A few weeks ago I had to pleasure of being able to visit Simply Honey, a Colorado bee keeper in Alamosa, and given a personal tour of the honey making operation.
Simply Honey’s owner and sole employee is Brent Edelen, a third generation bee keeper. He has between 500 and 600 colonies that he moves to New Mexico in the cold months, and brings back to the San Luis Valley in the summer.
Brent let me taste four different types of honey: Clover, Tamarisk, Starthisle and Wildflower. By far the most interesting honey was the Tamarisk. The color of the Tamarisk honey jars is almost black, and it has a very distinct flavor.
I also experienced eating a raw honey comb for the first time in my life. It’s gooey, and the sweetness explodes in your mouth unexpectedly as the hexagonal wax cells all burst when you chew them.
Below are some pictures I took from the excursion.
As it looks like I will be getting more and more involved with helping Brent bring the honey to a new market, I will be writing more about Simply Honey, bee keeping and all matters of honey in general.
Brent of Simply Honey shows how he cuts out the honeycomb.
A frame still full of honey.
The finished product comes in a beautiful case.
Abandoned bee keeping supplies and barrels, once full of honey.
Amazing views of the Sange de Cristo Mountains.
4 Comments
Excellent! The Tamarisk was my favorite as well. We ended up buying a jar of Mesquite honey and whipping half of it to spread on toast. We're running out — maybe we'll head back to the Taos Farmers Market for more! Or head to the bee farm?!!
Cheers,
*Heather*
Heather – I am sure he'll be happy to host you if you drove all the way up to Alamosa to visit!
I'll ask him if he's still doing the farmer's market, and where else the honey is available.
Wow, fascinating. Is the farm worried about the bee epidemic?
Apparently it was impacted by the epidemic last year – went from 600+ colonies to 400+ and they've still working to restore the other colonies (I think currently at 500+)
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[...] other project, has been to help a local beekeeper sell honey to new, and hopefully more upscale, markets. The first thing we did is re-label the [...]