Show Me the Honey!

Honey has been described as "the soul of a field of flowers." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

If you're a beekeeper in the United States and folks rave about your honey, then you'll want to enter the annual Good Food Awards event. You'll have a chance to win awards--and bragging rights.

Amina Harris, director of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center, who coordinates the contest, announced that awards will be given in four subcategories: Liquid and Naturally Crystallized, Creamed, Comb, and Infused Honey.  The entry period is now underway and ends Sunday, July 31. See criteria on this page.

The contest is divided into five regions--East, South, North, Central and West--with seven or more states assigned to one region, Harris said.

• "West" is California, New Mexico, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, Hawaii and Alaska.
• "North" is Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North and South Dakota and Minnesota
• "Central" is Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky
• "East" is Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maryland and West Virginia
• "South" is Virginia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas

"Finalists from each region are selected on a judging day Sept. 18," Harris explained.  "They are vetted according to criteria on this page. Honeys can come from August 1, 2015 – August 31, 2016. Winners are selected during the fall months and announced at the end of the year. The awards will be presented in mid-January."

Harris says there are more than 300 unique types of honey in the United States. The Good Food Awards will showcase honeys most distinctive in clarity and depth of flavor, produced by beekeepers practicing good animal husbandry and social responsibility. The honey can come from hives located in numerous places, from rooftops to fields to backyards.

Last year beekeepers from California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maine, New York, Oregon and Washington took home the top awards.

The winners:

Bee Girl, Bee Girl Honey, Oregon
Bee Local, Bee Local Sauvie Honey, Oregon
Bee Squared Apiaries, Rose Honey, Colorado
Bees' Needs, Fabulous Fall, New York
Bloom Honey, Orange Blossom, California
Gold Star Honeybees, Gold Star Honey, Maine
Hani Honey Company, Raw Creamed Wildflower Honey, Florida
Mikolich Family Honey, Sage and Wild Buckwheat, California
MtnHoney, Comb Honey Chunk, Georgia
Posto Bello Apiaries, Honey, Maine
Sequim Bee Farm, Honey, Washington
Simmons Family Honey, Saw Palmetto Honey, Georgia
Two Million Blooms, Raw Honey, Illinois
UrbanBeeSF, Tree Blossom Honey Quince & Tree Blossom Honey Nopa, California

The Honey and Pollination Center is affiliated with the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science and the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. For more information, email Harris at aharris@ucdavis.edu.