foodha for thought – menuism blog

Before you can truly understand the “art” behind Artisanal Food Makers, let’s talk about what it means to be an Artisanal Food Maker.  First, it must be mentioned that artisanal foods come in many forms, from cheeses to jams to breads to ice creams to beverages and so much more.  You can find Artisanal food producers everywhere from the heart of the city to off the beaten path.

In a nutshell, an Artisanal Food Maker is a small, craft-oriented operation whose goal is to use the highest quality ingredients and techniques to create quality gourmet food products. These Artisan Food Makers care so much about what they produce that they are generally available on site, right at the dairy, bakery or small factory where their food is produced, from the beginning of the process to the very end.

Many of them also prefer to take advantage of local ingredients either through grown through their own means or by purchasing them directly from local farms.  Since the food produced takes more work and and are generally developed in smaller batches, they may cost more than their mass-produced counterpart, but the quality is sometimes unparalleled.

The “Art” in Artisan Food Makers really  has to do with their passion in regards to not cutting corners in their pursuit of a product that truly is hand-crafted as well their sheer love for what they consider more of a calling than just a mere job.  One such Artisan Food Maker is Bill Lewis of Bill’s Honey.  I had the opportunity to visit his home with some friends and literally, go “bee”-hind the scenes and it’s a story that I want to share with all of you.  When you’re done reading it, I hope that you’ll gain the same appreciation I did of the hard work it goes into the food we eat.

The education started as soon as we stepped onto the property of Bill’s Bee Ranch. The first thing we learned from Beekeeper, William “Bill” Lewis” was that almost all the honey that he sells at various farmer’s markets all over Los Angeles is homemade. Literally!

Bill’s Bee Ranch, located in the Angeles National Forest, is the home of Bill and his family and they share it with the hundreds of bees he keeps in crated hives. Bill takes working from home very seriously. Most of the honey produced from his bees come from the nectar of flowers, plants and trees that are growing in the general vicinity. Another thing to note is that no pesticides or fertilizers are applied in the bees’ gathering area, which makes for pure, raw and natural honey. Also onsite are the equipment he needs to extract and manufacture his artisanal honey products.

After that little intro, we were able to view a working hide from an enclosed glass stand. It was really interesting to be almost nose to nose, at least from behind the glass, to all the bee activity happening in front of our eyes. Bill soon gave us a demonstration on how he uses  a tool called a bee smoker and bellows to smoke the bees out of their hives.  Smoking the bees out of their home allows us access to the honey.  First, he smoked the bees out of the glass stand and then from a couple of his actual hives.

One thing that Bill emphasized that the way to interact with a bee is simply to not make any sudden movements. Move slowly or keep still until they leave you. Batting them away just freaks them out and that’s usually when you get stung. By the way, I mention this tidbit because for the next part of our tour, some of us really got up close and personal with the bees.

As mentioned, Bill smoked the bees out of a couple of his actual hives. The hives themselves are boxes with tray inserts hanging into the box. It is on the surface of these tray inserts that the bees construct their honeycomb, a mass of hexagonal wax cells built by the bees to store their honey, pollen and baby bees. While he did smoke the majority of the bees away, the tray insert Bill pulled out to show us was buzzing with activity.

Some of the group watched from afar, but most of us took Bill’s advice to heart and just quietly stood by to take a look. Along with the bees, we got a closer look at the honeycomb itself and when Bill scraped some of the capping off, we could see the honey below the surface. He even managed to cup a drone bee in his palm. No worries here. Drone bees don’t have stingers, just the worker bees.

Another thing that Bill pulled out of the hive was a pollen tray. Basically, along with the nectar from flowers and the plants, bees also collect pollen on their legs and other parts of their body and what isn’t used to pollinate is brought back to the hive. Just like honey, the pollen is consumed by the bees, with honey being the carbohydrate and the pollen being the protein. Apparently, this pollen is also considered really good for us and many refer to pollen as a “superfood.” In fact, you can even purchase it from Bill or other health food stores. To find out more about the benefits of pollen, click here. After visiting with the bees, it was now time for us to see how the honey is extracted.

Bill took us to a building in the back of his home, where a small group at a time was brought into his extractor and processing room. After a more aggressive smoking so that the majority of bees are out of the hive, the hives are brought into this room. Bill then proceeds to remove the tray inserts and uses a machine to scrape off as much of the wax as possible, with the wax going into a bucket. What the machine can’t scrape off, Bill will manually scrape off. Once the wax is scraped off, the tray inserts are placed into a machine and once the door shuts, the trays are flipped round and round.

The honey is forced out of the cells because of that repeated motion or specifically, a centrifugal force and then drains to the bottom of this machine. Eventually the honey comes out of a faucet into a bucket, which Bill takes it to another machine for filtering. As for the wax, it doesn’t go to waste. Bill’s wife uses it to make everything from soaps to candles. After seeing all the steps taken into producing honey for our consumption, we finally got to sample the fruits of their labor, both Bill’s and his bees.

Overall, it was an awesome outing. Bill really knew his stuff and was happy answer any questions and share any knowledge he had. Now when I put a little bit of honey in my tea or spread it on a scone, I’m just so much more appreciative of the work that went into having it in a jar on my pantry shelf.  It was so easy to see how much Bill loves what he does and the care he puts into his bees and his product really showed through. So if you happen to see Bill’s Honey at your local farmer’s market in the LA area, be sure to stop by and bring some home. You’ll definitely get quality product from a quality beekeeper and his company.

Some Bee Tidbits

The Nose Knows: Bees are attracted to lemon and/or citrus scents because their Queens emit a lemon like scent; however, they shy away from bananas because the alarm pheremone that gets released when there’s danger to the hive smells like bananas.

Deliciously Tasty: The honeycomb is edible because the wax is made from honey.

Storing Your Honey: Honey is a natural preservative because of its high sugar content. Too much water in honey will make it ferment. With the right yeast, fermented honey is “Mead” or honey wine. It’s best to store honey at room temperature in a sealed container. In an open container, honey will absorb moisture from the air because it’s a natural humectant. Cold temperatures will not affect honey; however, temperatures above 110F will start to destroy the honey’s live enzymes, darken its color and changes its flavor.

You can purchase Bill’s Honey at:

South Pasadena Farmers Market
Located on Meridian where it intersects Mission
Every Thursday 4-8pm; except Jan. & Feb. 4-7pm

Santa Monica Farmers Market
Located on Arizona St. where it intersects 3rd St.
Every Saturday 8:30a-1p

Montrose Farmers Market
Located on Honolulu St. at Oceanview Blvd.
Every Sunday 9-2p

Sierra Madre Farmers Market
Located at Mariposa Ave. & S. Baldwin Ave.
Wednesdays 3-7p

Northridge Farmers Market
Located at Northridge Mall off Tampa
every other Wednesday from April-Oct., 5-9p starting July 30

If you’d like to visit one of your local artisan food makers, there are a few ways to go about doing it.

• Do a google search and search for food factory tours and see if anything comes up.
• Do a google search for a certain type of food that interests you and if company websites come up, check them out to see if they offer tours.  Focus on the companies that seem to have smaller distributions, are local to you and generally, you’ll be able to tell from their “About Us” section whether or not they consider themselves to be boutique or artisanal food companies.  They may be more open to your inquiry.
• Check out products at your local Trader Joe’s or other type of gourmet food store.  These stores tend to carry products made from smaller, local companies.  You can usually get contact info off the packaging.
• Visit local farmer’s markets and ask some of the vendors if you could make arrangements with them to tour their production facilities.

Of course, some may or may not say yes and if they say yes, they may ask for some type of compensation . You’d also have to be flexible to work around their schedule, but in the end, seeing the business of how your food comes to your plate is definitely a fun and educational experience.

To see all the pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157607049254362/

By Abby C. Abanes
Menuism Community Manager