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By Marilou Shea
Just about this time every spring, my farmer friend laments
about how the bee population is in jeopardy. It’s a crisis. A state of
emergency on their farm north of Pasco where they grow cherries, apples and
blueberries.
Bees are essential to their crops, not to mention their
livelihood, not to mention a third of all our food crops are pollinated by
bees.
Food Truck Academy
It’s a conundrum to be sure because, due to drip irrigation
and modern farming techniques, like use of pesticides to kill weeds (bees adore
weeds), bees are fleeing farms and foraging in towns and cities. There are more
job opportunities because there are a larger variety of plants to pollinate
than on today’s farms.
The plight of bees is real — but we can help.
Pollination is key, so crops can blossom and bear fruit.
That in turn means that we have food on our plates and the cost to produce that
food is more economical.
No blossoms, no pollination, no food. And no bees.
Humans’ love affair with bees’ honey is as old as time. The
Bible has 61 references to honey and it was clearly, unequivocally a revered
food source. Raw, unfiltered honey is 25 percent sweeter than processed sugar
and never goes bad. Just ask the skeletons flanked with honey found in Egyptian
tombs.
There are two distinctions in the world of honey — raw,
natural and pasteurized. The honey industry is a steady one, but its
consumption rate is not going to rival the sugar industry any time soon. The
real story is not whether we’re producing quantities of honey on a massive
scale, rather how our culture can become bee advocates and sustain our food
supply chain.
Americans consumed 1.6 pounds of honey annually in 2016,
according to Beeculture.com. Honey consumption is up year over year, but only
29 percent is produced in the U.S.
Much of the honey bought in grocery stores is imported and
pasteurized, or I’m going to say it, processed.
Commercial U.S. honey, harvested too early, is shipped
stripped of its natural ingredients and heavily diluted with corn and rice
syrup in China, and then exported back to the U.S.
Pasteurized honey has almost no medicinal or nutritional
value and
offers a pale flavor compared to raw, natural honey. This nectar of the gods is
known for its goodness and health benefits.
More of us are consuming non-processed food, which means
we’re intent on getting up close and personal with our food sources. It’s not
about being trendsetters, but the cost-benefit ratio. With honey, your best bet
is always the raw, natural, unfiltered kind. The darker the honey, the richer
in pollen and hence antioxidants.
Lucky for us, bees produce all sorts of honey — from
lavender and orange blossom to buckwheat and the most popular wildflower. Bees
are some of the hardest working creatures alive. Did you know that the average
worker bee produces one-half a teaspoon of honey? So much work for such a tiny,
treasured payoff.
If you’ve got an allergy like hay fever, wildflower honey
may reduce symptoms if routinely consumed. Why? Because there are so many
varieties of wildflowers and the bees share that love as part of nature’s cycle
with you.
Try sourcing local honey as close to your home as possible.
And by local, I mean within a three-mile radius. That’s the average distance a
bee travels before returning to the hive.
Threats to bees are pesticides, varroa mites and loss of
habitat.
What can you do? Consider becoming a beekeeper and join the
Mid-Columbia Beekeepers Association. Local beekeepers are a passionate, devoted
group and possess a plethora of knowledge. Take your hand off autopilot and
resist destroying the dandelions popping up in your yard with weedkiller
pesticides.
Buy and consume raw, local honey. Here again, local is best
— for you and the bees. Like Pooh Bear, your life is sure to be sweet.
What’s not to love?
Food Love columnist Marilou Shea is an adjunct faculty member for Columbia Basin College’s hospitality program and Food Truck Academy, as well as the creator of Food Truck Fridays.