This weekend we finally managed our annual tradition of apple picking at Stribling Orchard. We took my two nieces, aged 5 and nearly 8, who had a blast jumping up and trying to find the perfect apple. Last night Mr. Tea Scoop baked two apple pies, and there is apple butter in our future. I also want to try dehydrating some apple pieces to flavor tea. We bought 39 pounds of apples, so although we plan to share the wealth, there is still plenty of room for experimentation. I also picked up some honey from their apiary, which we walked by as we picked.
You hear a lot about going local these days, a difficult ideal to reconcile for tea drinkers, for whom our beverage must be imported over oceans, at least in the States. (I can't bring myself to only drink American Classic for the rest of my life). So, I try to do two things. Buy as many other things local as I can, including the honey that I put in my tea, and support local small businesses as much as I can, like Old Town Coffee Tea and Spice in Alexandria. When I bought the honey yesterday, I did both. Plus, with honey there is an added benefit, supposedly.
I suffer from allergies, like endless numbers of other people. For the pollen part of it, I've been hearing a lot about the benefits of consuming local honey. The idea is that, like allergy shots, you are exposed to a small amount of allergen to build up your immunity. In addition, honey is said to be a natural immune booster. It sounds like a winning combination to me, but there are not many proven studies backing this up yet. It is an idea that comes from holistic healing. As for me, well I'm happy to experiment on myself, since I love honey, and consuming a little bit everyday certainly can't do me any harm. Just a warning to anyone else: don't give honey to infants. Only one bacterium can survive in honey, but it can be harmful to babies.
One more fun factoid before I go: honey lasts forever. Seriously. They've found honey in Egyptian tombs, and it's still edible. It just crystallizes, which can be remedied by warming the container in hot water. Amazing!