About 18 months ago we added several bee hives by the cow pasture behind the Fearrington House Restaurant. For a long time, I drove by daily, oblivious to what was going on inside these colonies. Then one day our beekeeper informed me that our hives consist of close to 60,000 worker bees, several hundred drones (males), and one controlling queen bee.
Here, one hive contains Italian bees which are conditioned to the warmer climate of the central Mediterranean. The other hive is a hybrid breed called Russians x Buckfast.
Bees can travel up to several miles looking for nectar or pollen but with our extensive gardens and organic gardening practices, they don’t have to travel far. To make honey, bees collect nectar and/or pollen from a variety of plants, which are called honey plants. Here they like tulip poplar, hollies, ligustrum, asters, red maples, black gum and other plants.
Our beekeeper just delivered our first batch of honey from our hives - 5 gallons - and honestly trying to describe the taste is very tough. So our wine director, Max Kast, and I took about 15 minutes to figure out the taste and characteristics. The best way I can describe it is very floral and reminds me of that first warm day of spring when all the flowers pop.
I like to use honey as it adds a different kind on sweetness than using sugar. I add it to hummus to help with the chalky taste, dressings and especially in crab salad. And if a dish or component is not quite right, as the saying goes, we’ll “add some honey.”
When I am at home, there is nothing quite like enjoying honey smothered on a thick piece of toasted whole wheat bread, but my favorite thing is to add a couple pieces of bacon to it!
I now have a much bigger appreciation for the diverse value honey bees provide. Consider:
• If you suffer from allergies, find a source of local honey, since eating local honey will help to build some tolerance to your allergies. I recommend adding Greek yoghurt to honey, warm water and lemon
• Bees are very helpful to most fruit trees, flowers, and some vegetable crops. Anything they pollinate normally produces more seeds and better fruit.
• Their honey is good forever supposedly. If you have honey that crystallizes (sugar comes out of solution) you can just gently warm it to get it back to liquid again.
• There are more beekeepers in North Carolina than any other state, although most tend to operate on a small scale.
Now that our first home-grown batch has arrived, stay tuned as we work it into the menu!