Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 13 on 25/3/2004.

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A taste of honey

You might have to suffer a bit ot find the best honey - as Sue Lawrence found out. But was it worth it.

It was a gloriously warm summer morning in the Borders of Scotland. All I could see around me was purple heather – two shades (bell and ling) – along the sides of the valley. The tranquil picture was interrupted only by the glimpse of a stoat as it darted from one clump of sedge to another.

Then, rather like a scene from The Charge of the Flight Brigade, a swarm of bees broke loose as bee-keeper John Mellis lifted off the top of
their hive.

Soon, climbing all over my bee-proof suit and buzzing menacingly near my face, the bees seemed more than a little angry.

As John put it later, how would you feel if you were going about your business when suddenly the roof of your house was lifted off; wouldn’t you want to attack the perpetrator?

After John had been stung several times through his custom-made bee gloves, he cheerily remarked that “stings are just a hazard of the job.”

It was then I made the decision that from that moment, all I intend to do is eat the product of those angry bees’ toil; the potentially dangerous part I would leave to dedicated craft honey producers such as John.

And while I recovered at a safe distance with a comforting cup of tea, doorstep of bread and some of John’s luscious honey, he explained how the hive works and how honey is made.

There is usually one queen bee and some 40-50,000 worker bees to one hive in summertime. The queen, having been fed on royal jelly for the first few days of her life, lives for up to five years; the workers for a mer.....

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By Sue Lawrence

Section : Scottish Food

Page number : 62