What Makes the Isle of Palms' Must-Try Honey so Special?
You'll never guess the key component of this hyper-local delicacy.
Is it possible to distill the essence of an island into a single flavor? It might seem like an impossible challenge, but Chef Robert Frederick and his team are up to the task. Frederick's workers are organized, efficient, and tireless. Of course, they're honeybees.
"Whatever they're harvesting from imparts a flavor to the honey," confirms Frederick, director of culinary operations at Wild Dunes. From two hives installed on the 3rd floor rooftop of the Sweetgrass Hotel, the free-range bees can fly several miles to forage for pollen. According to Frederick, a single bee can visit 1,500 flowers per day, and each hive houses about 60,000 to 70,000 bees, so if you're a local reader with a green thumb and a variety of flowering plants, there's a good chance some of these bees may have visited your garden.
While the queen bee, her retinue, and the male drones remain in the hives to reproduce, the all-female forager bees "come and go as they see fit," says Frederick. "The entry faces the sunrise. They are up at the crack of dawn."
The Foragers' Favorite
On the rooftop garden, Frederick tempts the bees with eight raised-bed gardens, all nourished with water recycled from the building's air conditioning condensers. Over the year he has cultivated salvia, black-eyed Susans, mandevilla, jasmine, lavender, coneflowers, and "one mum."
Sabal Palm
But the bees' apparent favorite pollen producer turns out to be a delightful surprise. South Carolina's state tree, the hearty Sabal palmetto (also known as the sabal palm and cabbage palm) has become synonymous with island life. When the trees bloomed on the Isle of Palms this summer, the bees went into overdrive on their hyper-local honey production. "We know that they were going crazy for all of the palm blossoms."
When bees are excited, "you can see a lot of waggling going on at the hive entry," Frederick explains. "The waggle dance tells the other bees at the hive where to go, what direction, and what to look for."
The uptick in dancing was the first sign that flowering palm trees were a bee fave. The next clue? The returning bees started swerving like a party of tiny, tipsy bachelorettes. "You can always tell when they're loaded down [with pollen]," says Frederick. "It weighs them down; they come in low. Sometimes they miss the entry."
It would be anthropomorphizing to say that the IOP bees take pride in their local ecosystem. But for the people who do feel an enormous fondness for the Isle of Palms, it's a happy coincidence that the community now has a unique type of honey that incorporates one of its most iconic symbols.
The Taste of the Island
In late July, Frederick and bee expert Tom Knaust of Queen and Comb collected 100 pounds of hyper-local honey from the rooftop hives. Then Frederick, lead bartender Jessica Backhus, and pastry chef Sam Schmidt got to work creating recipes to highlight the harvest. Now available at Wild Dunes, these must-try sweet treats offer a true sense of place.
So what is the flavor of the Isle of Palms? The chef has the culinary chops to describe the honey as one might detail the tasting notes of a fine wine: "Our honey has a slightly minty [taste], more like a spearmint. It's peppery, almost a cayenne effect. The flavor lingers. It's got a long finish, a really beautiful amber color."
To taste it for yourself, head over to Coastal Provisions and Oystercatcher for a honey-based cocktail and two honey-drenched desserts. "It doesn't get any purer than sitting in a restaurant and knowing that the ingredients were harvested two floors above you."
A Healthy Buzz
A Healthy Buzz
Coastal Provisions
Crafted by Jessica Backhus, this refreshing drink is built around a honey-citrus mix made from the IOP honey, lime juice, lemon juice, orange juice, water, and cayenne pepper. The recipe calls for Bombay Sapphire Gin, but the drink works equally well with tequila, bourbon, Scotch, or soda water. Served up or over ice, the drink is fittingly garnished with a pollinator flower such as basil and a lemon twist.
Honey Spice Cake
Honey Spice Cake
Coastal Provisions
This seasonal dish from Sam Schmidt celebrates fall with a rich spice cake made with honey from the year's harvest accompanied by cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice. The cake is paired with cranberry mostarda, cream cheese mousse, and creme anglaise.
Chocolate and Hazelnut Millefeuille
Chocolate and Hazelnut Millefeuille
Oystercatcher
A treat for chocolate lovers and bee enthusiasts, this Schmidt creation features chocolate custard accompanied by spiced, honeyed hazelnuts, and Mexican chocolate anglaise. Cinnamon, clove, and chili powder provide warmth. The millefeuille is finished with drizzled honey from the apiary.
______________________________________________________________________
Bonus! Learn More About Bees
We asked Chef Frederick to share his recommendations for planting a pollinator-friendly garden and to list a few of his favorite books about bees. Read his responses below:
Bee-friendly flowers:
Echinacea, Russian Sage, lavender, milkweed, salvia, bee balm, Agastache, phlox, ice plants, thyme, basil, aster, coreopsis and black-eyed Susan.
Books:
- Beekeeping for Dummies, by Howland Blackiston:
It’s packed full of great information and user-friendly. I read it twice and reference it frequently.”
- First Lessons in Beekeeping, by Keith Delaplane:
This book is a great tool, a much smaller book but more in-depth on specifics.”
- What a Bee Knows, by Stephen Buchmann:
Less about beekeeping and more about exploring the complexity of bee life, culture, biology and society, this is a truly insightful textbook.”
