New to Housel Shop | Cornish Honey.

Our philosophy at Housel is simple. We work with the best local suppliers to attain the best ingredients. We then create dishes which reflect the care and dedication which created these ingredients to begin with. 

Honey is a much loved ingredient, not only does it offer health benefits, it is absolutely delicious! We are so lucky that we are able to get our delicious honey locally from the Lizard, just down the road from Housel Bay. It inspires dishes such as our coastal honey tart in Fallowfields, and our Cornish black bee honey & cinnamon pancakes at The Terrace. 

Louisa and Jonathan are the faces behind ‘Cornish Honey’, which is 100% pure raw honey from the coastal flowers of the Lizard Peninsula. Read our conversation with ‘Cornish Honey’, to get to know them and learn about the art of beekeeping! 

1.) Tell us a little bit about your journey in beekeeping.

“Jonathan comes from a beekeeping family going back 4 generations. His great-grandfather started beekeeping by making his own bee hives out of ammunition boxes left over from the first world war - and the interest has been passed down the generations ever since. It is truly a family affair! His father started collecting beekeeping books in the 1960's and he now has a family business called 'Northern Bee Books' which publishes beekeeping books and magazines on all aspects of the craft...it has grown to be the largest range of English Language beekeeping books in the world!

What Jonathan enjoys most about beekeeping, is that it is eternally fascinating to watch these creatures work and that it is a fulfilling form of farming which, through pollination, puts so much back into the local environment. It's not so much a low, but there is a huge sense of responsibility in keeping a colony alive and healthy - there's a lot invested emotionally in these tiny insects.

Louisa was introduced to beekeeping through Jonathan and now works for Northern Bee Books and The International Bee Research Association. She is also a local gardener, so a very pro-pollinators approach to gardening is always taken!

Lows can involve a small harvest after an expensive season in beekeeping supplies. Many bees die out naturally in the wild, so beekeeping can be seen as a sort of a conservation effort to maintain and even re-populate the species... and you get a delicious product at the end of it! Our bees are Cornish Black Bees specific to the British Isles and a type that nearly became extinct, so it feels great to be behind the effort to save these bees.”

2.) How many bees and hives do you keep?

“Hive numbers fluctuate from year to year, but with up to 80,000 bees in a hive, we're certainly looking after bees in their millions!”

3.) Is there evidence to say of the benefits of people eating their local honey?

“From scientific research we know for certain that honey contains beneficial antioxidants and healing properties, as well as containing vitamins such a Vitamin C, minerals, protein and pollen - all good for your health. Science data published in 2021 from the University of Oxford recommends honey as a more effective alternative than even antibiotics for colds and upper respiratory tract infections. So great in a hot toddy!”

4.) What's the difference between the process of solid and runny honey?

“It has a lot to do with the sugar content, however, the basic principles are that set honey is honey that has been processed to control crystallization - like the honey you buy in the supermarket. Runny honey is honey in it's pure, raw state. However pure, runny honey does crystalize/go hard but can be brought back to it's raw state by gently warming it, but not so much that you overheat it and start to lose the nutritional value.

In short, set honey retains it's consistency, whereas a raw honey is a product which fluctuates in it's consistency.”

5.) What gives the honey it's distinctive flavours and how does it vary through the season?

“The bees collect pollen and nectar during the warmer months from a vast range of flowers which all exhibit varied flavours. So the taste of the honey varies throughout the year, depending on which flowers are in bloom as well as year upon year depending upon the weather and the local flora, which makes it so interesting to sample each harvest, as you never get exactly the same honey twice. We are so lucky to live on the Lizard because there is a huge amount of rare coastal flora unique to this area and an abundance of heather. This is what makes local honey such an attractive product.”

6.) A day in the life of a beekeeper?

“Beekeeping is very seasonal - in Summer, the most immediate excitement comes from a knock at the door: 'Ey Mr, your bees have swarmed again!' and then chasing a huge cloud of bees through the village!

We tend to visit each hive for checks and maintenance every 10 days in the Summer. Honey harvest in the Autumn is an extremely busy time of year (not to mention sticky!) Winter is a time for preparation for the season to come.

With honey bees having to visit 2 million flowers and fly over 55,000 miles to make one pound of honey, it is after all the bees who do all the hard work!”

• You can order this amazing honey direct by messaging on Instagram here , or if you are local you can visit Tregullas farm shop.