Beekeepers Invited to Enter 'Best Honey Contest'

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Special to Dixon Patch

Show me the honey!

The Honey! event on Friday, Oct. 21 in the UC Davis Conference Center will feature a “best honey contest,” officials announced last week.

The competition will be part of a public celebration of honey sponsored by Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science and co-sponsored by the UC Davis Department of Entomology.

Beekeepers are invited to deliver a jar of honey on Oct. 21 to the UC Davis Conference Center for judging by the attendees. First, second and third prizes will be awarded. The site is located across from the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.

“There will be special prizes for the best honey,” said event coordinator Clare Hasler-Lewis, executive director of the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science (RMI).

The daylong event, to take place from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., will include five UC Davis or former UC Davis faculty,  a honey-themed lunch, honey tasting and a reception featuring the Honeybee Trio of Vacaville and the Jazz Nuances of Davis.

Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen of the UC Department of Entomology, will coordinate honey judging.  He also spearheads the annual honey tasting at Briggs Hall during UC Davis Picnic Day.

The attendees will judge different varieties of honey, such as clover, fireweed, orange blossom, eucalyptus, tupelo, safflower and buckwheat and will rank them from one to 5, with one being the best. Further details will be announced on the RMI website at http://robertmondaviinstitute.ucdavis.edu/honey

Morning speakers  are Mussen, who will discuss “The Wonder of Honey Bees”; assistant professor/bee biologist Brian Johnson, who will speak on “How Bees Cooperate to Make Honey and What they Do With It When We Don't” and emeritus professor/bee scientist Norman Gary, an author and professional bee wrangler, whose topic is  “Hobby Beekeeping in Urban Environments.”

Afternoon speakers are Louis Grivetti,  professor emeritus, Department of Nutrition, discussing “Historical Uses of Honey as Food” and Liz Applegate,  professor, Department of Nutrition and director of Sports Nutrition Program, “Sweet Success—Honey for Better Health and Performance.”

Honey tasting, coordinated by Mussen, is scheduled from 3 to 3:45 p.m.

The reception, to feature wine and honey, is set from 5 to 6:30 p.m. and will feature the popular Honeybee Trio of Vacaville: Karli Bosler, 16; Natalie Angst, 16, and Sarah McElwain,15, all students at Will C. Wood High School, Vacaville. Among the songs they’ll sing is “Sugartime.” Their repertoire includes classics from the 1930s and beyond in three part-harmony.  The Jazz Nuances of Davis will also perform at the reception.

Norm Gary will sign and sell his newly published book, “Honey Bee Hobbyist: The Care and Keeping of Bees.”  On display will be bee observation hives by Brian Fishback, of Wilton, past president of the Sacramento Area Beekeepers’ Association and a volunteer at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility.

In addition, beekeeping equipment will be displayed from the Laidlaw facility, and bee and book products by Rev Honey (Ron Fessenden, M.D.)

Recently reduced prices are:  industry members and the public: $50; UC faculty, staff and Friends of the RMI: $35, and UC students, $15. For those attending the reception only, the cost is $10 general admission and $5 for students.  Reservations may be made online at http://robertmondaviinstitute.ucdavis.edu/honey or with Kim Bannister at bannister@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-5171.