A-Buzz about Honey

I have two intrepid women friends who have recently gone into beekeeping. My pal Sharon, who lives in Maine and is the brains behind the blog Delicious Musings, took classes on apiculture with the intent of creating a healthy bee population for the future. The other friend is my sister Susan who lives in Vermont and, like Sharon and beekeepers everywhere, is constantly monitoring the hives for mite infestation that causes colony collapse. I admire these hobbyists who have learned to handle insects that are known to behave badly when disturbed, that are extremely vulnerable in spite of their reputation, and are currently under threat from all the toxins we humans are dumping into their environment. Since about 1/3 of all the food we eat depends on pollination by healthy bees, it’s time to pay attention to these flying life-giving heroes.

I don’t know a honeybee from a wasp or a hornet, so in my ignorance I’m fearful of all of them. When I saw a notice in the local paper about a honey-themed event in Fillmore over the weekend, I saw an opportunity to get some education about bees.

Fillmore, a small agricultural community about 25 picturesque miles from Ojai, was hosting thousands of visitors at their Honey Harvest Festival in the town square, but I headed a few blocks away and boarded the Fillmore & Western train for a ride another 15 miles out in the country for a tour of Bennett’s Honey Farm.

After observing the process of harvesting, filtering, grading and bottling honey (simplified for us rookies), we enjoyed a tasting of honey made from local sage, clover, wildflowers, buckwheat, eucalyptus, orange and avocado blossoms, and cactus.

Scraping frames to release honey into the centrifuge.

Raw honey is filtered through two layers of fine mesh.

It was apparent that learning to taste the terroir of honey was as subtle as refining the palette when tasting wine or coffee or olive oil. We were encouraged to note the different colors of honey (avocado is very dark, clover is almost clear) and the “nose” of each varietal.

While most of us consume liquid honey that is extracted from the honey comb by centrifugal force and strained, there is also comb honey that is sold just as the bees produced it – in the wax comb, whipped or creamed honey that spreads like butter, and raw honey which is unprocessed, unheated, unfiltered and comes right out of the hive and into the bottle.

So I’m not an expert and I still wouldn’t want a hive in my backyard. But I honor those fearless souls who wrangle these little critters and harvest a natural food that is healthful, healing and delectable. For my part, I vow to become a more educated consumer of honey by avoiding supermarket brands and buying from local apiarists.