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Success at the Royal Winter Fair!

January 15, 2014   ·   0 Comments

Peter and Sandi Dickey of Dickey Bee Honey are thrilled after their most successful year in competition at the Royal Winter Fair.

Not only did Dickey Bee Honey win the prize for Premier Exhibitor, but for the first time Peter was awarded Grand Champion.

The Premier Exhibitor prize allows the Royal Winter Fair logo to be used on Dickey Bee Honey products as a marketing tool, as indication of the high quality product to customers.

Having won the top two prizes at this year’s competition, Peter is pleased with what the recognition will mean for the business.

“It’s just another accolade that you know we have quality honey that we can out-produce or out-taste other honey’s,” he says. “Just quality in general. You know you’re dealing with a company that strives to achieve high quality and high standards.”

Dickey Bee Honey products were entered in each of the 12 categories this year, which include liquid honey, cream honey and comb honey to name a few. And there are many factors that are judged for the final score of honey in each category. Three samples must be provided for each, judged on identical fill lines, appearance of cap and jar, clarity, moisture content, taste and uniformity. Even the comb honey samples must weigh the exact same.

So making sure the product meets these rigorous standards is a time consuming task.

“It is a lot of work,” says Peter. “People don’t realize it’s hours spent on straining, filtering, fill marks, getting the moisture content right, especially when you’re making cream honey, it takes like two weeks.”

But his hard work paid off against stiff competition. He was awarded the Grand Champion prize for the highest overall score from all categories combined. He received the highest score, 98 per cent, in several categories for his honey.

By Emily Wood

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