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All natural honey from Humber Valley Honey on display at Tottenham Farmer’s Market

August 15, 2024   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

One of the first things you will notice when you see products from Humber Honey is the different shades of honey and the fact that they’re labelled by the town where they were made.

Beekeeper Brian Burgener keeps hives in several different nearby towns, including Tottenham, King City, and Amaranth.

Each location produces a different style of honey based on the local plants the bees have been visiting. Honey produced by bees that have been collecting pollen in a canola field will be different from bees that have been foraging in an area with wild flowers.

In total, Brian has several hundred hives scattered along the Highway 9 corridor in various locations.

Brian and Linda Burgener brought their products to the Tottenham Vendor and Farmer’s Market in Tottenham on Sunday, Aug. 11, and were a big hit with visitors to the market.

Brian is the beekeeper who takes care of the bees and collects the honey, while Linda is the mastermind behind creating new products and flavours.

“We’re commercial bee keepers specializing in honey, but we’re on the small end of the commercial side of things,” Brian explained. “We’re neighbourhood sourced – we keep everything separate. For example, we produce the King City honey, then move on to the next location. There are different nectar sources in different areas. Although it’s all wild flower honey, the King City property specializes in cut flowers. We have hives in Amaranth that are in the midst of farm lands and it all depends on what the farmer plants. Each plant produces a different flavour of honey.”

Bees will travel up to three kilometres searching for flowers. Different seasons also produce different kinds of honey.

“In the spring, typically it’s more of your dandelions and fruit trees. We have hives in apple orchards so they get the benefit of pollination, and it produces a really citrus based honey,” Brian explained. “Spring honey is typically up to the beginning of July.”

In addition to pure honey, they have a variety of delicious products like flavoured honey, creamed honey, and drizzle.

The honey is flavoured with such additions as chocolate, lavender, blueberry, and pumpkin spice. It is a fabulous spread on just about anything and can be used to flavour other foods. The drizzle, in lemon and ginger, makes a terrific addition to cooking and really adds some outstanding flavour to vegetables, chicken wings, or just about any food.

Linda creates the flavours to add to the honey by spending a lot of time experimenting and getting it all just right before putting it on the market.

They also have pure bee wax lip balm and candles.

You can learn more about Humber Honey by visiting their website at: www.humberhoney.com.

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