Three Kinds of Honey

Once upon a time in the mid-90’s, a cool movie character who I kind of wanted to be made three sounds at once (Neve Campbell in Three To Tango, for anyone who’s curious).  The protagonist says to his love interest with such awe and wonder, “But then I met you, and you made three sounds at once.  And I just really wanted to get to know you.”

(Check it out – three sounds at once at 2:20.  Isn’t the internet great?)

Anyhow, for whatever reason, this line totally got me.  It’s stuck in my head for all eternity.  I said it in my head when I fell for my husband.  I may have said it out loud and he may have given me a weird look.  And I said it in my head at the farmer’s market last week, when this amazing honey guy gave me three kinds of honey to taste.

We Are Missing So Much

Like many people, I grew up thinking honey came in bears.  If the bear was old, the honey would crystalize in the little bear ears.  We never ate honey quickly enough to avoid the crystals.  And honey all tasted the same.  Like honey.  You know, honey bear honey.

Honey Does Not All Taste The Same

I am here now to tell you, Honey does not all taste the same.  At all.  Not even kind of.  Fireweed, blackberry, wildflower – each completely distinct, unique, and utterly brilliant.  In a different dimension, where I am a more particular kind of cook, I would have bought all three.  In this dimension, where I am neither culinarily meticulous, nor do I eat that much honey, I had to pick just one.  I chose wildflower, although I still think the fireweed had the best name.  And if I were making honey-sesame candy, I would have gone with blackberry.  (So maybe I am a bit particular!)

As if three types of honey weren’t captivating enough, the wonderful honey man proceeded to explain that if the sun would humor us for a week or so, he would have maple blossom honey later on this season.  However, if it rained, we’d be out of luck until next year.

How interconnected, how tenuous, rare, and precious is the world we live in?  And how different are three types of honey, a fourth maybe on the way, from a sea of honey bears lined up in a row.  What else are we missing, living the way we do?

Photo: CC http://www.flickr.com/photos/thetruthabout/