Divine Desserts à la Honeybee

Last night was the Back Yard Beekeeper's Annual Pot Luck dinner. This is where local beekeeper's get to actually hangout with fellow beekeeper's, eat some delicious food, chat and chill. There are no lecture's or presentations by famous entomologist, no how to or hands on work shops, it is the only time of the whole year we get to enjoy each others company. I am writing to share three spectacular desserts that were prepared by our talented members. All were painstakingly prepared and each truly a work of art!

First you must see these hand decorated cupcakes by beekeeper and artist Heather Mezzacappa (above) featured icing pipped into a honeybee and a detailed blue flower. Cleverly displayed upon a tiered cupcake rack these treasures were dripping with luscious frosting too beautiful to actually devour. Cupcakes are all the rage right now and these earn high marks for their delicate colors and authentic cupcake flavor.


Now for the craftiest of all desserts, mini Marzipan honeybee bites. Prepared by beekeeper and restauranteur Bobbie Meyzen. These honeybees are actually mini marzipan sculptures with chocolate striped bodies and sliced almond wings. I nabbed my early on with no intentions on devouring this darling confection. Absolutely lovely!



Another cupcake offering by beekeeper and crafty Stefanie Baum. Each one looks like it was hand stamped with an embossed bee skep design then hand tinted for a stained glass effect. I have no idea how this effect was created but I am sure it was not easy to get them absolutely perfect. Shredded coconut framed the edges of each giving them a three dimensional textural quality. Each one of these desserts are no short of award winning in my book. I was charmed by the artistry of these divine desserts.

Peanut Brittle with Red Bee® Honey

Behind the Burner's host Divya plans a Perfect Summer picnic with easy recipes for a breezy bean salad, sumptuous sandwiches and perfect peanut brittle using Red Bee® wildflower honey! This recipe is so easy that I tried it at home and it turned out fabuloso! For those of you who are impatient the peanut brittle with honey recipe begins at three minutes into the video.


Here it is!

Red Bee® at Catch a Healthy Habit Cafe

Our friend Glen Colello at Catch a Healthy Habit Cafe in West Haven Connecticut hosted a honeybee educational talk to introduce the vast benefits that the honeybee has to offer. Also, I got a chance to introduce my new book Honeybee: Lessons of an Accidental Beekeeper due out in September!

If you are looking for some REAL food they serve truly delicious raw food that is amazing and will change the way you think about eating. You will also be delighted to know they carry hard to find ingredients like authentic cacao, goji berries, seeds for sprouting and other natural products.


Catch a Healthy Habit CAFE
487A Campbell Ave West Haven CT 06516
Located inside the “Look At Me Now” Wellness Center
203.521.7648
http://www.catchahealthyhabit.com

The First Annual Beekeepers Ball

Black Dog & Leventhal publisher of
HONEYBEE: Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper
and Red Bee ® cordially invite you to



The First Annual Beekeepers Ball
Monday, June 22, 2009
6:00 PM to 11:00 PM

Water Taxi Beach - South Street Seaport
Pier 17 - 89 South St
New York, NY 10038




Sponsored by
Just Food & the Pollinator Week Planning Committee

A not-to-be missed evening full of sweetness and buzz...
Indulge in the nectar of honey-infused drinks and hors d'oeuvres.
Waggle dance the night away on the shore of the beautiful,
new South Street Seaport Water Taxi Beach.

If the spirit moves you, come dressed as a Beekeeper (all in white)
or as your favorite bee (Queen, Worker, Drone).
Costumes will be awarded. Children in bee costumes come for free!



Bring your local honey or find a new one.
Bee there.
https://www.nycharities.org/event/event.asp?CE_ID=3970

Bee Day!

Last Saturday was Bee Hiving day here at Red Bee Apiary. We picked up our girls in Vista, NY bright and early with great anticipation. They seemed quite content while I poured each box into their new hives. No major incidents just a lovely day with my honeybees. The hives are set high up on a hill behind our meditating Buddha statue overlooking the gardens. There they get full sun early in the morning so my girls get up and out to work. This year I cleaned up all my hives by torching the insides as to remove any unwanted bacteria or pests that may be lingering inside. Also, I replaced all the frames and foundation so my honeybees are starting out with all new fresh equipment. They will be happy about that! A clean hive.


Our beautiful rooster who I call Oscar Wilde, he definitely is dressed in drag, did not seem to mind a few new honeybee hives around his hens.

If you want a life where you can eat all day...come back as a chicken. Literally, they eat ALL DAY LONG and don't seem to gain a pound. We have free range, fresh eggs daily and of course honey!

I do want to share with you the details of my upcoming book HONEYBEE Lessons from and Accidental Beekeeper. Its due out in September! It is my personal story of how I began keeping honeybees. These amazing creatures quickly took over my life and that first taste of fresh honey from the beehive was incredibly delicious enough for me to dive in and learn more. I uncovered so much fascinating information along my journey that honey and beekeeping is now a full time adventure and I made it my life. Stay Tuned for more about my book and events I will be participating in! Here is a sneak preview of the cover.......

Red Bee ® will be at the New Canaan Farmers Market each Saturday 10-2pm and Ridgefield on Fridays 3-7 pm. We've been invited to so many new markets this year we cannot keep up. We will have our honey for sale in many other markets by volunteers so keep an eye out for Red Bee ® products. For those readers from other places we are located in Connecticut. Hope to see you there!

If you are in the neighborhood and want to stop by to pick up some honey or any of our other handmade pure and sustainable skin care just let us know you are coming so we can greet you!

Signs of Spring-2009

As the first of our crocuses begin to pop their bright purple heads up from beneath the frozen ground, I spotted honeybees dancing around them. This worker bee in the photo was covered with bright orange pollen and as I watched her sipping nectar to bring back to her hive. Finally, spring has arrived but not without a fight. Here in Connecticut we were slapped with over a foot of snow on March 2nd and tomorrow will be April 1st- the ground is still frozen but the sun is shining. It was a long, bitter winter here and I have been in my own self imposed hibernation, reading and writing but not blogging-apologies.

I did manage to escape for a week with my honey to the deserts of Arizona and we hunted around for beekeepers and native honeys. There I discovered prickily pear and saguaro, two types of cactus honey and something called cats claw. Cats claw is an herb and it's honey is delicious with flavors of the desert. Catcus honeys are exotic and fruity. You must try them when you visit Arizona. These plants are unique to the desert and the bees are all over them. I was treated to an unexpected honey tasting by an artist who lives off-the-grid in a remote part of the desert. I had the pleasure to taste their local Rodeo honey which is a rare brand to find since the beekeeper has retired. Needless to say, I brought back one suitcase dedicated to just desert honeys.

The rest of the winter was spent researching and writing for my upcoming book where I share my experiences as a hobbyist beekeeper and my love of honey. Due to be released on September 1st stay tuned for details.


Red Bee ® has many events planned for this year, our favorites are presenting honey tastings at fundraisers for Share Our Strength which raises money for Childhood hunger. We will be returning to our local farmers markets and even hosting some events here at our apiary. Check our events page on our web site for details. www.redbee.com

Happy Spring-Beekeeping season has finally begun!



RECIPE

Camembert Grape Salad with Honey Vinaigrette

- Makes 4 servings -

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 Tablespoons orange juice
• 1 Tablespoon poppy seeds
• 3/4 lb. seedless grapes
• 3/4 lb. sliced fresh figs, apricots, plums or nectarines
• 4 oz. camembert or brie cheese, cut into narrow wedges
• 1/2 cup pecan halves, toasted
• 2 quarts salad greens

Directions

Combine honey, vinegar, oil, orange juice and poppy seeds in a jar. Shake well. Arrange clusters of grapes, fruit, cheese wedges and pecans on salad greens. Shake dressing and drizzle over salads. Refrigerate any remaining dressing.

Thanksgiving

It's that time of the year again, the air is crispy, dusk begins at 4:30 pm and I keep the fireplace in my studio burning constantly. Either there is soup is simmering on the stove or the tea pot is singing, we are well into Autumn! Actually, its already November and Thanksgiving is only two weeks away. I am planning my annual special traditional holiday meal for friends on that Saturday after Thanksgiving. This meal is made with the same love but it is relaxed and a time to catch up. There is lots to do and planning along the way, I remember there are so many things to give thanks for. Friends, family, my health, my home, good food and even honey sales are steady in this uncertain economy. Everyone has their own personal list and we should not have to think about it too hard. After all, Gratitude increases your bodies natural antibodies, lowers blood pressure and heals your soul. So while checking out the Thanksgiving recipes below make sure you have some gratitude on hand and a bottle of Red Bee Honey.

Herbed Turkey Breast

Makes 6 servings

• 1/2 cup Red Bee Honey
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 2 Tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
• 1-1/2 teaspoons sage, dried
• 1 teaspoon thyme, dried
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 boneless, skinless turkey breast, about 2 lbs.

Method: Preheat broiler. Position oven rack 6 inches from heat source. Combine honey, orange juice, butter, sage, thyme, garlic, salt and pepper. Place turkey breast on rack set in broiler pan. Brush with some of honey mixture. Broil, brushing frequently with remaining mixture, turning turkey once, until no longer pink inside, about 40 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before slicing.

Honey Orange Cranberry Relish

Makes 8 servings

• 1 medium orange
• 12 oz. fresh or frozen whole cranberries, rinsed, picked over and drained
• 3/4 cup Red Bee Honey
• 1 T. finely grated orange peel, orange part only
• 2 lbs. sliced, roasted turkey breast

Method: Quarter and slice unpeeled orange, removing seeds. Coarsely chop orange and cranberries. Place in medium saucepan and stir in honey. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook 3 to 4 minutes; cool. Stir in orange peel. Serve over turkey or dressing for turkey sandwiches.

Honey-Glazed Sweet Potatoes

Makes 4 servings

• 2 lbs. sweet potatoes or yams
• 2/3 cup orange juice
• 1/3 cup Red Bee Honey
• 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon butter or margarine

Method: Wash and pierce potatoes or yams. Place on a piece of heavy-duty foil and bake at 375°F for 40 to 50 minutes until just tender. Cool, peel and cut into 1-1/2 inch pieces. Spray 8x8-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Place cooked potatoes or yams in dish; set aside. In small pan, combine orange juice, honey, cornstarch, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Stir until smooth. Cook over medium-high heat stirring until thick and mixture begins to boil. Stir and cook for one minute. Remove from heat and stir in butter. Pour over potatoes or yams stirring to coat. Bake at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes until hot and potatoes are tender.

Dry Skin IS Scary...Honeybees can Help!

Halloween is on it's way and the air has suddenly become cold and dry. If you are anything like me your skin is feeling a bit scary lately and you may feel like hidding behind a mask. Autumn weather always makes me itchy and uncomfortable and I need extra moisture. Over the years, I have tried every fancy and expensive product and nothing is nearly as moisturizing as the raw thing. When I say raw, I mean the basic ingredients minus the perfumes, alcohols, preservatives, fillers etc. Ingredients that a normal human can actually read and understand. Things found in your own kitchen cupboards or ingredients one might eat as well as put on their skin. The truth is that what you put on your skin absorbs into your body so you want to be sure that your skin care is good for you too, inside and out. We all heard the saying "you are what you eat" well, "you are what you wear on your skin too." Around here, we wear the purest skin care. Red Bee ® products are made with pure ingredients from nature.

Have you tried our new Honey Facial Scrub Mask? Made with pure creamy honey crystallized into tiny granules that gently exfoliate. Honey is hydroscopic meaning it actually absorbs moisture to it while on your skin and the avocado oil and coconut butter hydrate deeply into your skin. All these good things are held together with pure beeswax...NOT paraffin. You will feel the difference immediately. Our customers have raved about this new product and it takes only a few minutes to clean and hydrate in one easy step and so worth it. I wore it on my face while writing this post. So treat yourself to something sweet for Halloween! A Creamy Honey Facial Scrub from Red Bee. www.redbee.com

Goddess Yogurt Honey Mask

Cleopatra was know to have beautiful skin because of her famous baths of milk and honey. This recipe is so simple and really does rejuvenate your skin.

Servings: 1
Prep Time: 1 minute
Shelf Life: None

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon yogurt, plain whole milk
1 tablespoon honey 1 drop Rose or lavender essential oil, optional

Directions:
Add all ingredients together at room temperature.
Pat this mask onto the skin for a moisturizing, penetrating,
hydrating, soothing application that will also help to clear
up skin problems. Leave on face for up to 20 minutes.
Rinse in the shower or with a warm clean face cloth.
Moisture as you wish.

Beekeeper as Artist Encaustic Beeswax Art Show

Finally, this September I will be having my first solo exhibit of my newest beeswax encaustic paintings. The show will be called appropriately "Beekeeper as Artist." I hope you can all come to the reception on September 17th from 5:30 till 7:30 pm at the Bartlett Arboretum in Stamford. If you've never seen this place it is a hidden treasure with fabulous gardens and an old cottage where my work will be displayed. I am extremely excited to be showing my work here. Of course, there will be a honey tasting for guest to indulge in, paired off with cheeses and my favorite picks of wines.

Some of you may notice that I chose to print up my invitation completely in Italian. Many of you may not be able to speak or write another language but I think the information will be pretty clear even if you are not bi or tri-lingual. This is just my way of continually embracing my Italian heritage and immersing myself in the culture of La Dolce Vita. I am hoping to have my next show in Rome sometime next year. Hope you can come! Afterwards, stay at my bee farm in Puglia. It is going to be a completely renovated agriturisimo meaning farm bed and breakfast. Details to follow.

Here is a sneak preview of my first self portrait in encaustic beeswax. I'm pretty happy with it and definitely my whimsical illustration style comes through here.
Below I am posting my artist statement:

I was unexpectedly drawn to encaustic painting 8 years ago when I first became a beekeeper; this highly provocative medium has its rich roots in the ancestral land of my forefathers, Italy, specifically the paintings at Pompeii. Encaustic, meaning “burned in” is beeswax mixed with pigments that is melted on a heated palette. It is applied to a surface to fuse the bees wax and paint together. The beauty of encaustics is the unpredictability and flexibility that gives the artist its own voice. To me, there is nothing more seductive than the smell of bees wax melting in my studio. Encaustic painting lends itself to my whimsical sense of color, texture and pattern that were my signature as a commercial illustrator. The works seen here are my personal attempt to translate my illustration style into unrestraint and freedom from art direction and manic deadlines!

A good time is guaranteed for all. Gradisca!

The Bartlett Arboretum & Gardens
151 Brookdale Road Stamford, CT 06903
Opening reception:
Thursday, September 18, 2008 5:30 till 7:30 PM
Vox: 203.322.6971
http://www.bartlettarboretum.org

Ferrogosto Honeycomb!

August is here and beside celebrating Ferrogosto, in celebration of our Honey harvest. Derived from two Latin words, Feriae Augusti, meaning August rest. In ancient Rome after the cereal crops were harvested, there was a large celebration for the farmers and the draft animals. They were given a well-deserved rest: they were even adorned with many flowers. These celebrations were also in honor of the Emperor Augustus Caesar, and the main day of this celebration was August 15^th. We have removed frames of honeycomb from our hives and cut them neatly to be sold as boxes of our ever popular honeycomb! Here is a photo of a perfectly filled deep frame of honey. Honeycomb is truly natures perfect food.

If you've never had the pleasure of tasting this truly divine treat this is a must before you die and go to Naples. I recommend first spreading this on your favorite piece of toast. You can add some butter first. Who does not love honey butter? My next recommendation is spreading some honeycomb onto a cracker or piece of baguette then spreading a little brie, goat or any triple creme style cheese. You might think about your last rites beforehand because these are matches made only on heaven!

“Can you eat the wax?” Asked a shopper at our local farmers market, “YES! You can and it is divine”, I answered with great enthusiasm. This age old question was referring to the bees wax of our Red Bee® honeycomb. If you’ve never had the pleasure to taste this rare delicacy, honeycomb is that clear box of nature’s purest honey still in its original wax. Charles Darwin described honeycomb, as a masterpiece of engineering that is "absolutely perfect in economizing labor and wax." We at Red Bee® think honeycomb is honest to goodness raw honey. Raw honey, meaning unheated, contains minerals and vitamins and is a quick source of energy. When you spread honeycomb on a slice of bread, the honey oozes out of the tiny wax cells exposing it for the first time to the air, making it unconditionally fresh, straight from our own beehives. Unknown to many; honeycomb also relieves sinus pressure and sore throats.
It takes about 556 worker bees to gather 1 pound of honey from about 2 million flowers. The process begins with the female worker bee; who begins foraging at the first 3 to 4 weeks of her life. Forager bees gather up nectar and pollen by visiting flowers within 2-3 miles of their hive. She sucks up the flowers nectar with her long, tube-like tongue and stores it in her special honey sac stomach. This stomach is separate from her digestive stomach. She carries the nectar back to the hive. The nectar is mixed with the worker bee’s own enzyme called invertase inside her honey stomach to make the honey ripen. Then it is stored in the hexagonal shaped honeycombs made from beeswax. Worker bees within the hive fan the liquid nectar with their wings, which helps to evaporate the extra water and bring the water content to 18% and thus thicken the nectar into honey. Honey is harvested each autumn and it takes a whole year, beginning in the spring for the honeybees to make an over surplus of honey again. Besides making honey, bees are responsible for pollinating 100 fruits, vegetables and nuts making up 1/3 of the human diet. Honeybees are vital to human survival.




In ancient times, honey was highly valued and often used as a form of currency or offering. The ancient Romans paid their taxes with honey, as did the Egyptians and Aztecs of Central America. Honey also has a rich culinary history as nature’s oldest sweetener and preservative for baked goods. Traditional Rosh Hashana rituals include dipping apples into honey. A natural accompaniment to all food groups, you will be delighted to find that honeycomb pairs exceptionally well with Murray’s cheeses, yogurts and crackers. Just take a small butter or cheese knife and dig in, spread this divine treat on toast or baguette. We suggest pairing it with goat or Brie cheeses. What a brilliant idea to serve a chunk of honeycomb as the centerpiece for your next cheese platter. Garnish it with some marcona almonds, fresh pears or figs and bread, your guest will be enchanted to experience honey in the classical European tradition. Did you know that honey never needs refrigeration and never spoils so give the gift of a honeycomb for the holidays. Get yourself some honeycomb today!

HONEY IS YOUR GOLD

Bee~auty and the Honeybee

Dry, flaky, skin? Honey will sooth your dry, flaky skin by naturally adding moisture. You thought honey was only good for afternoon tea on a cold winters night. Well, honey has been used as a healing aid since the days of Cleopatra and it continues to be used today in products for skin and hair care. Because of the hydroscopic qualities of honey, it absorbs water and causes the skin to hold moisture.

Try this easy Springtime Refresher

Honey Aloe Facial Mask

Honey Aloe Facial Mask, with its blend of fresh aloe and honey, was so soothing and brings immediate relief to dry or chapped skin. The whipping cream will soften as well. You can add a few drops of your favorite essential oils if you'd like.

Servings: 16 oz.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Shelf Life: None, keep refrigerated

Ingredients:

13 ounces aloe fresh leaf aloe from your aloe plant or store bought aloe gel

1/4 cup of Red Bee® Honey

1/4 cup organic whipping cream

1 cup rolled oats, uncooked

Blending Procedure:

Cut the aloe from your plant and weigh 6 ounces. Wash the aloe under warm running water. Place entire aloe leaf in a food processor and process until very watery.

Add honey and cream and process further to mix. Add oats and process until a paste-like mixture forms. If mixture is too runny, add more oats and process until it thickens. If it's too thick, add more cream or a bit more aloe. To use, apply a smooth layer to freshly cleaned face and rest for about 15 minutes until mask hardens. Remove with a soft towel soaked in water or remove simply by rinsing from face until mask is gone. Pat excess water from face and follow with moisturizer of your choice.

I've become a Honey Sommelier!

For those of you who still think of honey as a condiment well have I got news for you. I have just returned from the University of Georgia's annual Beekeeping Institute where I learned the art of honey judging. I studied under the finest, Robert Brewer, co-founder of the Institute, coordinator of their Master Beekeeper program and Certified Welsh Honey Judge. Yes, there are honey judging shows! Honey is respected all over the world similar to wine and olive oil and now these standards have crossed the Atlantic and landed in Georgia. The program consist of a class based upon the Welsh credentials and an opportunity to steward (assist) in a real honey show. Judges adorn a white lab coat and fedora style cap seen in the photo above of world decorated honey judge Michael Young of Dublin. (The one holding the jar of honey)

Michael is a chef, artist, life long beekeeper and founder of the Welsh Beekeepers Association. He holds 3 prestigious certifications for honey judging. I had the pleasure to meet him back in 2003 at London's National Honey Show where hundreds of beekeepers enter their honey and at numerous beekeeping educational programs. This talented and gracious man personally extended an invitation to me to contact Robert directly and take the course to become a certified honey judge.


Robert and Michael are responsible for raising the esteem of honey among beekeepers here in the U.S. Honey judges evaluate honey on color, clarity, smell, taste and presentation. Who knew honey tasting was a high art? I've presented similar honey tastings at Murray's Cheese Shop (I wrote about it on my earlier blog post) and many of Red Bee's customers. Guest are always surprised to learn that there is more than one type of honey besides what you find in that silly plastic bear on grocery store shelves. Hummmm...maybe this is why some people claim not to like honey. Obviously, they've never tried blueberry blossom or comb honey.

There are approximately 300 different honeys found in the U.S. alone each with its own flavor based upon the nectar source of individual flowers foraged by the honeybees. This is the basis of my recently completed book titled Honey Sommelier, honey is a gourmet worthy food that can be tasted and evalutaed similar to wine. I have collected and researched some 200 different honeys from around the United States and the globe documenting nectar sources, color, tasting and pairing notes. This is the ultimate honey lovers resource guide that will change the way many think about honey by your local Honey Sommelier.

Far East Designer Honey

Before you spend a Yen on cosmetic surgery you should know about designer honey for all your beauty needs. On my recent trip to the fashionable Harajuku shopping district of Japan, I came across a new product called Hacci Honey 1912. The booth looked like your typical cosmetic counter in a shopping mall anywhere, USA. There I found elegant bottles of honey for eating as well a cosmetic uses. Honey has a rich history as a beauty treatment and Cleopatra was said to take baths in milk and honey. This designer style Hacci Honey was presented in tasteful hex jars, eye dropper bottles and even a sophisticated silk scarf a la Hermes with the Hacci Honey 1912 logo. The 1912 is definitely was a western touch with an attempt to give provenance to this unique Japanese product.


As I browsed the wares, the sales girls offered me a chance to taste or wear their honey. I politely refused the opportunity to have a sticky face in public but enjoyed a sample taste of something called Grand Bloom Honey. It was sampled to me with a lovely, spoon and I found it delicious. Pricing of these honey items were outrageous and one small bottle of honey was $35.00 USD but I had to have one for the packaging alone. The Japanese are so far ahead in their design sensibilities and price is no object when creating new products. Reminding me of Italian conviction for design. Hacci Honey is truly an original and I wouldn't be surprised if it shows up on Fifth avenue in New York City.

Savorique

Looking for something spectacular to indulge into? Recently, I was contacted by new gourmet food web site that was interested in our products. Savorique is a French style inspired gourmet food site that sells all things delicious and delectable including Red Bee honey. We are thrilled to death to be in the good company of Knipschildt fine chocolates and Academia Barilla. This web site is designed so beautifully and we even got our own page! Check it out at www.savorique.com.

Bees Wax Encaustic Art at White Silo Winery

Kismet is another word for fate. It is derived from the Arabic term qisma, modified in Persian as qismat and then from Turkish, it came into English usage. We all know that moment when two different things in our daily lives that seems random meet up and harmonize together. I found kismet when my illustration style met up with a new found media called encaustic painting.

I was unexpectedly drawn to encaustic painting 8 years ago when I first became a beekeeper; this highly provocative medium has its rich roots in the ancestral land of my forefathers, Italy, specifically the paintings at Pompeii. Encaustic, meaning “burned in” is beeswax, a natural wax produced by honeybees mixed with pigments that is melted on a heated palette. It is applied to a surface to fuse the bees wax and paint together. Bees wax has an illustrious history from the paintings in the cave at Lascaux to the Egyptian mummies, it was so valuable in ancient Rome that it was an acceptable form of payment for taxes.

The beauty of encaustics is the unpredictability and flexibility that gives the artist its own voice. To me, there is nothing more seductive than the smell of pure bees wax melting in my studio or in the bee yard. Encaustic painting lends itself to my whimsical sense of color, texture and pattern that were my signature as a commercial illustrator. The works seen here are my personal attempt to translate my illustration style into unrestraint and freedom from art direction and manic deadlines.

June 20th - July 6th, 2008
Exhibition of Encaustic Art at The White Silo Winery
32 Rt. 37 East, Sherman, CT 06784
Tel: 860.355.0271

Honey & Cheese Class

For those of you who missed this fabulous How Sweet It Is: Cheese and Honey Class at Murray's Cheese Shop down on Bleeker Street, here are the pictures! Guest were treated to a Tasting and Pairing of 7 of Murray's finest artisan cheeses and 7 varietal honeys from us at Red Bee Honey. Amy Sisti, Murray' mail order manager is seen on the left and Taylor Cocalis, Murray's Class coordinator on the right and me in the middle.Take a peek at how these ladies set up each place setting for the event. All 24 place setting were spectacular each with its own red and white wine and Lurisa Italian bottled water. The cheese were set up in a clockwise fashion beginning at 12 noon and the honeys presented in line to pair up with each cheese. For more detailed information about the cheeses and honeys visit our Recipe pages.

Help The Honeybees, Plant a Garden!

I can't believe its snowing! There is already 4 inches on the ground and my red jeep is completely covered. Tomorrow is my big day at Murray's Cheese Shop on Bleeker Street, I am co-hosting a pre-Valentine Honey and Cheese Tasting class with their mail order manager, Amy Sisti. All my bottles of honey samples and beekeeping paraphernalia are packed up and ready to go into the city. This class has been full for almost a month now and it's SNOWING!

But I am thinking Spring and earlier this week I designed this sweet little postcard to give to our customers. Each card would have a packet of seeds from our own Red Bee Honey Gardens and a list of additional flowers honeybees love. By planting this packet of seeds in a sunny place in your yard, a garden pot or window box, you can help the honeybees by creating your own honeybee garden. Honeybees not only make our sumptuous wildflower honey, they pollinate over 100 crops and flowers that provide almost one third of the food we eat. So more flowers means more honeybees, a healthier world and more real food. Simply put honeybees are vital to the survival of the human race. So when you order Red Bee Honey or any products from out web site you will receive a gift of a simple sweet postcard with a packet of seeds. Help the honeybees, Plant a Garden!

You can help the honeybees with a few simple techniques. Plant your flowers in clusters that are colorful and contrast well with their environment. Purple and blue are bees' favorite colors, followed by yellow and orange. Native flowers that bloom successively over the spring, summer, and fall provide pollen and nectar sources vital to the survival of bees. They will need a source of water like a pond, birdbath, or even dripping faucet. Choose non-toxic or organic pesticides, and do so in the late evening when most bees have gone into the hive for the evening. Piles of undisturbed leaves or brush create a natural place for wild bees to nest. Lastly, bees will appreciate your weeds like clover and dandelions so let them be.

Hooray for Honey

Honey is nice on toast and yes, on band-aids. Many would think you were mad if you told them you put honey on a cut or scrape and earlier this year the Food and Drug Administration would have agreed. But this past July, Derma Sciences, a manufacturer of products for wound and skin care, received FDA clearance for its Active Manuka Honey product called API-MEDTM. This will be the FIRST time a honey-based product has been approved in the United States as a medical treatment specifically for 1st and 2nd degree burns, traumatic and surgical wounds.

Largely unknown to Americans, honey especially Manuka, has been used for years as a medical treatment in Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Manuka honey is gathered in New Zealand from the Manuka bush, Leptospermum scoparium, which grows uncultivated throughout the country. Beekeepers set their hives close to tea trees for only 6 weeks and the bees gather the nectar to make Manuka honey. It has been documented that the ancient Egyptians already knew that honey had miraculous healing powers. The world’s oldest known medical treatise, a papyrus dating from the 17th century BC, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is written in hieratic script, a more abstract form than hieroglyphics. It recommends using honey on open wounds, revealing that the benefits of honey have been understood for a very long time. Today, beekeepers and apitherapist value the use of honey to further good health and to treat a variety of illnesses like sore throats, allergies, ulcers, eczema and burns.

All raw honeys have health benefits but certain kinds of Manuka honey have a higher antimicrobial healing property and are rated with a Unique Manuka Factor number. The higher the UMF is the higher the concentrate and expensive the honey. A honey with a UMF rating of 10 is the lowest to qualify as a UMF honey. Honey helps wounds because its thickness provides a protective barrier and reduces inflammation. The hydrogen peroxide it produces, when the enzyme glucose oxidase is met with oxygen and bodily fluids, is released slowly, killing germs in the wound. While amino acids and vitamin C speed the growth of healthy tissue. Honey even makes wounds smell better. At last, honeys health applications are slowly gaining respectability. There maybe no such thing as a miracle cure but Manuka honey is coming really close and besides honey is the only product you can eat or wear.

You really need Honey

Did you know there are more than 300 different varieties of honey here in the United States? Each with a unique flavor and color depending on the blossoms visited by the bee. Did you know that raw honey and bee pollen relieves allergy symptoms? sinus pressure? sore throats? can boost your immunity? and is a quick source of energy? By ingesting local, raw honey and bee pollen you build up a natural immunity to dust, mold and pollen. Bee pollen supplies protein, amino acids and B vitamins! Honey is naturally antiseptic, antibiotic, antifungal and antibacterial and it never spoils!
Honey is gathered first by the female worker bee, which draws up the nectar with her long, tube-like tongue and stores it in her honey sac stomach. This is then flown back to the hive, mixed with a special enzyme and stored, while other workers fan the liquid with their wings--this helps to evaporate the extra water and thus thicken the honey.

Research has indicated that honey neutralizes acids in foods and in one's stomach as well. It is a mono-saccharide (or 'simple sugar') and since it is pre-digested by the bee, it requires no digestive changes before one's body can assimilate it: thus, it is *the* quickest source of energy for the athlete. Bacteria cannot live in honey, and this quality has led to its use as a dressing for wounds, ulcers, and even gangrenous tissue.

Dry skin? Honey can add softness and fresh beauty to the skin. Because of the hydroscopic qualities of honey, it causes the skin to hold moisture. Honey's unique water-drawing quality makes it a wonderful dressing for burns of all kinds thus it is the ingredient of many cosmetic preparations such as facial masks, cleansers, lotions, soaps and conditioners: an excellent moisturizing mask is made from beaten egg whites and honey, for example. Flaky, dull completions can benefit from a light scrubbing with crystallized honeys gentle granules. Honey has been used as a healing aid for burns and scrapes since the days of Cleopatra. Honey is not just a mythological nourishment for the gods, actual Egyptian medical texts dating from 2600 to 2200 BC mention honey in at least 900 remedies. Many early cultures hailed honey for its sweetness, nutritional value, and its topical healing properties for wounds, sores, and skin ulcers. During wartime, honey was used as an antiseptic for wounds by ancient Egyptians, Assyrians, Greeks, Chinese, and modern Germans as late as World War I. Bacteria cannot live in honey, and this quality has led to its use as a dressing for wounds, ulcers, and even gangrenous tissue. Honey is *the* quickest source of energy for the growing child, athelete, or health conscious adult. Today, people use honey for cough preparations, to induce sleep, cure diarrhea, and treat allergies and asthma. Many kinds of honey are high in hydrogen peroxide, a common household disinfectant and kills bacteria. Honey also contains propolis, a compound in nectar that can kill bacteria.

Honey Holidays

The Holidays are Coming! and we are getting lots of request from our cheese shop customers for honey, especially our delicious honeycomb. It seems the world has caught on that Red Bee® Honey pairs well with cheeses and wine. Could it be that honey has finally earned a reputation as a gourmet worthy artisanal food? It's always been that way in Europe.
I have presented many Honey Tasting events in store but now it has taken a life of its own. The shop owners are crazy for Red Bee® honey and we're overjoyed.

So for those of you who have entertaining plans for the holidays and plan to include cheese and wine, try a little honey to perk things up. We suggest featuring honeycomb as the centerpiece of your next cheese platter. We prepared our own platter with a chunk of fresh honeycomb in the center. We garnished it with fresh pears, brie cheese, sliced almonds, grapes and water crackers but you could be more creative and add your decadent combinations, how does figs and honey sound? There is no way you could go wrong. Your guest will be thrilled to try cheese with honey not to mention great dinner conversation.

For more cheese, wine and honey pairings, visit our recipes pages.

The Honeybee Trend Report

Hold onto your hive covers, the honeybee and her products are going to rule the mainstream consumer…
Finally here it is….the honeybee trend report 2008!


A visit to the NY International gift fair and the Extracts cosmetic trade show in New York introduced me to quite a few companies from exotic places like Japan, Africa, India, China and Italy manufacturing and marketing honeybee related products here in the US. Hold on to your hive cover, the honeybee is here to stay and her wonderful image and products from the hive are going to rule the mainstream consumer! It became clear to me when working in Asia and Europe that the honeybee had a rich history in the visual arts and have always had a special place in the natural cosmetics and skin care industries. Honeybees adorned the interior murals within the walls of the Vatican and Napoleon adopted the honeybee as his icon for all his Empire style design and architecture. The Chinese are known for their Tiger balms made with beeswax and their honey loquat cough syrups. Now, far-away manufacturers are realizing the enormous appeal that the honeybee holds and the US consumers quest for fancy wares, health and beauty products. I found novel and intriguing merchandise out there in trade show land featuring products from the beehive and many companies have actually branded or displayed the honeybee icon on their labels and even a photo of an old fashioned bee skep. As I browsed over the many different bee themed goodies, I did mention to a few of the sales people that I was actually a beekeeper. A few didn’t know what that meant and others were absolutely intrigued. I came to the conclusion that none of these manufacturers are actually keeping bees and I think it would be a great sales approach if the consumers were educated on the benefits of the honeybee, what exactly are products from the hive and how each ingredient is beneficial to humans. Lets go to the showroom floor for a peek……

One of the most interesting new products that caught my attention was from a company in Japan called ProHerb. Although all of their labels are completely written with Japanese characters, there were charming illustrations with honeybees on a honeycomb and whimsical drawings of herbs in what we on the eastern side of the world may consider lovely, but chaotic design sensibilities. Honeybees were displayed on large posters throughout the booth. As a designer myself, I must confess that I tend to chose products by the attractive packaging and design but in the end, I truly judge it by the actual quality of the product….honest! The main ingredient featured in ProHerb’s product line was miraculous propolis, appearing in all sorts of skin lotions and potions that can give just about anyone that natural honeybee glow!


My next visit was to the African Dawn Trading Co‘s booth where I was treated to handsome samples of Redbush and honey soap. Redbush is an herb found in South Africa and has gained popularity as an herbal drink, now it has been combined with honey and essential oils to create a tantalizing combination of natural soap to help us ….yes, relax. African Dawn did not feature any indication of honey or the honeybee on any of their labels; one would have to read the ingredients to know there was honey in their sweet smelling soap. Nevertheless, I was assured that honey from Southern Africa was inside each bar of each of these handmade goodies.

The Italians have been making honey, pollen and beeswax skincare for ages and a distributor named European soaps is bringing all the loveliness of Italy and the honeybee right here to our doorstep. The many skin care collections they distribute contain honey, beeswax and propolis. One line called Midani Erbe had a honeybee pattern across all their containers and although the labels are written in Italian one would know by the well-designed honeybee logo and the word propoli that these creams were made with illustrious honeybee propolis. Their hand-milled soaps are made with real beeswax and feature scents like lettuce, chamomile and carrot with a bee skep patterned wrapper. Another product, Honey dust by Kama Sutra looked like an after shower powder packed in a typical powder dispenser. This product is well scented with honey for your powdering pleasure but there was no indication of a honeybee on this label.

Out of India I spotted a manufacturer of cosmetics that included honey, beeswax and unusual essential oils. One product was called Protectors; it was to be used externally as a sun block to shield the skin from the harmful rays of the sun. Beeswax has been touted as a natural sunscreen with a SPF factor of 15. This company used honey in almost every one of their hand creams and lotions. Here, honeybee labels did not draw me to this product but the genuine use of honey, beeswax combined with essential oils is the type of quality I would look for in a product.

Honeybee drinking cups, anyone? I admit my own weakness for an attractive honeybee pattern gracing an exquisite line of porcelain mini trays, cups and boxes. Manufactured in China by a company named HomArt, these well-designed gahtcha-dels, as my Italian family would refer to needless knick-knacks, stopped me in my tracks. Ravished in sophisticated color and a textile style pattern, these items would impress any beekeeper with a serious decorating flare. This was another well-designed product using the honeybee icon and gets my design approval.


The bee all and end all were the fantastic beeswax candles manufactured by Honeycomb lights in SC. These hand rolled gems were configured into amazing little beehive skeps. Each candle was presented like a fragrant treasure upon a tray made of glass, carefully wrapped and bejeweled with those mini plastic honeybee tacks beekeepers constantly search for. They appeared good enough to eat. A wide variety of sizes and shapes were available for that special beekeeper in our life. This booth also sold umbrellas and embroidered pillows adorned with a honeybee icon. I could not help to notice the bee skeps hanging from the display walls and the hive theme displayed throughout the booth. The pleasant aroma of the beeswax candles brought me right to my own bee yard. This booth was hard to walk away from but it was time to move on and explore the rest of the show.

Honeybee hand towels, garden pots, beeswax night creams and much more seemed to bee all the buzz for this seasons newly featured product trends. How can the average consumer possibly resist just one more beeswax mud mask or queen bee shower curtain, let alone a beekeeper? Only to add to the entire buzz about bees I couldn’t help but notice sprinkled among the showroom landscape, copies of the recent book “The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd. This popular book about how a runaway and her guardian end up on a bee farm ran by 3 sisters, contributed to the celebrated honeybee theme. The truth is honeybee design and products are catching on and we can bee sure to see more people buying everyday products with honeybee magnetism on them. I predict that the interest in actually keeping bees in the next few years is also going to become just as fashionable…..just you wait and see.

How Much Honey?

Customers ask me, friends ask me and even strangers who meet me ask me, "How much honey do you actually eat?" How can I possibly answer such a question with a straight face? If anyone has visited Red Bee Cottage, they know that there is honey everywhere. Honey in the kitchen, honey in the basement and honey in the honey room. At this time of the year when we are bottling up our fall honey harvest there seems to be honey dripping on every surface (including the floor) and it's difficult not to be tempted into licking your fingers. Nature's goodness all around here and even the dog seems to like the drippings.

My favorite answer is, "I eat honey all day long", which is not far from the truth. Honestly, I do eat honey every single day and first I start out each morning with a spoonful of honey in my cup of espresso and a spoonful of honeycomb each morning for my sinuses, because it works. Then its off to work, bottling all that Red Bee Honey, So if you count all the finger licking after breakfast then my answer is the truth, "All day long".

Red Bee Pollen

Bee Pollen can help relieve springtime allergies

Bee pollen is nature’s most complete food, rich in B vitamins, minerals, amino acids and a complete source of protein. An all-around nutritional supplement, bee pollen is ideal for daily use and is considered a almost perfect food.

Bee pollen is the pollen gathered by the female worker bee while visiting flowers. It is carried on her hind legs and they brought back to the hive for food. Bee pollen contains 22 amino acids, 27 mineral salts, vitamins, hormones, carbohydrates, and more than 5,000 enzymes and coenzymes necessary for digestion and healing. A little known fact is that bee pollen is also rich in the bioflavonoid rutin, important for capillary strength, and in vitamin B12. It is, in fact, one of the few vegetable sources of this vitamin.

Experiments reveal that bee pollen is an amazing biological stimulant with healing properties. Bee pollen may also protect against wind-borne allergens that cause hay fever and even asthma. By ingesting bee pollen local to the area you live, your body is building up a natural tolence to the pollen you breathe in the air. Thus, desensitizing your body to the pollen blowing in the air. Try this a few months before allergies season and you will see the difference.

Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, believed that bee pollen contributed to long life. Bee pollen reportedly can keep the skin youthful looking. A number of Olympic athletes and prominent professional boxers have attributed their improved energy and stamina to a regular intake of bee pollen.

Bee pollen granules should be taken in small doses as your body become accostomed to it. It should be eaten raw with a spoonful of honey, peanut butter. It can be sprinkled over salad or cereal, added to smoothies or eaten as is.

Honey is different in Italy!

On my last trip to visit my family's home in Campania, I was greeted with a bottle of their own D'Amico honey. Each evening we would sit in the large gardens among the olive trees enjoying their own local honey on my cousin Maria's home baked bread. "E buono? E buono?" they would always ask only when my mouth was full. "E buono!" or it is good, I would answer with a huge grin. It was dark and sumptuous with a strong hint of blackberries. My great grandfather had planted those blackberries almost one hundred years ago and his honeybees are still gathering the nectar from those very same bushes.

Each honey has a unique flavor profile depending upon the type of floral nectar the honeybees forage. So bees who gather nectar from clover will make clover honey and lavender make lavender honey. So yes, honey IS different in Italy. "E buono!"