Have you ever tasted a spoonful of Rare Hawaiian Organic White Honey and thought, "wow, this is something special ..."   

If so, you're not alone!

Rare Hawaiian Organic White Honey.

Over the years, we've been featured in dozens of magazines and television shows because of our honey's unique qualities: the pearly white color, superbly smooth texture, and rich taste combined with the fact that it's both raw and organic put it in a league of its own.  

Just recently, we were featured in Cooking Light's 2011 Taste Test Awards in the Artisanal Category!

Click here for ideas on how to use our honey, or scroll down for a wonderfully versatile raw honey frosting recipe -- the ultimate topping for Halloween cookies or for a Sukkot cake (the Jewish autumn harvest festival beginning October 12th).    

Also, read on to learn why Whole Foods Market designated us an Authentic Food Artisan, and why the Slow Food Foundation put us in a category with only 19 other honeys from around the world, including 4 in the United States!

Perhaps more than any other reason, White Honey is unique because

©2010 Robert Shallenberger

of its environmental source: an endangered dryland forest on the leeward coast of Hawaii Island. We are now working with other local organizations to preserve this forest and manage it sustainably.

So far, 2011 has been an exceptionally productive year for Volcano Island Honey Co. We are grateful for this abundance and, in turn, are offering a special

If six jars sounds like a lot, consider it an opportunity to share this special honey with friends and family, while reducing both shipping and packaging waste! Our Eco Six Pack box was custom-designed to require no additional packaging, thus minimizing the environmental footprint of shipping honey.  

This October Special is available for one week only -- through Monday October 10th -- so order your White Eco Pack today!   

Aloha,  

Seven years ago, Volcano Island Honey Co. was designated an Authentic Food Artisan (AFA) by Whole Foods Market -- signifying the "best of the best" in unique and specialty foods.   

Around this time, we were also selected for the Slow Food Foundation's 'Ark of Taste', a catalogue of small-scale, quality products at risk of extinction. The Ark designation has only been awarded to 19 other honeys across the world, including 4 in the United States.  

In the State of Hawaii, only three products have been included in the Ark: white kiawe honey, poi/kalo (taro) and alaea 

(traditional Hawaiian sea salt).

Waipio valley, where kalo (taro) is still grown and pounded into poi - a traditional Hawaiian staple food.

 What makes White Honey so special and rare?

From the outside, our honey's pure white color and firm consistency distinguish it from others, which are typically more viscous in texture and golden in color. Upon tasting, White Honey melts delicately between your palate and tongue, as smooth as cream. At the same time, its rich yet neutral sweetness gives it an unusual taste -- described by Cooking Light Magazine as having "lovely, sweet floral tones."

Because White Honey's flavor is not overpowering, it is also a great compliment to other ingredients in food and drink! Click here for some Volcano Island Honey recipes, or scroll down for one of our all-time favorites: raw honey frosting -- a wonderfully versatile topping for cakes, cookies, muffins, toast -- even fingers!

At this point, you may be wondering why White Honey has these unique characteristics?

The unique dryland forest where Rare Hawaiian Organic White Honey comes from is dominated by a single type of tree: kiawe (Prosopis pallida). An underground aquifer provides perennial irrigation, allowing these particular kiawe trees to produce an abundance of nectar-rich flowers for up to months at a time.

Aerial view of the Puako forest. ©2010 Robert Shallenberger.

Known as the Puako forest, this site is an oasis in the middle of a lava desert. Its isolation makes it an ideal location for producing organic, mono-floral (one flower source) honey.

Pure kiawe honey is very light in color, with a high

White Honey surrounded by kiawe blossoms.

dextrose to levulose sugar ratio, making it crystallize exceptionally fast. When harvested, kiawe honey is light yellow, sometimes with a greenish tinge; just a few days after bottling, it crystallizes inside the jar, turning white as snow.

Humans have enjoyed kiawe honey for millennia; its origins go back to coastal South America, where kiawe beans were a nutritional staple for both humans and livestock. By the 1930s, Hawaii was one of the world's largest honey exporters -- and the majority of this honey was made from kiawe!

Why don't more people make White Honey like we do today?

VIHC owner, Richard Spiegel.

VIHC's production techniques are unusual. We're adamantly committed to a small-scale, artisanal production process, developed over years of trial and error by company owner, Richard Spiegel.  

Our honey must literally be 'hand picked' to capture its highest potential: harvested too early and it will ferment inside the jar; harvested too late and it will crystallize inside the comb -- requiring heat for extraction. We never heat our honey to protect the beneficial, naturally occurring enzymes.

On a more subtle -- but equally important -- level, VIHC is a values-based business. This means we realize that nature provides us with incredible resources, and believe it's our mission to share the resulting sweet magic with you and the rest of the world.   

Further, we consciously try to imbibe each jar of honey with aloha, that positive Hawaiian attitude of love and sharing. This is probably a big part of the reason why most people, upon first taste, recognize they've discovered something special.

This year, a strong kiawe bloom in the Puako forest helped our bees recover from numerous pathogens, recently introduced to Hawaii island. We are grateful and overjoyed to see the bees' health return, so we are extending this abundance through 

October Special White Eco Six Pack ~ $95.

a great October Special:  

Six, 8-ounce jars of White Honey for only $95!  

Our custom designed Eco Six Pack box requires no additional packaging, thus reducing the environmental footprint of shipping honey.  

This offer only lasts for one week -- through Monday, October 10th -- so order your White Eco Six Pack soon!  

Hawaiian Raw Honey Frosting Recipe

8 ounces cream cheese

1/4 cup White Honey*   

1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and beat on high for 2 minutes with an electric mixer, until completely smooth and creamy. Spread generously over cake, cookies, muffins, fingers -- even the kitchen sink would taste good with this stuff! 

*Try substituting our lilikoi honey for an orange-tinged, tropical twist (great on carrot cake) or our ginger honey for a spicy sweet treat over Halloween cookies!

Click here for more Volcano Island Honey recipes and other ways to use our honey. Or tell us your favorite way to eat our honey -- we'd love to hear from you!