I received my first shipment of honey shortly after I returned from Seattle, where I got a whiskey aging kit from Woodinville Whiskey Company. I had sampled honeyed whiskeys before, including Wild Turkey’s American Honey and Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey, so I thought I’d give it a try.

After aging the whiskey for a month, I added a bottle of the UH Hilo honey and vanilla bean to the barrel. I then let it age for another two months. When it was time to extract the whiskey from the barrel, my patience was rewarded with a flavorful whiskey. I had achieved what I set out to do, which was to create something between the Wild Turkey and Jack Daniel’s whiskeys. I now had a whiskey that was as smooth, but not as syrupy, as American Honey, while not being as spicy as the Tennessee Honey.

Pleased with the results, I’m already making plans for my next batch. Some ideas I’m playing with is a longer aging period (possibly six months to a year) to get more oak flavor, as well as regularly topping off the barrel with my previous batch, a process similar to the Spanish solera wine technique.

After receiving another honey delivery last week, the first thing that popped in my head was toffee. The only dilemma was what kind of nuts to use. While many recipes call for walnuts, I’ve found that the bitterness of the nuts is too strong and overpowers the honey flavor. I used to compensate for this by substituting molasses in the recipe. Black walnuts were also definitely out because, aside from being expensive, I wanted the honey to stand out. Since the honey was from the Big Island, I decided to keep it local and go with macadamia nuts.

My kitchen filled with the aroma of honey as I cooked the caramel for the toffee. Once the toffee was cooked to the hard ball stage, I stirred in the nuts, then poured the mix into a sheet pan to cool overnight. The next day, I removed the toffee from the pan and cut into it. As I hoped, the honey flavor was front and center. The first thing I tasted was honey, followed by the toasted mac nut flavor. By sucking on the toffee, the honey flavor lingered for as long as I could resist the urge to chew.

Making the donation to the UH Foundation has resulted in an excellent opportunity to not only help UH students and Hawaii’s agriculture industry, but experiment with a great locally produced ingredient that I look forward to using in the future. Next up, honey-roasted pineapple…

Here’s more information about the Adopt a Beehive program.

After the 30-minute documentary, the audience was treated to a Q&A with several people featured in the film, including interns from Ma’o Organic Farm, Alan Joaquin of FarmRoof and chefs Mark Noguchi and Ed Kenney.

Here are photos from the event.

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'Ingredients Hawaii' screening (1 of 19)

He'eia Pier Chef Mark Noguchi serves a selection of dishes made with locally produced ingredients.

Photo by Ed Morita

If you missed it, here’s a review of “Ingredients Hawaii” by Nonstop food writer Mari Taketa. Future screenings aren’t scheduled yet, but will be at community venues. The film will be available for screenings for a nominal fee; down the line, it will be released on DVD and in about a year, Bates says, you’ll be able to find it on Netflix.

Mali is a four-time National Poetry Slam champion, a veteran of HBO’s “Def Poetry” and the former president of Poetry Slam, Inc., a nonprofit organization that oversees the international coalition of poetry slams, including Hawaii’s First Thursday. He also was the official voice of Burger King.

Here are highlights from the event:

Featured Performer: Taylor Mali

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhJjlYeMBXE

First-Place Performer: Ink

www.youtube.com/watch?v=75M6tU6InO4

Second-Place Poet: Drew Imagination

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeKZ8Jx8xH4

Third-Place Poet: Rob Words and Sterling Higa

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUnAe0o-t_s

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Pro Bowl All-Star Block Party (1 of 39)

Sean Na’auao performing on the main stage

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ar0lJALu0A

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Anuhea (1 of 33)

The Green and Anuhea join SOJA on stage for an encore performance

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO1LPQb7XRs

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One Strong Ohana launch (1 of 14)

Photo by Melissa Chang

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8cnzqCLyoQ

Participating farms included Fat Law’s Farm, Ho Farms, Nozawa Farms, Kats Higa Farm, Keawa Nui Farms, Koguchi Farm, Kula Country Farms, Marine AgriFuture, Naked Cow Dairy, Nalo Farm, North Shore Aquafarm, Okabe Farm, Shinsato Farm and Wailea Agricultural Group.

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Taste of Ag (1 of 20)

The setting for Wednesday's event.