There's a buzz in the air about UK honey

At Petersham we don't have a shop, as such, but we do sell a small selection of products that we love. It's ostensibly to make available to our customers things that we believe in and could not do without - a variety of beautiful vinegars, for example, or a selection of new season's olive oils, fragrant syrups from the Middle East and, from Italy, almond milk and jams.

The shop is the baby of Petersham's forager, Wendy Fogarty. She loves all good things but has a particular passion for honey, in fact she is absolutely mad about it. I know without doubt that if I go on a buying trip with her to the markets of Italy or France, she will stop, taste and more than likely buy any honey that she sees. In her office just last week, above her desk I counted six different varieties and, she assures me, she has many more at home.

I, too, love honey and use it often in cooking. It works well with dessert cheese, ice-cream or perfectly ripe, seasonal fruit. Unlike sugar, which has a much more one-dimensional flavour, honey is complex and lends subtle flavour-notes to dishes. We often use a honey called Brockwell Park Honey made by bee keeper Orlando Clarke, in Brixton

Honey is produced all over the world, from the tropics to Siberia. In warm countries honey tends to be produced all year round, but in the cooler countries the season can be as short as two to three weeks. Each variety of honey's distinct aroma, flavour and colour is determined by the type of flower from which the bees collect the nectar. The resulting characteristics of the honey closely resemble the flavours of the herbs and trees the bees have visited. Most honeys come from bees that have foraged on many different floral sources, and are known as polyfloral honeys. However, the most prized honeys are known a monofloral, these are made by bees which have fed predominantly from the nectar of one plant species.

Wendy and I are unanimous about our favourite variety. It is definitely chestnut - a honey with a characteristic flavour so very particular that some find it shocking. It's the colour of burnt caramel, with a flavour intensity to match, and a deep, syrupy molasses beginning and a gentle bitterness to finish. It works beautifully with certain cheeses - aged pecorino, say, or older, crystally Parmesans.

Wendy wrote a list for me of all her favourite honeys. The list included rock rose honey from the Serra da Estrela mountains in Portugal, wildflower honey from the Isle of Colonsay in Scotland - made from a concentration of nectar from thousands of Hebridean wildflowers - and rhododendron honey from the Italian Alps, which come from fragile Alpine flowers that are becoming worryingly rare.

Wendy dreams most of trying the honey from the Yemen and finished by saying, and I quote. "I love honey because a single jar tells us so much about the place it comes from and the health of its environment. I love the fact that the complexity and majesty of nature can be so simply translated into one single product." To me, this sums it up perfectly.

Skye Gyngell is head chef at Petersham Nurseries, Church Lane, off Petersham Road, Richmond, Surrey, tel: 020 8605 3627

A type of Waldorf salad

This is a simple salad, perfect for this time of year. It's light and clean and makes use of the last of winter's apples. We pickled the grapes when they came in, I love their finished flavour. We used Brockwell Park honey, which is produced in Brixton, London, by Orlando Clarke and can be bought from Petersham Nurseries or Basic Wholefoods, 49 Denmark Hill, London SE5, tel: 020 7701 8888.

Serves 4

For the pickled grapes

400g/13oz grapes (I like muscatel)
200g/7oz caster sugar
250ml/8oz champagne or white-wine vinegar
250ml/8fl oz white wine
1 bay leaf
6 juniper berries

For the dressing

1tbsp Brockwell Park honey
11/2tsp Dijon mustard
1tbsp good-quality red-wine vinegar
A little sea-salt and freshly ground black pepper (omega)
80ml/3fl oz walnut oil
1tsp crème fraîche
1tsp curly-leaf parsley, finely chopped

For the salad

2 stalks of celery, peeled and cut finely on the bias
1 English braeburn apple - skin on, cored and then cut into 8 pieces
80g/3oz mild goat's cheese
12 pickled grapes
12 leaves of spring lettuce (here I have used cicorino verde, frisée would be a good substitute)
1tsp curly-leaf parsley, finely chopped

For the pickled grapes, combine the sugar, vinegar, white wine, bay leaf and juniper berries in a pan. Bring to a simmer for about a minute. Taste it, it should be tart. Wash and pat dry the grapes. Using scissors, cut them into small clusters and place into a sterilised jar. Allow the pickling liquid to cool, then pour it over the grapes. Seal and store in the fridge for one week before using.

Next make the dressing. Place the honey, mustard, red-wine vinegar, sea-salt and pepper into a bowl. Whisk in the walnut oil and stir together well to combine. Finish by stirring in the crème fraîche.

For the salad, place the celery, apples, salad leaves and goat's cheese in a bowl. Toss together lightly with your finger and spoon over a tablespoon or so of the dressing. Toss again. Divide among the 4 plates, drizzle over the rest of the dressing and finish with the grapes and chopped parsley. Serve at once.

Young pecorino with acacia honey and black truffles

Acacia is the perfect honey to pair with black truffles. Its flavour is delicate and absorbs easily the earthy, fragrant flavour of the truffles, and young, crumbly Pecorino works alongside it perfectly.

Serves 4

1 small black truffle
250g/8oz jar acacia honey
150g/5oz young, crumbly pecorino

Using a sharp small knife, or truffle knife, shave the truffle as finely as possible. Place in a bowl and spoon the contents of the honey jar over the truffle. Return the truffle and honey to the honey jar and replace the lid, this (omega) will keep happily for a month or so. Using it whenever you want, the flavour of the truffle will infuse the light, delicate honey and give it a wonderful flavour. To serve, slice the cheese finely (at work we use a meat slicer) and lay 4-5 pieces on each plate and drizzle with the infused truffle honey. Serve immediately.

Hazelnut ice-cream with chestnut honey

Serves 6-8

250ml/8fl oz double cream
250ml/8fl oz whole milk
1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
5 egg yolks
125ml/4oz caster sugar
200g/7oz hazelnuts
4tbsp chesnut honey

Heat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas2.

Start by making the ice-cream base. Combine the cream and the milk in a heavy-based saucepan. Add the vanilla pod (I tend not to scrape out the seeds unless l am specifically making vanilla ice-cream).

Place over a medium heat and bring to just under the boil. Remove and cover with a lid and leave to infuse for 5 minutes or so. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk the egg yolk and the sugar until thick and pale. Pour in the hot liquid and stir to combine, return the mixture to the pan. Turn the heat down to low and return the pan to the stove.

Using a wooden spoon, stir the custard slowly and consistently (I use a figure-of-eight movement) until it begins to thicken. The time this takes varies, but ideally you should know when the custard is thick enough when it starts to coat the wooden spoon. You can test this by running your index finger along the back of the spoon; if a ribbon trail is left, your custard is ready. Quickly remove from the heat, pour into a bowl and allow to cool. (Homemade ice-cream does not keep well, it is at its best for only a couple of days.)

Next, place the hazelnuts on a baking tray and roast slowly in the hot oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Pulse in a Magimix (or use a pestle and mortar) until the nuts are coarsely ground.

Place the cooled custard in an ice-cream maker and allow to half set. Add the ground hazelnuts and continue until the ice-cream has properly set. Scoop into bowls and drizzle the chestnut honey over the top. Serve immediately.

Ricotta, Brockwell Park honey and figs pickled in red wine

This is another recipe that uses the Brockwell Park honey. For details, see "A type of Waldorf Salad" on page 42.

Serves 4

For the figs

Half a bottle of medium-bodied red wine
The peel of one orange
2 fresh bay leaves
6 whole peppercorns
1tbsp honey
25 dried figs

To serve

300g/10oz ricotta (we use a lovely delicate sheep's milk ricotta known as Sarras, but any good-quality ricotta will do the job)
2tbsp Brockwell Park honey
12 figs

For the pickled figs, place the wine, orange peel, bay leaf and peppercorns into a small saucepan. Place over a medium heat and bring to a gentle simmer until you have reduced the content by around half. Add the honey and the figs. Stir well to coat the figs thoroughly. Place in a sterilised jar, seal and shake the jar once or twice. Leave for one or two days before using. Again, as with the truffle honey, this will keep well in the fridge for at least a couple of months.

To serve, divide the ricotta among 4 plates, place 3 of the pickled figs on each plate, drizzle some more honey over the top, and serve.