Articles

University-made honey for sale at the Stockwell Street Café

TLDRoffon

Our bees have been working hard all summer and have produced 33 jars of honey which will go on sale for £5 per jar on Monday morning (October 15).

 We have 14 honey bee hives across our campuses: seven at Avery Hill, four at Stockwell Street and three at Medway. With around 45,000 bees per hive that means we have a total of 630,000 bees.

Honey has many amazing properties. It's considered a great remedy for hay-fever, particularly if the honey is locally collected to the hay-fever sufferer and it has natural anti-viral and antiseptic properties. Locally produced honey also has incredibly varied taste characteristics depending on a number of factors including the types of flower nectar the bees collect to then make into honey in their hives. 

The University, particularly the Natural Resources Institute (part of the Faculty of Engineering & Science) has been undertaking important research for many decades on the importance and relationships of bees. Work looking at, for example, the role of insect pollinators including native bees has been done to help enable the protection and improve the production of cocoa, a vital ingredient of chocolate. 

It is a sobering thought that without bees and other pollinators much of what we eat and enjoy would no longer be available. A number of things threaten honey bees – the effects of climate change, disease and chemicals used for agriculture have all been blamed for reductions or weaknesses in insect and pollinator populations. So remember to look after the planet to help protect the bees, the honey and many of the other fruits and vegetables you enjoy.

Bee hives