Have you started your holiday baking? Have you considered recipes made from local honey? Local Hive is natural, raw unfiltered honey – and is truly created by bees as if “it is from your own backyard.”
Local Hive™ from Rice’s Honey®, a leading producer of high quality, U.S. only raw & unfiltered honey since 1924, wants to help you put the twinkle into your holidays with their locally produced honey varietals. Perfect for your holiday table and every day, Local Hive from Rice’s Honey offers 16 different local varietals of raw honey honey including Local New England, Local Northeast, Local Florida, Authentic Clover & Authentic Wildflower. With your loved ones gathered around the table, whether it’s for a comforting hot drink during the cold days of winter or to enjoy your favorite Christmas cookies, the taste of real honey from Local Hive™ will help you create fond memories.
All Local Hive™ honeys are sourced exclusively in the U.S. and bottled in Greeley, Colorado. The team at Local Hive™ work directly with local beekeepers across the U.S., to ensure each varietal yields incredibly delicious and subtly different natural flavors that will be great additions to your family recipes and holiday memories. https://localhivehoney.com/
Raw, unfiltered honey also offers many health benefits including being rich in antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes and pollen. Unlike processed unnatural sugars or sweeteners, Local Hive™ honey offers transparency, as each natural varietal is made so local it’s “made right in your own back yard”.
Very similar to wine, where you taste and see the difference between varietals, Local Hive™ from Rice’s Honey® also imparts specific flavors in each of the honeys they produce. From Washington to Florida each varietal is unique.
Local Hive New England Honey
- Floral Sources: Basswood, Berries, Clover, Goldenrod
- *Flavor is bold and robust. Northeast honeys are much darker than anywhere else.
Local Hive Florida Honey
- Floral Sources: Citrus, Brazilian Pepper, Clover, Gallberry, Tupelo
- *Flavor is a bit fruity with a hint of spice.
Local Hive Colorado Honey
- Floral Sources: Clover, Alfalfa, Wildflowers
- *Flavor should be light & sweet. The sweetest of all honeys sent.
Local Hive Southern California Honey
- Floral Sources: Alfalfa, Berries, Citrus, Clover, Sage
- *Flavor is fruity and sweet. You’ll notice a hint of orange
Local Hive Texas Honey
- Floral Sources: Alfalfa, Clover, Cotton, Horsemint, Tallow
- *Flavor is medium bodied and sweet. Not as sweet as Colorado.
To sweeten up your holiday table, enjoy these Local Hive™ Honey Vanilla Sugar Cookies
Local Hive™ Honey Vanilla Sugar Cookies
Makes about 24
- ½ cup Local Hive™ Honey
- 2 sticks butter, softened
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3 vanilla beans (1 for frosting)
- 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
- 3 cups flour
- 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
Beat the sugar and butter on high until fluffy, between 7 – 8 ½ minutes. Scrape beans from 2 vanilla bean pods and set aside. Beat together honey, egg, egg yolk, vanilla beans and extract. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking powder.
- Then add in the rest of the beaten ingredients and mix well.
- You should have a dough-consistency.
- Sprinkle a cutting board or other clean area with powdered sugar. (No flour)
- Roll out dough and but into your holiday shapes.
- Bake on parchment paper after putting in the freezer for about 6 minutes, so they get more solid.
- Bake at 350º for 9-11 minutes and cool on wire rack.
Honey Vanilla Frosting
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/2 cup half and half
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 vanilla bean
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 lb. cold butter
Scrape the beans from the vanilla bean pod and set aside. Beat the honey, vanilla plus vanilla beans and then beat in half of the powdered sugar. Beat in the half and half. Combine this with the powdered sugar and beat until well.
After cutting the cold butter into small pieces, be sure to add it a little bit at a time, mixing on high speed with a whisk attachment or by hand. Beat on high speed for 9 minutes, or until it looks fluffy.
Decorate your holiday cookies and add sprinkles or other edible decorations and enjoy!
“The holidays are all about family, and our delicious Local Hive™ honey is perfect for all ages,” noted Tony Landretti, Chief Executive Officer of Rice’s Honey® . “With different floral sources based on the location in which the bees pollinate, every Local Hive varietal offers a unique flavor. Since Rice’s Honey was founded in 1924 by L.R. Rice, we have always remained committed to providing natural, delicious U.S. only raw & unfiltered honey, while supporting local beekeepers all across the U.S. Our local honey products are an artisan blend of various floral types that are regionally sourced, packed in Greeley, Colorado, and delivered to participating grocery stores throughout the United States.”
A new label design highlighting new Local Hive™ brand coincides with Rice’s new alliance with PACE, “Pollinator Awareness Through Conservation and Education”, the Butterfly Pavilion’s non-profit global initiative to restore habitats, strengthen populations and reintroduce pollinators into native habitats around the world. This partnership and commitment will be communicated on the back of the new label and will highlight how a portion of proceeds from every bottle sold of Rice’s Honey® will be donated to the PACE initiative to promote and protect the prosperity of pollinators worldwide. Rice’s Honey® has a mission to help promote all pollinators & sustainable bee farms across the country.
I was given the chance to review Local Hive Honey that was sourced locally from where I live in Oregon. I received a bottle of Northwest and Washington honey. I never really thought about the fact that honey could taste different based on the location from where it was sourced. It all makes so much sense! obviously the honeybees gather the pollen from the plants and flowers around them, and the plants and flowers differ in every area. I just never thought about the fact that honey could taste different due to the area it was sourced from. It is just so interesting the way nature works.
One of their more complicated flavor profiles, the Northwest honey has a nutty flavor with vanilla notes and a long, strong finish. In the Northwest, the bees gather pollen from Alfalfa, Aster, Basswood, Clover, & Goldenrod.
Sprinkled with pollination from the Pacific Northwest, the Washington honey is dark in color with a slightly bitter start and a sweet, molasses-flavored finish. It was made from pollen gathered from Alfalfa, Berries, Clover, Rose, & Sunflower. Both of them differ slightly in taste, and are both delicious.
Giveaway
Enter to win! One winner will receive two bottles of Local Hive raw & unfiltered honey sourced from the area of their choice.
How? It’s easy! Just fill out the Giveaway Tools form below. Good luck!
About Local Hive ™ from Rice’s Honey®:
L.R. Rice founded Rice’s Honey®, headquartered in Greeley, Colorado, in 1924. The company remains committed to its founder’s mission of becoming a leading producer of authentic, high quality, U.S. only raw & unfiltered honey. Local Hive™ from Rice’s Honey® has generated brand equity through its commitment of producing premium, high quality, raw and unfiltered honey at affordable prices. Rice’s Honey works with local beekeepers to provide several local, raw & unfiltered honey varieties throughout various states and regions across the U.S.
Check out their new website at: www.localhivehoney.com
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