I rarely write about new retail products releases, even though I receive a lot of announcements about them. A lot a lot. This is mainly because the announcements or the products don’t have some sort of local angle to them, which means it’s not exactly newsworthy.
But when I received news that East Nashville’s Butcher & Bee had a new product announcement to share, there were several details that piqued my interest. First of all, I’m sort of obsessed with the food at the Bee, a restaurant which reveals the better angels of this avid carnivore’s desires. It’s the sort of restaurant where I won’t even notice until I’m paying the check that my entire dining experience was vegetarian — and trust me, I need more of that.
Secondly, I discovered that this new product was a commercial version of their mind-blowing fermented honey, the integral ingredient in one of the two most essential appetizers in Nashville, the Bee’s whipped feta and honey dish. (For the record, the other one is Deb Paquette's roasted cauliflower at Etch.) While fermentation is all the craze right now, and I’m seeing very similar dishes like the Bee’s app on a few other menus in town, nobody can match the funky zing of this particular honey recipe. And it’s not something you’d probably want to take on at home, because the difference between pleasantly fermented honey and, well, garbage honey is not an easy thing to manage.
Third, Butcher & Bee actually went a step further and shared the recipe for the whipped feta app so that you can use this new product to make it at home. That’s downright generous of them:
Butcher & Bee Whipped Feta Recipe
Ingredients:4 oz feta, 4 oz cream cheese, fresh basil, Butcher & Bee Fermented Honey
1.) Whip by hand or with a stand mixer:
4 oz feta
4 oz cream cheese
2.) Fold in:
1 tablespoon finely chopped basil
3.) Top with a liberal amount of Butcher & Bee’s Fermented Honey
4.) Finish with salt and pepper to taste
The clincher that made me want to share this with you all was instruction No. 2. (
.)
After a lot of research, the team at the Bee — led by local hero Bryan Lee Weaver — figured out how to offer this delicious treat on a retail scale.
Weaver explains: “First of all, it’s much more complex than a traditional honey. In our case we start with a raw and minimally processed honey from a farmer in Beaufort, S.C. Then, we add a tad of water to disrupt the ecosystem, which in turn allows healthy bacteria to enter the mix. Finally, we add the reduced liquid from cooking down fresh hot peppers. The result is a pleasantly funky, sweet heat glaze that you can put on just about anything.”
Weaver is proud of how flexible his new condiment is. “Of course it tastes great on whipped feta, but it’s also delicious on fried chicken, cheese boards, turkey sandwiches, cocktails or even in a salad dressing.” I’ve always loved honey and fried chicken together as a flavor combination, so that’s first on my list of future experimentations.
You can pick up an 8-ounce bottle of funny honey goodness for $10.25 plus shipping at the Bee’s online storefront.
