Edible Vancouver Island Mar/Apr 2023

E D I B L E G U I D E

A spoonful of honey

ILLUSTRATION ROSE COWLES

HONEY PRODUCERS ACROSS THE ISLAND

On toast, in tea, as a drizzling nish or a primary ingredient–honey adds a natural sweetness to food and drink alike. It’s a hard-earned product of our friends the bees, the only insect that makes food for humans. ese fuzzy little yers zip around at up to 30 kilometers per hour, apping their wings over 200 times per second. During one collection trip alone, a bee will visit 50-100 owers–and it takes about two million ower visits to make just a pound of honey. But for the bee, a pound of honey is a lot; just an ounce of the sweet gold would fuel one bee on a trip around the entire world. Vancouver Island has many honey producers who are working with and caring for the bees to create honey we can all enjoy, no matter our preference, from avoured varieties to classic tastes.

Babe’s Honey Farm babes-honey-farm.com Big D’s Bees bigdsbees.com Country Bee Honey countrybeehoney.ca Flying Dutchman yingdutchman-bees.com Fredrich’s Honey fredrichshoney.com Island Bees islandbees.ca Nielsen’s Honey facebook.com/nielsenshoney Queen Bee Farms & Apiary qbfarms.ca e MacInnis Honey Co. facebook.com/themacinnishoneyco

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