A Wilder Honey

“I am the Fates’ lieutenant; I act under orders.” - Captain Ahab, Moby Dick

Our Wilds Honey is a passion project. It is wholly a product of Drew’s Honeybees agriculture. It is us. This may seem an insignificant point, but ponder with me for a moment. Most bee brands are precisely that–bee brands. They do not keep bees; they buy honey, pollen, propolis and other delights of the honey bee from beekeepers. This arrangement is tough for beekeepers. We get a fraction of the market value for our honey, pollen, and propolis.

Beekeepers ought to assert ourselves. We’re where the buzz meets the bloom. Being there, living that, we see things bee brands don’t. We can do things bee brands can't.

Pollen is the primary source of vitamins and minerals for honey bees. Honey is primarily a source of energy; it is not a great source of proteins, fats, vitamins or minerals for bees or humans. Pollen provides bees with proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals they need for buzzing health.

The protein content of pollen is high, ranging from about 10-60%. Pollen from different plants have different combinations of amino acids. In a bonkers example of natural intelligence and problem solving, honey bees collect and process information on floral resources. They then direct, with dancing, an army of foragers to collect a varied, healthy array for their diet.

Pollen has the fats, vitamins and minerals for healthy bees. Pollen is about 7-20% fats. Honey bees direct their foraging to bring home a healthy combination of fats. Pollen has high amounts of B vitamins (B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9), vitamin C and E and small amounts of vitamin D and K. Pollen is rich in potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, zinc, selenium, and phosphorus. Pollen is chock full of flavonoids, carotenoids, and phenolic compounds that support immune health and reduce inflammation and immune system activation in the wee bee. Bees that have a diverse pollen diet live longer and healthier.

If you’ll permit me an aside, I will be grateful. Healthy bees are the work of us all. I can’t #savethebees alone. I tell you my inability in fervent, abiding hope that we, as a people, actually makes some moves to #savethebees.

Honey comes from plant nectar. As we’ve discussed, bees like a varied diet, just like you. Single origin honey, when scrutinized, is never single origin because bees don’t like single blooms. And bees are mighty good at finding dietary diversity. Single origin is a nonsense marketing claim. This is a good thing. To the extent a claim of single origin honey is true, it is bad for bees. Bees like choice. Monoculture doesn’t allow choice. So, save a buck, drop marketing nonsense and score one for bees. That’s a win-win-win.

Pollen has a memorably bitter taste. It is a lesser understood flavor element in good, local honeys. At 10x the common pollen content, our Wilds Creamed Honey is bittersweet. How to use it? The good folk of DHB have led here. Happy customers use our Wilds Honey wherever a bittersweet may heighten flavor–tea, sandwiches, charcuterie, toast and more.

The most common use is a sunrise spoonful each day to prepare for the spring pollen blitz. Come spring, plants will spread their pollen to the wind. This will pester many of us with congestion, sneezing and watery eyes. One benefit of local, less processed honey is that it provides controlled, graduated exposure to pollen. This may help alleviate symptoms of seasonal allergies. But go slow. Pollen is an allergen with all possible health risks posed by allergens. Raw honey contains 0.1-0.5% pollen. Our Wilds Cream Honey is 3% New England spring pollens, mostly maple, dandelion, and honey locust. That is 10x the amount in good, local honey.

Whether controlled, graduated and early exposure to pollen helps lessen allergic symptoms is uncertain. Some studies have found a benefit–that exposure to pollen reduces spring pollen allergic symptoms, specifically rhinitis (nasal inflammation). Other studies have found little benefit. There is not sufficient evidence to conclude that exposure to pollen, via honey, lessens spring pollen allergies. 🤷‍♂️

If you’ll permit me another aside, I’ll be doubly grateful. In addition to founding Drew’s Honeybees, I am also a consumer. I am exhausted and saddened by companies’ dishonestly cherry picking this or that finding from studies and ignoring the rest to sell you shit you don’t need. That is clearly profitable. From me, it’d be a lie. I care for science enough to keep its rigor. Science, after all, is my path to a healthier, buzzier bee. I owe her. In this I am my conscience’s lieutenant; I act under orders.

Check it out! Click here to try our wilds honey!