Honey -- the ugly sister

Why is that honey can only command a fraction of the price of wine?

I had a very heated debate on this last night -- heated in the sense that it was in a sauna. We had been discussing Trockenbeerenauslese (as you do) and a gorgeous wine that retails at £25 ($50) for a half bottle. (This one -- Trockenbeerenauslese 2000 37.5cl Welschriesling/Pinot Gris Josef Lentsch Podersdorf/See -- to be precise.)

I thought the price was quite high, but was berated because I wasn't taking into account all the trouble that went into making the wine -- from tending the vines, to selective berry picking and then its actual fermentation and production.

Well, I couldn't argue with that. But then I mentioned all the work that my tens of thousands of girls do to collect nectar, how I provide furnished lodgings and medicare and and and ...

The most expensive honey in the world is thought to be Sidr, retailing at $200 a kilo, but I think that is a complete one-off. My honey retails at about £9 ($18) a kilo. Unfortunately no-one buys cases of it, but then again it doesn't cause bar-room brawls and broken homes.

So if CCD continues apace and spreads globally, what might happen to the price of honey? Not a lot, I'd guess. But pollination costs, as we have seen are quite a different story.

I think we need to break away from traditional honey shows and start tasting honey properly -- the way wine tasters do. It's just such a pity that honey cannot be consumed in significant quantities at a session. Perhaps sales could be increased by using it in copious quantities as a sauna massage oil ... Ugh!

Unmellow yellow

 

The British countryside is distinctly yellow this spring. It's not because of the dry weather, but because of a substantial increase in the cultivation of oil seed rape (OSR or canola). According to The Guardian, production has gone up 17% this year -- a huge single-year increase that is not expected to decline anytime soon. Thirty years ago, the crop was barely known in Britain. Apparently Germany is now buying up lots of British OSR for biofuel production.

Beekeepers tend to groan or cheer about oil seed rape. For commercial beefarming in the UK, the huge nectar yields it gives is probably essential to maintaining a viable business. For hobbyists, it tends to be somewhat less popular. Spring-flowering rape crystallises rapidly and frequently in the comb. A few cold nights on the hive and the honey goes solid. It also seeds the next crop, field beans, and ensures that it won't remain liquid long either. You can guess which camp I'm in.

Rothamsted calculated (in 1996) that insect pollination (not just by honeybees) contributes about 10% of OSR's market value in the UK.

Badgers' honey

Good old Wisconsin, the badger state, came second in the US states honey production table. The average yield per colony was a staggering 93 lbs (42 kg).

The usual top two states -- California and North Dakota -- experienced lower harvests because of dry conditions.

Norfolk honey fraudsters appeal fails

An appeal by the Bakers, the couple who sold foreign honey labelled as Norfolk (UK) honey, has failed. Their fine of almost £100,000 (about $190,000) stands.

The Bakers claimed the sentence was too harsh and oppressive and they find it difficult to find the money.

But before you give them any sympathy, consider this: The judge said that the Bakers had fought the case at every stage and caused it to run for four weeks. The prosecution had cost well in excess of £100,000. They had also put innocent shopkeepers at risk of prosecution for selling mislabelled honey.

Not such a sticky week

The UK's National Honey Week (this week) doesn't seem to have sparked into life yet, but a Northamptonshire beekeeper is doing his bit:

Beekeeper David Odell is hoping that the natural aphrodisiac qualities of honey will boost his sales this Valentine's Day.

Apparently:

... he has 60,000 bees per hive which produce more than 800lb of honey every year.

What are his bees on, I'd like to know! I think the journalist got their figures muddled somewhere. If not, please call me!

Propolis lollies

Children's Lemon and Honey Lollipops made by Comvita are claimed to combine the soothing action of UMF 10+ active manuka honey and the power of propolis, to help with sore throats and colds.

Whisper it gently

I missed this one at New Year: no lesser an authority than the UK Royal Society of Chemistry has declared that a breakfast of toast and honey is an ideal hangover cure.

Honey, or -- don't even think about it -- golden syrup, provides the body with the essential sodium, potassium and fructose it needs after a good night out.

Pierre the Bear reads the small print

Buying “Canada Grade No 1” doesn't necessarily mean its Canadian honey so Saskatchewan beekeepers have launched a read-the-small-print campaign with Pierre the bear. Canada Grade No 1 simply means it meets Canadian standards.

The other side of Guantanamo

Guantanamo, Cuba, or rather the US foothold in Cuba, is infamous for its orange jackets, but there is a brighter side:

Guantanamo that is the real Cuba is where the country's organic honey production began. I'm not quite sure how they define organic in this context (does someone track the bees' foraging), but it's been a good production year.

Maddening

Oh dear, I hope another food scare is not in the offing -- this time mad honey disease. Only 58 cases have been reported but some researchers claim it is on the increase with five cases last year. But you can relax -- I think it's only really an issue around the Black Sea in Turkey. I think they should focus on mad burgers.

Here's a previous post with a short history of mad honey.