Hello gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Team Making It Grow visited the upstate and went to Bee Well Honey. The proprietor of this company, Kerry Owen, was selected to be the Swisher Sweet, Southeastern AgExpo South Carolina Farmer of the year for 2016. When he lost his job as a radio disk jockey 20 years ago,, he told his wife he was going to go into the bee business. Now he tends between 1500 and 2000 hives.
Owen spoke of an unusual honey called gallberry, made from another native holly, inkberry, Ilex glabra. Bee keepers say the best plants have their feet in water and their head in the sun. Gallberry honey has a very high level of diastase enzymes. They prevent honey from crystallizing. High heat treatment can prevent crystallization but careful producers never let the temperature go over 95 degrees as it destroys the important pollen and enzyme components.