Join us for “The Honey Trap”- on BBC R4’s Food Programme at 11am Friday on 30th January, exploring the enduring scandal of honey fraud.

Hidden behind complex global supply chains, fake honey depresses prices, which degrades authentic, artisan honey production.

Here’s our simple hack for consumers to swerve adulterated honey on the shelf: just don’t buy honey with the word “blend” on the label.

For some, it’s the first snowdrops, or sticky buds or perhaps chirpy birdsong.

For us, the first sign of Spring is the beep of an email requesting us to set up a new beehive installation in Central London.

Request declined, with a gentle advisory to consider planting for pollinators instead. Next!

Hat-tip to my inspirational beekeeping mentor, John Chapple, seen here introducing me at my “Preparing Honey For Show” talk for Ealing & District BKA.

John noted that I’d turned out in my regulation blues - yet full-dress uniform requires Old Town jacket and red polka-dot scarf.

Memo to self: Can’t let sartorial standards slip in 2026!

Here’s our Markshall apiary, set in an 200-acre arboretum and adjacent to the venerable Honywood Oak (which was here in 1215 - when the Magna Carta was signed !)

Its first year has been a resounding success. The bees have truly thrived. We’re grateful for the dedication & collaboration of everyone at @markshallestate.

Our East India Dock Honey has won the 2025 Great British Food Awards Honey category.

Last year, our Honeycomb won this award & our Exmoor Wildflower won in 2022! Under three different judges, three very distinct honeys have scooped this prestigious title in 3 of the last 4 years!

Here are Judge Dominique Woolf’s comments on our East India Dock Honey

“A luxuriously thick honey with a rich, resinous character. The palate is indulgent, with layers of treacle and dark molasses lifted by warming cinnamon and rounded out with prune undertones. Bold and memorable, this is a honey of real depth and complexity.”

And, just for good measure, here’s what Judge Dean Banks said about our BSB Honeycomb in 2024:

““Throughout my extensive career, l have had the privilege of sampling countless varieties of honeycomb, though seldom have I encountered one as remarkable as this”

Here at Bermondsey Street Bees, we collaborate with our bees to make consistently remarkable honeys for our clients in the hospitality industry, year in, year out.

Always nice to bring home to the bees a trophy from @nationalhoneyshow (along with 3 Firsts and 3 Seconds)! And sharing a chat over a cuppa with two doyens of British beekeeping. (Purists will no doubt object that the absence of cake on the table invalidates the concept of a proper bee-chat).

Authentic honey meets elegant style @sofitellondon @wildhoneystjames

Good to step back from the actual beekeeping (a full-on job in the last couple of months!) & take a moment to reflect on bee-dependant outcomes, like this strawberry from one of my raised beds (an echo of our farm’s historic crop: Tiptree is just up the road from us). All in context…

My musings on the constancy of honey fraud on Valentine’s Day are featured in the MailOnline (see link in bio).

As Shakespeare famously wrote about cheap, highly-processed supermarket honey:

“If blending be the food of fraud, hold on! Don’t sell me excess of it - that, surfeiting, the appetite may sicken, and so die.”

Please shun any honey with the word “blend” on the label. Fall in love with authentic honey from a local beekeeper instead.

(And by the way, while Saint Valentine is the patron saint of beekeepers, there is no patron saint of honeypackers (the big-business industrialists whose “honey” confections stuff the supermarket shelves). Just saying…)

(Photo credit: Richard Brown)

#bermondseystreetbees #honeysommelierlondon #sarahwyndhamlewis #sustainablebeekeeping #plantingforthebees #honeyfraud #fakehoney #honeylaundering #mailonline #richardbrown #therichardbrown #HANUk #HAN #honeyauthenticitynetwork #honeyauthenticitynetworkuk

The last 3 bee-notebooks of 2024 ready for recycling. “Notebooks!” I hear you cry- “which century are you living in?”

Well, if you’re working a hive, adding honey, wax, propolis & debris to your mobile’s charging point isn’t a great idea.

Write first, then upload to the Cloud. Hive records are essential: high knowledge = low intervention.

#sustainablebeekeeping #sustainablenotekeeping #bermondseystreetbees #hiverecords #highknowledgelowintervention #plantingforthebees #honeysommelierlondon #bee-cycling