How to make something sweet even sweeter

There's still time to enter your honey in the Good Foods competition. Beekeepers across the country are invited to do so. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

It's more than that if you're a beekeeper. It's your pride and joy.

Whether beekeeping is your livelihood, your leisure activity, or something you do to help the declining bee population, that byproduct of your bees--honey--can also be an opportunity for bragging rights.

Entries are now being accepted for the nationwide honey competition sponsored by Good Food Awards.

If you're one of the nation's beekeepers, there's still time to enter your honey, says contest coordinator Amina Harris, director of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center.

The deadline to do so is Sunday, July 31. The four subcategories are Liquid and Naturally Crystallized, Creamed, Comb, and Infused Honey.  

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

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

"Finalists from each region are selected on a tasting day in September," Harris explains.  "They are vetted according to criteria on this page. 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's top awards went to:

• 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

To enter the competition, access this page: http://www.goodfoodawards.org/honey/

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. 

Honey bees in the process of making honey. This photo was taken through a bee observation hive. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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