Honey Muffins

Jeanette is still going strong baking and making delicious goodness using local ingredients, and at the office we are loving this!  We are getting our daily bread... or cupcakes, to have with our first coffee before we kick off with work!

This fine Monday morning we were treated to some Honey Muffins!  Honey is one of the most precious ingredients in a kitchen and for good reason. In Jeanette's words, honey is the only natural food that has all the ingredients to support life, including water.  Not solely used in food, honey has also been used as a natural remedy to treat a variety of ailments.

Here is Nina, Jeanette's cat, eyeing the muffins!!

Its prestigiousness also comes from the fact that it is a very limited product.  Pure raw honey availability depends on a healthy hive of bees foraging on the flora in their surroundings.  This year's biggest issue for our local farmers has been the lack of rainfall which of course affects the amount and variety of flora and therefore impacts on the amount of honey produced by the bees!

So whilst we pray and hope for more rainfall so as to be able to produce more pure local honey, below is the Honey Muffin recipe Jeanette has used thanks to www.simplefood365.com.  

 HONEY MUFFINS

______________________________________________________

PREP TIME  15 mins

COOK TIME 18 mins

TOTAL TIME 33 mins

Author: Tara Kimball

Recipe type: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Serves: 12 Muffins

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1½ teaspoons vanilla
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted
• ⅓ cup honey
• 1 large egg

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
3. Mix the milk, vanilla, butter, honey and egg in a smaller bowl until well blended.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mixing just until everything is combined.
5. Divide the batter into a sprayed or lined muffin pan so that each cup is ⅔ full.
6. Bake for 18 minutes, then remove to a rack for 10 minutes.

More interesting information about pure honey can be found in two other Merill Local Product blogs: Let's Talk About Honey, Honey!  Part 1 & Part 2.

Have a great week!!

Steph

Did you know...

...that there are different types of honey depending on the season it is harvesting in, because of the different flora available to the bees at the time?  Different season, different colour! At our speciality store we are currently stocked up on Autumn flora honey which is the darker shade and also some Thyme & Clover honey!  All very limited!!  Should you be interested contact us now - info@merill.com.mt or call us on 21411388.

Some of the honey can also be tasted during our weekly Olive Grove experiences happening every Sunday! Click here for more information.

Let’s Talk About Honey, Honey! – Part 2

It's been harvested for 8,000 years, and its natural properties make it antioxidant, antimicrobial, antiviral, and anti-carcinogenic, yet there are still a lot people who don’t know about this nectar of the gods… so we went out and got some answers.

In the first part of the series, we set out to debunk the misconceptions about ‘pure’ honey. Now, Project Leader Jeanette Borg, dishes the facts about crystallisation and the process needed to ensure your honey is pure.

How do I know if the honey I’m buying is pure?

“Well, the only way to be 100 per cent sure is through expensive and extensive laboratory tests. These check for water, sugar and protein content, and will detect whether the honey is adulterated or not.

“What do the results show? Well, for instance, pure honey contains around 17.1g of water per 100g. If the test results show that water content is a lot more, or a lot less, it means that there’s something wrong.

“Another important test to figure out if the honey at hand is local or not, is a pollen analysis for the characterisation of botanical origin. If pollen from a plant species that doesn’t grow in Malta is found, then that means that the honey is not Maltese and thus not local.

“Obviously, like all the other products we consume, we, as consumers, need to decide whether we trust the brand or not. At Merill, we have teamed up with several beekeepers that supply us with the purest and most authentic honey possible. We know these beekeepers personally and work hand in hand with them.

“Nevertheless, we understand that you can’t always take someone’s word as fact, so we explore different kinds of chemical testing to ensure that our product is always 100 per cent genuine.”

My honey’s crystallised. Is it bad?

“I love this question, but let’s start from the very basics: Even the purest of honeys can, and most probably will, crystallise – and that’s okay!

“There are many variables that affect the process of crystallisation in layers or in its totality, and these include the climate, the flora on which the bees have foraged, and whether the jar contains different kinds of honey (i.e. created by bees from different flora) mixed together.

“While many of the people we meet frown when they see crystallised or solid honey, we can assure you that if you had to buy pure honey from Sicily or other countries with similar climates, the chances are that it would come in a crystallised form too.

“Unfortunately, it is never a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer with this question, but what you should keep in mind is that honey that never crystallises is most probably syrup (so sugar, rather than pure honey).”

Is dark honey ‘pure’?

“Not only does the colour of natural honey range from white to dark amber, but studies have shown that the darker the honey, the higher its antioxidant capacity!

“Therefore, yes, dark honey can be pure too.”

Click here for "Let’s Talk About Honey, Honey! – Part 1"

Do you have any other questions about the honey you’re buying or the products we sell? Then feel free to drop us a line at info@merill.com.mt or call us on 2141 1388.

 Interviewed by Iggy Fenech

Let’s Talk About Honey, Honey! – Part 1

Photo by Juan Debono

Growing up, we all learn that Malta’s geographical position is so strategic that empires and civilisations fought over us incessantly. What we should also keep in mind is that, through their differences, one thing united them: they all dubbed us ‘the Land of Honey’.

Malta’s endemic bee population produces some of the tastiest and healthiest honey in the world, yet the majority of people still don’t know the basic facts about this sweet food we’re so renowned for.

So we decided to chat to Jeanette Borg, project leader of the Merill Rural Network, to get to the bottom of the honey jar once and for all.

What is honey? And why is it important?

“Honey is natural syrup containing fructose, glucose and a variety of natural sugars, and it’s the only natural food in the world that contains all the ingredients needed to sustain life, including water. It also contains pollen, and companies selling honey are now obliged to specify the presence of pollen as an ingredient under EU legislation.

“Throughout history, honey has been known to be a natural remedy for many ailments, and it’s been proven, tried and tested by men and scientists the world over that it actually is. These properties mostly come from the phenolic compounds that make it antioxidant, antimicrobial, antiviral, and anti-carcinogenic.

“Honey’s properties have not been recently discovered however and, while prehistoric man had no idea of the chemical composition of honey, even he knew that this was indeed the nectar of the gods. Cave paintings in Spain actually show him gathering this sweet food some 8,000 years ago.”

Are mānuka and wild thyme honey the only good kinds?

“What’s important to keep in mind is that Maltese bees do not produce mānuka honey, yet, at the same time, the best place to source good honey is locally – and this is where certain misconceptions arise.

“First of all, we must understand that Maltese beekeepers harvest honey in early and late summer, and in late autumn; and we must always take into consideration the flora available around the beehives and the natural rainfall. After all, no rainfall means no flora, which in turn means no food for the bees, and, ultimately, no honey.

“For example, in 2013, the rainfall was so poor that the honey harvest was negligible. As Merill, we had to tell our clients that we didn’t have any available, and it was tough – both for them and for us. Sales are what keep us going as that revenue goes straight back into our projects. But, even so, we’re people with solid principles, and while we’re committed to supporting and working with Maltese farmers, we want our products to be of the highest standards every time.

“Yet, if Maltese people keep asking for mānuka honey, which is not produced in Malta, or wild thyme honey, which is produced in very limited quantities, then we risk pushing beekeepers to lie about their products… Having said that, I think sometimes people prefer lies to the truth about a product that’s being sold, however, we will never sell a jar of spring honey as a wild thyme one.

“Even so, quantities are what they are, and demand is much greater than the supply. And that’s what makes Maltese honey so covetable: it’s a rare delicacy full of natural nutrients with an origin that is almost always verifiable.”

So, if it’s not mānuka or wild thyme honey, what kind of honey is it?

“In early summer, the honey harvest is produced from spring multi-flora. This usually has a golden yellow hue.

“In late summer, we start getting wild thyme – among other flora – and the colour of this is usually golden amber.

‘In late autumn, we get autumn flora honey, such as carob and eucalyptus. The colour of this is often brownish amber.

“What’s important to keep in mind is that the same bee can produce differently-coloured honeys, depending on what it manages to find while it’s foraging. Yet, just because a honey is not strictly wild thyme or mānuka, doesn’t mean it’s less nutritious or pure.”

Click here for "Let’s Talk About Honey, Honey! – Part 2"

Do you have any other questions about the honey you’re buying or the products we sell? Then feel free to drop us a line at info@merill.com.mt or to call us on 2141 1388.

photo by Edward Ellul

Interviewed by Iggy Fenech

Filo Parcels with fresh ġbejniet and local honey

Ingredients for 4 parcels:

2 fresh cheeselets (ġbejniet), sliced lengthways

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

2-4 teaspoons local honey (according to taste)

12 sheets approximately 21x15 cm (A5 size) filo pastry

Sea salt

Choice of other fillings: fresh basil leaves, chopped strawberries, chili sauce / flakes or crushed walnuts

Recipe:

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius with fan.

Pour the olive oil into a bowl. On a flat surface or chopping board, place one filo sheet and brush it lightly with olive oil. You don’t need to cover the whole surface or saturate it with oil.

Next lay another sheet on top with the corners a little off-set in comparison with your previous sheet. Brush this with oil too. Repeat with a third sheet.

Lay half a cheeselet, ½ or 1 teaspoon honey and any other filling of your choice in the centre of the top sheet. Add a pinch of sea salt.

Gently lift one edge of the three sheets and pinch about one inch from the edge, forming a purse-like shape all around. Push the pastry together towards the centre to close the parcel; the oil will help the pastry to stick to itself.

When all the parcels are ready, place on a baking sheet in the middle of your oven and cook for about 10-12 minutes, until the edges are turning brown.  As a main dish, serve two parcels with a light salad e.g. rocket leaves, cherry tomatoes and cucumbers.

Tips:

Always use a good quality olive oil as the taste of this will really come up, you’re not only using it to stick the pastry sheets together!  It’s easiest to lift two ends of the sheets at once and work with both hands to fold the pastry towards the centre to press together.

Merill products used: fresh cheeselets, olive oil, honey, sea salt, strawberries

written by Miriam Calleja

A continuous success story

I felt so proud while reading the article named "The story of the birds and the bees" by Kristina Chetcuti featured on the latest E&D magazine. This article explains how Charles Camilleri, one of the beekeepers who supplies us regularly with honey, managed to place himself very well in a blind honey tasting competition in Tuscany. 

Charles also happens to be a good friend of mine. We were colleagues when I worked at the Ministry for Rural Affairs and the Environment and we read for the same Bachelors in Agro-Ecosystems Management between 2005 and 2008. After completing our studies, we took different paths, however we soon started working hand in hand on the Merill Local Products venture. Honey is by far the most popular local product of the Maltese people and we only choose the very best producers who like Charles, carry out bee keeping with a lot of dedication and passion.

Properties of honey have been appreciated since early times and life history of bees has been studied in detail to reap the maximum benefits from swarms. Bees are precious creatures as they are also responsible for carrying out a large percentage of pollination in many of the insect pollinated species. 

The relevance of this article lies in the fact that bee keeping is an agricultural practice that our ancestors have mastered. Nowadays, science and technology have made bee keeping a specific section within the umbrella of Agriculture. Many ask me, "are there any opportunities for students who are inclined to study Agriculture?". My answer is certainly Yes! Malta is a very small country however there are many opportunities that have not been exploited as yet. Marketing and Research in the Agricultural sector are two areas where there is ample room for growth, not only in Malta, but also in many countries around the world.

In principle, we only sell pure local honey in spite quantities are so limited. Our prices are fair in spite we do not have economies of scale like other Mediterranean countries. We are convinced about the quality of our honey and being a prestigious local product makes us look forward.

This year we have worked hard to assemble a larger range of products, all packaged in 100% upcycled packaging. To know more about our Eco Hamper, click here!

More links about this article:

Merill Local Products Eco Hamper Catalogue review from Charles Camilleri - Page 12

Every day keeps hay fever away - Times of Malta

Best Honey in the Mediterranean Competition

Article written by Jeanette Borg - Owner Merill Eco Tours and Local Products

Stuck for gift ideas this Christmas?

l-Għalqa Eco Hamper

For many, Christmas is a period of dread - hectic shopping, cooking and get-togethers and to top it all choosing the right gifts for family and friends can easily become a nightmare. We live in times when it's becoming increasingly difficult to buy gifts that are appreciated by others. 

This year you can hit two birds with  one stone; buy a gift, and contribute towards the Maltese environment. The packaging used in our Eco-Hampers is entirely reused or fair trade, while all the products are strictly local. We work closely with farmers who produce genuine delicacies and are also committed towards the greening of our countryside. Honey and olive oil are by far the most popular products chosen by the Maltese people. Price also matters; this is why we have developed a whole range of packages between 6 and 40 Euros! We can even tailor make your ideal hamper according to your needs.

To view the whole range of eco-hampers click here! 

Feel free to send us an email on info@merillecotours.com or give us a call on 79411388. We'd love to hear from you!

Visit our stand at The Point Shopping Complex in Tigne on Sunday 20th November between 11am and 8pm.