“Supermarket” honey is blended to achieve a
generic sameness. This very distinctive black
sage honey is from Savannah Bee Company.

As with wine, it’s the difference between a bland jug wine and a varietal wine, which has the distinctly delightful characteristics of its particular grape.

And as with wine, different honeys pair better with certain foods. See this comparison of nine top varietal honeys and the foods they complement.

There are many different kinds of honey—300 varietals in the U.S. alone. While some people might make it a life’s work to try all of them, start small. In fact, start with the pairings we’ve just mentioned.

Life’s too short to stick with generic honey.

Like flavored honey? These creme honeys in six flavors—apricot, blackberry, cranberry, lemon, raspberry and spiced—are among our favorites.

But thanks to Pillsbury, there’s no reason to go without delicious cakes and brownies.

Delivering all of the flavor without the sugar, Pillsbury Sugar Free brownies, cakes and frostings can delight anyone. The treats include:

 
We tried everything. Actually, we did more than “try”: We consumed every last crumb.

The products taste like they’re made with sugar—but, surprise—they’re sweetened with Splenda (sucralose) and sugar alcohols (isomalt, maltitol and sorbitol).

As a surprise, bake a batch for a friend on a sugar-free diet. Just resist the temptation to devour it yourself.

The line is certified kosher by OU.
  

It doesn’t take much to make something
plain look special. Photo by Hannah
Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

 
If you’re artistic, there are books on vegetable garniture where you can indulge your talent for carving to create edible masterpieces for each plate:

 
Take a look at our article, Garnish Glamour, which has dozens of ideas for sweet and savory foods.

If you tried the caramelized onions in the recipe below, you may already be hooked.

If you want to make large quantities of caramelized onions, you can use a slow cooker. It spares you from having to constantly stir the onions. However, the onions don’t get browned as they do in a skillet. You can try browning them in a hot skillet before serving.

Watch how in this video, which combines the caramelized onions with mashed potatoes (so delicious!). While the video doesn’t add salt or pepper to the slow cooker, add some; then taste and adjust the seasonings at the end of cooking.

In the case of Dave’s Gourmet Masala Marinara pasta sauce, the result is a delightful fusion of Italy and Southeast Asia.

Marinara is the classic Italian tomato sauce served with spaghetti and meatballs, atop pizza, veal and chicken Parmigiana, and as a dipper with fried zucchini and mozzarella sticks. A good sauce will be made from lush tomatoes, fresh basil, garlic, onions and oregano.

Masala is the Hindi word for a mixture of spices.*
*While “masala” is an Indian word, the predominant flavors are both Indian and Thai.

The sauce is versatile, pairing well with chicken, lamb, pasta, pork, rice, seafood and vegetables.

We also tasted Dave’s Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce, the first sauce we’ve come across made from squash. If you’re a butternut squash fan (we are!), try it and let us know what you think.

While it provided an interesting change of pace, THE NIBBLE tasting team wasn’t keen on the change—and we don’t know why. We really enjoy pumpkin ravioli, where the squash is inside of the pasta. So why didn’t we like a purée of squash atop our pasta?

We have no idea. We’re going to get another jar and try it as a sauce for chicken and fish.

You can purchase Dave’s all-natural sauces online at DavesGourmet.com.