Randall York of Cloister Honey joined us for a fascinating evening on the benefits of honey and the practice of bee keeping. A native of Wilkesboro, Randall owns Southern Moving Co., which is he started in 2001. His first beehive was a Christmas gift which included a class at the Mecklenburg Bee Keeping Society. What started as a hobby soon became a business. Cloister Honey has beehives in several locations such as Southpark, Mint Hill, and the Ritz Hotel in Uptown. They offer several types of honey and flavored honeys.
The life of the bee
Have you ever seen a swarm of bees hanging like a ball from a tree? They really are! On a bee's legs, there are tiny hooks and she uses these hooks to connect to other bees; thus they are able to form a ball and hang from a tree. I say "she" because 97% of bees are worker bees, and worker bees are all female. The male bees are called drones; their job is to beg food off of the females and wait to procreate with a virgin queen bee (typical male!), an event that leads to the male's death (literally he explodes!). The virgin queen bee will have 6 to 25 drones during her mating session (keeping the gene pool deep) and then never look for a mate again. From this episode, the queen is able to lay 2,000 eggs a day from the end of January (when the maples start to bud) until June; queens can live up to eight years!
Bees are called "busy" for a reason. One bee makes 1/12 of 1 tsp of honey during her lifetime (which is about 6 weeks for a worker bee). It takes 1 million flower visits to make 1 lb of honey. The bee collects nectar, combines it with honey making enzymes in her stomach, and then returns to the hive where she returns the nectar. The bees blow bubbles into the nectar to dehydrate it (it takes 1 gallon of nectar to make 1 lb of honey). The bees also make beeswax, which is vegetable lard made of honey (it takes 8lbs of honey to make 1 lb of beeswax).
Safety Tips:
- Don't eat bananas if you are visiting bees. Bananas make you smell like the bees' attack pheromone.
- If you are stung, scrape the sting with a credit card instead of trying to pinch it out. Pinching it will break the poison sac attached to the barb. BTW, the bee does die when she stings.
- If you find a swarm or hive, call a professional. Don't try to remove it yourself.
Honey is the flavor of the land. Randall's bees make three honeys orginiating from three different blossoms: wildflower, tupelo, and sourwood. So what is the difference between "raw honey" and the honey sold in the grocery stores? Mass produced honey is collected from all over the country, boiled and pressure cooked, which removes the natural enzymes but creates a consistent color and flavor. Raw honey comes from the comb, the wax is strained, and it goes into the jar. Every honey is different because it comes from different nectar sources, making it interesting and yummy! Raw local honey has many benefits; it is rumored to help with hay fever and works better than cough medicine for stopping a cough. It is 3x's sweeter than sugar and only 20 calories per teaspoon; in other words, a little goes a long way!
In addition to their three types of honey (wild flower, tupelo, and sourwood), Cloister Honey also carry vanilla and chili infused honey and whipped honey (plain, pumpkin spice, chocolate, lemon zest, and cinnamon). Randall also sells grits, cornmeal, steel cut oatmeal, and bee keeping equipment (in case you want to start your own hive). You can buy find their products around town at various markets including Renfrow's, Atherton Market, and Green with Envy, or you can order from their website. Randall will even deliver for free!
Looking for something to do with all of that mass produced honey? Honey is a great ingredient for a facial. Check out this recipe!
