28 October 2026 by Simon Noble
Autumn on Toast
People often ask me what the bees are doing at this time of year. In some ways, they're not so different from us. As the seasons turn and the days grow shorter, life begins to slow down. The busy summer traffic at the hive entrances has quietened right down, although on those occasional sunny autumn days, the bees still venture out to make the most of the last opportunities to top up their winter larder. On these warmer days, you can spot the foragers returning home with their pollen baskets packed full of bright yellow ivy pollen, one of the last important food sources of the year.
Inside the hive, the colony is beginning to draw together into a tight cluster, keeping each other warm as the colder weather approaches. They'll spend the winter living on the honey they've worked so hard to gather and store throughout the summer. And that's when I know our work with the bees is mostly done for another year, too.
Out in the New Forest, the ponies are growing their thick winter coats, the oaks are turning golden, and there's that unmistakable feeling that autumn has well and truly arrived. It's also the time of year when I find myself desiring something warm, comforting and just a little indulgent.
I make this little breakfast treat on lazy Sunday mornings, and it goes perfectly with a hot cup of tea. In fact, it's barely a recipe at all. Just a slice of good toast, pears gently caramelised in butter, a handful of blackberries we tucked away in the freezer back in September, and a proper spoonful of our raw New Forest wildflower honey from the farm.
It takes about twenty minutes to make, and somehow manages to taste exactly like autumn on toast.
So that's what I called it!
Simon
The recipe
Honey-glazed pears, whipped ricotta, blackberries and toasted hazelnuts on sourdough.
|
Serves |
Prep |
Cook |
Honey |
|---|---|---|---|
|
2 |
10 minutes |
15 minutes |
Ingredients
For the whipped ricotta
- 150g ricotta
- 1 tsp Noble Bee raw wildflower honey
- Zest of half a lemon
- A pinch of sea salt
For the pears
- 2 ripe but firm pears, quartered and cored
- 15g salted butter
- 3 or 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 1 tbsp Noble Bee raw wildflower honey
For the hazelnuts
- 30g hazelnuts, roughly chopped
- 1 tsp Noble Bee raw wildflower honey
- A pinch of sea salt
To serve
- 2 thick slices of sourdough
- A small handful of blackberries, fresh or frozen and thawed
- 1 to 2 tbsp Noble Bee raw wildflower honey, for drizzling
- Freshly ground black pepper
Method
- Toast the hazelnuts. Put them in a dry frying pan over a medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes, shaking the pan now and then, until golden and smelling nutty. Tip into a bowl, stir through the teaspoon of honey and a pinch of salt, and set aside.
- Whip the ricotta. Beat the ricotta with the honey, lemon zest and salt for a minute or so, until smooth and light. Keep it in the fridge until you need it.
- Caramelise the pears. Wipe out the pan and melt the butter over a medium heat. When it foams, add the pears cut side down with the thyme sprigs. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes until deep golden underneath, then turn and give them another 3 minutes.
- Glaze off the heat. Take the pan off the heat and let it sit for a minute. Spoon in the tablespoon of honey and turn the pears through the buttery juices so they're glossy.
- Toast the bread. Toast or griddle the sourdough until crisp at the edges.
- Build it. Spread the whipped ricotta thickly over the toast. Lay the pears on top with any pan juices, scatter over the blackberries and honeyed hazelnuts, and pick a few thyme leaves over. Finish with a generous drizzle of honey and a twist of black pepper.
Tips and swaps
- Our honey is raw and never heat-treated, so the enzymes, pollen and flavour of the apiary stay in the jar. Adding it off the heat keeps all of that, and you taste the honey rather than just sweetness.
- Each of our honeys tastes of the place it came from. The Beaulieu River or Needs Ore Nature Reserve jars make this a slightly different breakfast every time.
- It's easy to swap the fruit in this recipe. Apples, figs or roasted plums all work in place of pears.
- You can swap the cheese too. Soft goat's cheese gives it more tang. Or beat a spoonful of our Greenrollestone Copse soft set honey into soft butter and spread that on the toast instead.
You can pick up a jar of Furzedown Farm honey online or at our pop-up shop in the barn at Furzedown Farm, open Thursdays 10am to 4pm.
