Hive got a secret: Use honey instead of sugar

So what, exactly, makes honey such a popular ingredient?

"Honey is so versatile. Honey is used all over the place," said John Brandt-Lee, chef at Avalon Restaurant, in West Chester and a longtime advocate of using local honey.

"It is a great emulsifier," he said. "It is great at bringing things together."

By way of example, he cited two of his favorite vinaigrette recipes, balsamic-honey and orange-vanilla. In the first, honey binds the olive oil and balsamic vinegar the way a raw egg would, he said, but without the health risks that come from raw eggs.

"It adds a nice sweetness, which cuts a little of the acidity of the vinegar," he said.

In his other vinaigrette, honey helps sweeten orange juice after it has been reduced, a process that can turn the juice bitter.

"The honey and the orange blend together very, very well," he said. "They're very harmonious. I still get the orange, and it complements the honey very nicely."

Sean Weinberg, chef at Malvern's Restaurant Alba, uses honey in place of sugar whenever possible.

"If I can replace table sugar with a natural product like honey, in my mind, it's healthier," said Weinberg, who became interested in honey while living and studying in Italy and learning about the slow-food culture there.

"I kind of like the way honey sweetens things. . . . If you cut back on sugar, there's a fine line between being not sweet at all and being too sweet. Honey brings a roundness to things."

Among his specialties is a honey-based glaze for his woodfire-roasted duck that includes crushed fennel, mustard and cumin seeds, along with red-wine vinegar and water.

He also makes a woodfire-grilled Italian bread with goat cheese that is drizzled with honey and sea salt. "It sounds so simple, but it's great," he said.

Dean Browne, a brewer at Philadelphia Brewing Co., who makes mead as a side project, says that there's nothing like local, raw honey for his projects. "I like to try as much to get local honey, so that kind of trumps other flavors," said Browne, a brewer for more than 20 years. "More often than not, [in this area], you wind up with wildflower honey or clover honey."

To make mead, Browne heats a honey and water mixture - though not to the boiling point, so as not to remove the aromatics - and adds an acidic product, such as citric acid. Once the mixture cools, he adds yeast. The mead is fermented for at least 30 days, though he prefers six months or more.

Chef Colleen McDonough, a culinary faculty member at the Art Institute of Philadelphia, said that honey is essential in courses there.

"In terms of our classes, it's very fundamental," she said. Now, she added, it's becoming more a part of everyday food culture. "Because of the nature of its production [locally]," she said, "it is very much a part of the trend toward health [in eating]."

You may not be up for brewing mead, but here are some more ways to incorporate honey.

BRIE WITH LAVENDER AND HONEY

1 small wheel of Brie

1 to 2 teaspoons dried lavender flowers

1 to 2 tablespoons honey

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Remove Brie from packaging and place on a cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes until cheese is soft, but before it starts oozing from the rind. Remove from oven and use a spatula to place on serving tray. Sprinkle with lavender and drizzle with honey; serve with crackers or thinly sliced baguette.

Source: Nicole Juday, horticulturist at Wyck House.

AVALON RESTAURANT ORANGE-VANILLA VINAIGRETTE

1 1/2 cups orange juice, no pulp

1 vanilla bean

4 tablespoons local honey

1/4 cup champagne vinegar

1 1/2 cups grapeseed oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Put orange juice in a small sauce pot. Split vanilla bean lengthwise with a small, sharp knife. Using the back side of the knife, scrape the beans out of the pod and add to orange juice, along with the pod itself. Cook over medium heat until you reduce the orange juice by two-thirds. Once it's reduced, place mixture in refrigerator for one hour, to cool. Remove the vanilla-bean pods.

Place orange-juice reduction, honey and champagne vinegar into a blender. Slowly mix. Add grapeseed oil, until emulsified. Don't mix too long or the vinaigrette will become hot and could break. Add salt and pepper to taste.

AVALON RESTAURANT BALSAMIC-HONEY VINAIGRETTE

1 small shallot, diced

2 sprigs fresh thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup aged balsamic vinegar (at least six years old)

3 tablespoons local spring or fall honey

1 cup grapeseed oil

Add all ingredients except oil to blender and mix well, on medium speed. Turn blender speed to slow, then slowly add grapeseed oil, until vinegar and oil emulsify. Taste and adjust salt, pepper and honey to your liking.