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The Honey Doctor

It’s important to stay healthy, avoid winter illnesses and not to get down in the dumps on dark days during winter. So it’s a good time to talk about honey and health. Luckily we’ve always got honey on hand for our ailments, but don’t sue us for claims about our products if your cold persists, it’s just what our granny always recommended. 

Honey has been used as a healing substance since ancient times and modern analysis shows it contains naturally occurring hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide is a colourless liquid just slightly more viscous than water. The fact that every honey jar contains this liquid is good news, as many claim it has several health benefits which add qualities to our honey beyond taste. Our body produces hydrogen peroxide in our white blood cells to fight disease and defend against pathogens. However, in honey it is produced from glucose with the aid of a specialist enzyme from the bees. The hydrogen peroxide in honey can help to fight infections or heal wounds and the medical world is cottoning on to this and developing treatments using honey*. Although it does not help with pain relief as hydrogen peroxide is not a pain-killer, it can however act as an anti-viral, antibacterial and anti-fungal agent, which could help to make it effective at treating the pathogen that is causing the infection. We are not saying rub honey on your teeth when you have toothache, but honey is special stuff so maybe think beyond putting it on your toast next time?

Steve’s favourite ritual when he lived in Shropshire to celebrate the end to a good year of beekeeping was to drink hot toddies with the local landowners, farmers and the gamekeeper on the land where he still keeps the bees. David King, the gamekeeper who lives near Steve’s beloved Butler’s Cottage where he used to live up in Shropshire, is responsible for getting Steve into this simple drink. He has been a helping friend of Steve’s for may years and still to this day checks on the bees whilst we are busy back in London.

So if you are struck down with a cold this season we’ve got a comforting hot toddy recipe for you as a cough syrup alternative! We find it works well even if you don’t have a cold!!! But this is not the answer for your 8 year old no matter how much they are complaining. And if it doesn’t cure you of your symptoms it will most probably help send you to sleep forgetting that they exist! Enjoy!

Kingy’s Hot Toddy:

Bushmill’s whiskey (a healthy dash)

Heather honey (a teaspoon or so)

1 lemon

Cloves and a cinnamon stick

Turn to page 267 in Steve’s book to see how this warming winter drink is made. 

Another drink to help keep you in good health this winter, this creation belongs to Steve’s friend Lara, it was her grandfather’s recipe and we feel that it is a delicious restorative that everyone could do with every once in a while. Lara’s grandfather was a doctor in Chichester and swore by this recipe for a cure of all ills both for him and his patients. We hope it will help to restore your health, strength and well-being.

Dr Bernay’s Honey Gar recipe

Runny honey

Cider Vinegar

Carbonated water

A glassful to be drunk once a day to aid good health and longevity.

Mr Bernay’s doctors orders can be found on page 57 of Steve’s book ‘The Urban Beekeeper- a year of bees in the city.’ 

*Please consult your doctor for professional advice on using honey medicinally.

Bonfire night : spiced London honey dressing

Winter is drawing in fast and today it’s bonfire night! Broken hive parts are superb at getting a fire going. We like to put baked potatoes in foil to cook in the fire over the course of the evening, ready to be broken open, accompanied with slow cooked pork shredded and a winter salad of grated carrot, oriental leaves and a warming spiced London Honey Dressing. This dressing goes well with a roast pork, pigeon or chicken. The recipe comes from the chef Mickael Weiss who Steve met on a cookery programme around 4 years ago. His restaurant, Coq d’Argent, is based in the heart of the financial city where he serves our honeycomb. Here is the perfect bonfire night spiced dressing recipe:  you will need:   1/2 tsp turmeric  1/2 tsp cumin     1/2 tsp ground ginger  1/2 tsp star anise powder (or a whole star anise) 1/2 tsp curry powder 1 lime 1 lemon 50g sugar 150g of London honey 100g of soft butter For more detail, cooking instructions, and a story about Steve’s nephew getting lost, flick to page 248 in ‘The Urban Beekeeper, a year of bees in the city.’

The London Honey Company in Korea

In mid-September The London Honey Company (LHC) were invited to a very special beekeeping event which happens every 3 years, this was the 44th Apimondia International Apicultural Congress in Daejeon, South Korea. The theme was “Bee, Connecting the World!”. We felt like this was an opportunity not to be missed. Steve sent his right hand man, London Honey Company beekeeper Nic Bishop who was keen to learn about Korean beekeeping and how people have been inspired by Steve’s work across the globe! The LHC was invited to the congress by Nicola Bradbear of Apimondia and Professor Seungwang Lee of Seoul National University.  Nicola is one of the upmost personalities in the world of beekeeping and rural development, she introduced a section on Urban Beekeeping to Apimondia for the very first time this year and deserves a big thank you for inviting us to such an incredible event. Nic’s presentation included a brief history of the company and how it developed, offering amazing pictures of bees around the London rooftops, as well as technical insights on how to be an urban beekeeper! Back in 2013 Steve's Book ‘The Urban Beekeeper, A year of Bees in the City’ was translated into Korean. Professor Seungwang, who invited the LHC to visit the bees at the university, and other beekeepers Nic met, such as Jin Park, had all read the Korean copy of the book several times. Jin was actually inspired by Steve's book in setting up this operation with the rest of the Urbees Seoul team.    There were many interesting organisations at the conference, such COLOSS ,Prevention of honey bee COlony LOSSes, to more extravagant projects like Denis Anderson's work on reintroducing sustainable beekeeping in the UAE. The Rural Development Series offered presentations ranging from the role of women beekeepers in Zambian villages to the introduction of new technologies for the transportation of hives in Ghana.   In Seoul, South Korea’s capital, Nic had the opportunity to meet up with Jin Park of Urbees Seoul and his gentle bees on the UNESCO House in the heart of the city. His bees forage on acacia and chestnut trees from the hills around the N Seoul Tower and access early pollen from the numerous willow trees in the various ecological parks. They exchanged jars of honey and had a two hour bee chat at the UNESCO house bar after which Jin left to check on hives at one of the western embassy's in the city. On his second day in Seoul Nic visited the Seoul National University where Professor Seungwang Lee showed him around his department including the University's huge insectary which was about the size of our warehouse in Bermondsey! He then visited the rooftop bees of Seoul National University which has vast foraging sources offered by the wild mountains and hills that spread out from the south border of the city. The professor was very interested in the foraging sources that London offers our city bees. He told Nic he was in the process of making a recommendation to the Korean Government regarding which trees should be planted around the city and on roads.  In the bee farmer business there is no time for rest and it was a good job that Nic never quite adjusted to the local time zone. Within a few hours of his arrival back in the UK he was off to the Long Mynd heather moors for the Ling harvest and the migration of bees back to the warmer temperatures of the south! We hope to be given the opportunity to attend the next Apimondia conference again in 2018 when it will be held in Turkey and to help to develop urban beekeeping further into the future.