James Thompson was in New York when he first fell for chilli honey. “We were in a deli in Brooklyn and they sold a few different types. We bought some, grabbed a slice of pizza and tried it. I noticed it was everywhere around New York but I couldn't find it in Sydney,” he tells us.
That left him with only one choice – if he wanted more he would need to make it himself. He called his brother-in-law, Daniel Jalalaty, whose grandfather had hobby beehives in Glenorie and Wisemans Ferry, in Sydney’s north, and an oversupply of the golden stuff.
In lockdown last year Thompson started experimenting with chillis, and found habanero seemed to work best with the wildflower honey. “It stood up to the sweetness without being overwhelming. The honey is quite floral, and habanero gives it an almost unique fruity flavour, along with its heat.”
In January of this year he and Jalalaty started to bottle it and sell it to a few stores around the city, including Smalls Deli, Barrel One and Fabbrica, as well as via online stores Not Wasted and Worktones.
It commands a presence on whatever it’s added to – going really well on salty pizzas – particularly if you’re a fan of salty-sweet things. It also works on fried chicken and cheese, “especially soft cheese like ricotta on toast,” he says.
Plus gelato, which has led to a collab with one of Sydney’s best gelato makers, Mapo, to create a honey and ricotta special.
It’s since got a distribution deal and is now available in Queensland, the ACT and Victoria, as well as in a number of Melbourne shops, including Mat’s Hot Shop.
As for its name: “Quinby’s is a nod to New York where I first tried the honey. Moses Quinby was a New Yorker known as the ‘father’ of beekeeping in America,” he says.
The full list of stockists can be found here. Work Tones delivers Australia-wide.
