Fair trade kosher honey for Rosh HaShanah

Hi,

As an isolated soul its great to know about fair-trade Shuls!!! You made me smile, thank-you! I'm kinda big on this stuff, boringly passionate enough to study it. You probably know all this gubbins anyway but if not its worth checking out:

www.ohelavraham.org.uk/KosherFairTrade.pdf
www.fairtrade.org.uk/includes/documents/cm.../jewish_action_guide.pdf

There are also traditions that think we originally used date honey not bee honey so its possible to make your own vegan, bee friendly alternative and can be made diabetic friendly. Perfect with apples and if you are me Speculaaskruiden:
4 tsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp ground cloves 1 tsp ground mace 1/3 tsp ground ginger 1/5 tsp ground white pepper 1/5 tsp ground cardamom 1/5 tsp ground coriander seeds 1/5 tsp ground anise seeds 1/5 tsp grated nutmeg.

Doing the whole reuse, reduce, recycle thing and getting messy, creative, original with that, making practical and/ or beautiful gubbins out of things past use.

Organic gubbins reduces pollution and is better for people and planet too. Organic olive oil, fruit, kiddish, meat, organic, non-petroleum based wax shabbos candles so we are not spreading any darkness / pollution in our celebration of light, is also good. If interested check out:

everlandnaturalfoods.com
www.nectaroflife.com/Ethiopia-Sidamo.htm
www.ecoshabbat.com

rant over, hope some of this helps someone,

I'll shut up and go away now :)

Returning Sephardim - I'd rather like that date honey recipe in more detail, if possible, preferably with the method included (and I'm assuming you've missed dates from those ingredients) because I'm vegan and really miss honey at Rosh Hashanah. I'd be most obliged if you'd share it. :-)

No problem, here are several options for you to play with. The first and clearest is not my own:

DATE HONEY:

8 Medjool dates (not Delget)
Juice of ½ a lemon, remove the seeds
½ cup water
4 pieces crystallized ginger, finely chopped
¼ cup Agave nectar

The above mixture is from 'The Jew and The Carrot', which if you don't already know it is a resource I'd recommend if you are vegan or vegetarian or like me predominantly no meat and low dairy. My own haphazard approach includes:

8-10 juicy dates ready squished and squidged
squidge of lemon
1/2 cup of water
1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence - ndali fairtrade vanilla extract intense is wondrous
sugar or sweetener to taste - 'stevia' is ok for diabetics and is natural

- bung all in double boiler / non-metalic bowl inside a saucepan 1/4 filled with water.
- heat gently, stirring regularlly until it looks and smells too hard to resist

Variations can include using finely ground Licorice Root instead of vanilla (not both together as it tastes yucky)
Or cinnamon or cardamon work a treat as vanilla substitutes or compliments - the later in weeny doses

Please note that the non or low sugar versions don't have the enduring, lasting qualities of bee honey. They taste pretty good though and have qualities of their own

When you can be bothered and stuff is in season a good honey alternitave can be made with unsprayed rose or lavender flowers, lemon-balm, lemon-thyme or the peel of organic oranges and lemons. Make in the same way as above in double boiler but with same quality of sugar as that of the fragrant other gubbins and water enough to keep it fluid.

Best of luck and enjoy :)

Brilliant - thanks a lot! I'll definitely be trying it with the licorice root as I absolutely adore licorice. I'll be placing an order with one of our local bookshops for The Jew and the Carrot too, especially if it uses the same technical terms you have done, ie; squished and squidged.

jcarrot.org is a website, not sure if its also got books. Hope the recipes work out for you, mine are a little less exact than 'The Jew and The Carrot' I'm afraid but thanks for liking my turn of phrase :)

Thank you for the date honey recipe. I agree that it's a wonderful replacement for bee honey for vegans. With Rosh Hashanah coming up, you may want to know that you can also buy it in a few places. Meridian do a date syrup which is not kosher certified and is available in many healthfood stores. You can also buy kosher date honey from Kinneret Farms via Satisfood and if you're looking for Rosh Hashanah gifts, my company, MannaGifts does a kosher l'mehadrin & Vegan Rosh Hashanah gift box with Silan (date honey) and other goodies. Hope this is useful!

Thanks for the link (http://www.ohelavraham.org.uk/handicap vans/KosherFairTrade.pdf). I found it really useful and delicious!