace platform, Vinfolio has proprietary access to crucial flow-data which lies at the heart of all our decision-making. The company’s algorithm dynamically looks at current U.S. retail listings, auction sale prices, and sales on its own platform to determine what is the current fair market value of a given wine. From there, Vinfolio can trigger buy or sell activities to ensure a sound investment and a healthy return.
Over the last three decades, investment-grade wine has performed very strongly against just about all major asset classes. Analysis of a representative selection of the foremost traded investment-grade wines reveals a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 11 percent since 1988. In context, the returns for U.S. Equities (DJIA), U.K. equities (FTSE), Asia equities (Hang Seng), Gold, and Oil for the same period were materially lower.
ABOUT VINFOLIO
Vinfolio is majority-owned by Executive Chairman Don St. Pierre Jr. and his business partner and good friend Allan Warburg, co-founder and co-CEO of Bestseller Fashion Group China. St. Pierre is the recipient of numerous wine industry accolades, including being named number seven on Decanter magazine’s 2011 Top 50 global wine industry power players and selected by Wine Enthusiast Magazine as the 2011 International Man of the Year. In 2012, the French government awarded St. Pierre Jr. the degree of Knight in the French Ordre du Mérite Agricole, and in 2015, he was appointed as a member of the supervisory board of Vinexpo Overseas. Vinfolio’s ownership also includes Jean-Michel Valette, who chairs the Education and Examination Board (EEB) of the Institute of Masters of Wine and is former chairman of Robert Mondavi Corporation and Peet’s Coffee, Jon Moramarco, former CEO of Constellation Brands, and Steve Case, founder of AOL and co-founder at venture capital firm Revolution
Visit https://www.vinfolio.com/wine-investing for more details on Vinfolio’s new investment initiative.
6 Great Red Wines Under $50 That Make Tasty Gifts Any Time of Year
Looking for great red wine options but have a budget between $30 and $50? You can’t go wrong with these 6 releases that will leave you and your fellow wine tasters giddy for more, and your wallet not feeling empty.
Herzog Variations Be-Leaf 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles
The 2019 Herzog Cab is not only Kosher, it’s also certified organic and made with no added sulfites. It’s a lighter Cab, which suits many tastes for a less robust red.
Drink it any time of day, and definitely not just for the holidays
Find it Here
Avaline Red Wine
Celebrity wines are getting better and better, probably because the celebrities who make them now are actual Wine lovers who want to drink their own vintages. Avaline comes from a partnership between Cameron Diaz and Katherine Power
The red wine is a blend of Grenache and Syrah. Made with handpicked organic grapes from Europe, and is vegan friendly, with no added artificial ingredients or sugars.
We love the taste!
Find it Here
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San Simeon Vineyards 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles
The 2017 San Simeon Cab benefited from a long growing season, with the vineyards situated on California’s Central Coast in the Paso Robles appellation of San Luis Obispo County. Aged in Oak Barrels, and mixed with a bit of Petit Verdot, this Cabernet is robust yet velvety. We consider it like comfort food in the form of wine.
Find it Here
Alder Springs Vineyard, 2013 Kinesis
Alder Springs Vineyard, 2013 Syrah
Alder Springs has been making wine for about 30 years, since Stu Bewley bought a former 6,000 acre cattle operation in northern Mendocino County and started growing grapes instead.
If you love deep reds, you’ll find both their 2013 Kinesis and 2013 Syrah attractive additions to your tasting palate. The Kinesis is a blend of 49% Grenache 32% Counoise 19% Mourvédre. A choice that goes well with meats and smoked foods, but it is also quite versatile whatever the dish. The Syrah is made from 100% Syrah at an elevation of 2600 feet, and contains tantalizing notes of leather and dark fruits.
Find it Here
San Simeon 2017 Pinot Noir Monterey
This Monterey Pinot Noir is a blend of grapes sourced from the Riboli Family farms estate vineyards in Monterey and the Loma Vista and Sarmento Vineyards. Well-priced and well structured, any Pinot lover would find this a fun tasting experience.
Find it Here.
LUXURY HOLIDAY RECIPE: Juicy Duck Breast in Red Wine Sauce
In some parts of the world duck is a regular dish, especially among people who hunt it. But if you’re not a hunter or don’t live in those areas then duck might be a little bit more uncommon on your table. We recently have been testing recipes with Maple Leaf Farms duck breast, which is well known for some of the highest quality duck selections in the United States. Not to mention being a fairly upscale red meat option, the duck meat itself is quite lean and tasty.
When you cook duck breast for the first few times it’s best not to be too fancy, especially when you have the savory natural flavors already inherent in this type of poultry. We prefer to start off with a simple salt, pepper, garlic powder and skillet or oven recipe.
For example, using a sharp knife you score crosswise the fatty side of the duck. Then salt, pepper, and lightly powder both sides, and place the fatty side face down in a hot skillet with a small amount of California olive oil for about 10 minutes while the fat is rendering. Flip over and cook the other side for another 5 to 10 minutes on medium high. Alternatively, you could heat your oven to 425° and put the uncooked breast in for 10 minutes, then flip it to cook for another 10 minutes. It’s important to let your breast rest after you remove it from the skillet or oven so that it can re-absorb some of those juices and remain tender.
After you remove the duck from the skillet or pan, put the skillet back on the stove and heat to medium high and add a large splash of red wine, which you can use to create a red wine reduction sauce. You want to make sure that you use a spoon to scrape up the bits of fat and duck in the skillet and mix them into the sauce reduction. You also want to make sure the sauce has thickened and all of the alcohol in the wine has evaporated before using.
This sauce is perfect for the duck breast as it adds additional moisture and flavor, plus is a perfect complement to this dish.
It doesn’t have to be fancy, but it’s not going to be boring and plain.
Maple Leaf Farms
www.MapleLeafFarms.com
About Maple Leaf Farms
Maple Leaf Farms, Inc. is North America’s leading producer of quality duck products, supplying retail and food service markets throughout the world with innovative, value-added foods. Founded in 1958, Maple Leaf Farms is a fourth-generation family-owned company.
RECIPE: Fresh Steamed Clam Chowder with Chef Marc Dym at the Little River Inn
Little River Inn in California’s Mendocino region is a fantastic place to relax, get away from it all, and CHILL. Fortunately, it also is surrounded by great sources of food, wine, and beer.
Their friend Chef Marc Dym loves to prepare his famous Fresh Steamed Clam Chowder, a staple at Ole’s and a favorite of many of the Inn’s guests. Fortunately he has shared it with them and us for you to try.
Because the Inn is located on the California Coast, this recipe never lacks for fresh ingredients. That means it always tastes amazing. But you can can still make it at home, and enjoy it just as much.
Fresh Steamed Clam Chowder
Broth Ingredients
4 Tbsp Butter
1 cups Roundman’s bacon (Medium dice)
2 ea Onions (Medium Dice)
¼ c Flour
1 bunch Celery (Medium Dice)
1 tsp Nutmeg
1 ea Bay Leaves
4 cups Clam Juice
2 each Potatoes (Peeled and Diced Medium)
2 Tsp Old Bay Spice
To taste Salt and Pepper
Dash Tabasco Sauce
Broth Directions
1. Render bacon and drain fat
2. Add onions and butter sauté until translucent
3. Add celery and sauté until celery is tender
4. Add clam juice and spices
5. Add potatoes and cook until potatoes are almost tender
Ingredients For Each Serving
8 each Small Manilla Clams
¼ cup White Wine
3 tbsp Heavy Cream
Directions for Each Serving
1. Heat up small sauté pan
2. Add clams and white wine
3. Add cream when clams open
4. Add 8 oz chowder base
Little River Inn
7901 N. Hwy. 1
Little River, CA 95456