Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has discovered Tasmania’s unique leatherwood honey. And he’s seriously impressed.
“It's quite, I mean I've never tasted anything like it. he says, adding
“That honey is dense, spicy.”
His discovery comes midway through the first episode of the new season of Ramsay’s Uncharted that screened in the US on the Nat Geographic channel last weekend.
The entire first episode was filmed in Tasmania, and saw Ramsay cooking local foods including wallaby and crayfish.
He was also flown to Lake St Clair in Tasmania’s north-east to catch and cook a trout.
With the help of his guide, he was encouraged to cook the trout with the local leatherwood honey.
Using the honey both inside and outside the fish, he was delighted with the results, and was then taken to meet Ewan Stephens from the famous Stephens beekeeping family.
The Stephens family have been producing leatherwood honey for almost one hundred years in north-east Tasmania and specializes in leatherwood honey.
Ramsay was shown how the bees are managed and tasted some honey direct from the bee hive.
His enthusiasm for the unique taste and flavour of leatherwood honey was immediately evident.
Indeed he used it again at the end of the show, where he was in a cook-off with leading local chef Annaliese Gregory.
Ramsay used the leatherwood honey in preparing a wallaby dish, whilst Gregory also used the honey cooling a locally caught crayfish.
The first episode of Uncharted
US viewers can access the first episode via the national geographic channel at www.nationalgeographic.com
Far too strong a taste!
Will never buy again!