honey, I'm home

We are so fortunate to live in an amazingly fecund place, the Willamette Valley. This month's Sunset magazine (the Northwest version, at least) features an article on the area. I went to an orchard this weekend just outside of town, and although I was sorely tempted to pick peaches, I settled on a half-flat of the biggest raspberries I've ever seen, perfect green beans, kohlrabi, cukes, walnuts, and a jar of local honey marked 'M/F.'

M/F is "meadowfoam," a marsh plant that apparently produces beneficial oils. It also produces an unusual honey from bees that mess around in its pollen. The farmer told me it tasted like caramel, and she was right. I've never tasted anything like it. It has notes of burnt sugar and what can only be called marshmallow (see list of honey types below).

You can read more about meadowfoam here, which is where I purloined the lovely image.

I always knew honey came in different types, based on the local flowers, and when we moved to Eugene I was delighted to see blackberry honey available everywhere. Blackberry honey doesn't have a marked taste of blackberries, though, and the delight turned quickly to disappointment. It seems, however, that meadowfoam is a local product, perhaps a flash-in-the-pan like the emu or nutria craze, but until they let loose the meadowfoamettes, I'm happy to call this a Willamette Valley specialty.

From this list, you can see how wildly honey varieties vary. Which ones have you tried? Are the descriptions accurate? And more importantly, what should I make with my meadowfoam honey?