The years we spent honing our skills at infusing maple have been applied to this new category of honey with excellent results…
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RAW AND INFUSED HONEY?
If you’ve been following along with Runamok honey, you’ve probably heard us tout the benefits of raw honey as “honey straight from the hive.” Infused honey, on the other, is steeped with high-quality ingredients resulting in exceptional flavor profiles to bring depth and nuance to all of your culinary adventures. While we love the benefits of raw honey, Runamok was born from a desire to take nature’s best sweeteners places they have never been before. Leaning heavily on the culinary background of our founders, we have applied our expertise in infusing maple into this new line and we think you’ll love the results!
WHAT GOES INTO A RUNAMOK HONEY INFUSION?
Here at Runamok, we don’t take our infusions lightly, in any sense of the word. Like the infused maple syrups you know and love, we are not shy when it comes to flavor. Instead of infusions with a hint of floral, or a touch of heat, we like to showcase bold, bright flavors that carry through any cocktail, recipe, or baked good you find yourself making.
Our infusions start with a base of premium clover honey from the high plains of Montana and Wyoming. Clover honey is floral and delicate – the classic example of American honey – making it the perfect base to highlight and balance the infusion ingredients. We add the highest quality ingredients like organic hibiscus flower, organic lemon verbena, organic lapsang souchong tea, and an array of smoking-hot chile peppers. Then we steep the honey (a careful balance of time and temperature) until it reaches peak flavor. The resulting infusions are honeys that are more complex and delicious than the sum of two simple ingredients. No extra additives, fillers, or artificial flavors, ever.
WHO COMES UP WITH THIS STUFF?
Runamok has turned flavor research and development into an art form. You can read about some of the early flavor escapades of our co-founders, Laura and Eric, here (wasabi maple? Apparently not). Coming up with new flavor infusions has always been a team effort here at Runamok: it takes innumerable test batches, office-wide taste testing (one of the many perks of employment), and careful quality control through every step of the process to produce a carefully balanced consistent product.
Our currently head of Research and Development is our Flavor Alchemist, Mr. Peter Lind. Flavor Alchemist may sound like a grandiose title but, if anything, it is an understatement when describing the balance of food science and culinary artistry that Peter brings to the team. Peter began his career at a little place called Ben & Jerry’s back in 1988 with the official title of Primal Ice Cream Therapist. If you like the iconic Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Chubby Hubby, Wavy Gravy, Chocolate Fudge Brownie, (or dozens of other flavors) you can thank Peter for those. Peter has also worked as a food technologist, culinary institute instructor, and chocolatier. Somehow he was coaxed out of a short-lived retirement to come work for another little Vermont company called Runamok. When Peter’s not developing some of the world’s most beloved confections, he’s hosting Pancake Thursdays at the office or tucked away in a cocktail lounge with his jazz band – this man has serious range.
We couldn’t be more grateful to have Peter at the helm, and can’t wait to share more of what he has in store for the coming year.