Our
Eleventh Newsletter | !NEW! Post Brood Variety | NEW Test Results! | New
Gift Packs | Chef Tastings and Education | Christmas Deadlines | Honey
and Beekeeping Updates and more
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A Dry and Bountiful Spring
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~•*•~
'Lightly the breath of the spring wind blows, Though laden with faint perfume,
'Tis the fragrance rare that the bushman knows'
Ye Wearie Wayfarer, Hys Ballad
Fytte I— By Wood And Wold [A Preamble]
Adam Lindsay Gordon,1906
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Greetings Emma,
We hope this missive finds you well and thriving - like our bee colonies!
This
spring's unusually hot and dry weather has actually been a blessing
(despite a few close calls with fires already) as the bush has exploded
into blossom and the bees are already producing lots of beautiful Wild
Honey and Honeycomb.
Prior to that bounty being harvested over the coming summer, we are excited to be releasing a brand new Post Brood variety today - our third post brood wild honey and limited edition release to date!
In
other news, since we last wrote there has been a major development in
the Australian beekeeping world - hives containing or not containing
Varroa Destructor mites are no longer being destroyed, and the
eradication program has now ceased in NSW. Our hearts go out to everyone
who has lost so much during the attempt to contain the pest.
We have been incredibly fortunate not to have been affected by Varroa in anyway to date. As a result, our wild bee products are as pure and chemical free as they always have been. We also aim to keep them that way for the forseeable future by using natural management techniques - more on that in Tim's beekeeping update below.
We will also be sharing
lots of news, our latest
honey testing results, Christmas deadlines and of course Tim will update you on his very busy start to the bee season.
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Yellow Box Post Brood
A new Limited Edition Release
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Yellow
Box and Red Stringybark trees in the high altitude Central Tablelands
where our Yellow Box is produced
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We are very excited to announce the release of our
first ever Yellow Box Post Brood Wild Honey.
To
have any kind of post brood honey to share is a truly special thing, and
something we’re incredibly proud of. To have now produced three
distinct varieties is something extraordinary and beyond our wildest
beekeeping dreams.
This limited edition is particularly close to
our heart, as it symbolises how our Natural Beekeeping approach with
Warré hives can yield an
entirely new and evocative version of an iconic Australian honey variety.
Our Post Brood Yellow Box Wild Honey is produced from
5 year aged combs that have come through the broodnest, giving the honey a pleasing, spicy nuttiness (owing to the propolis and bee bread inherent in the dark post brood combs).
The Yellow Box tree, a majestic woodland Eucalypt, flowers once
every 2 to 4 years during the hot summer months. Our apiaries are
situated at 800 - 1000m, which is the highest altitude where Yellow Box
occurs. Due to the elevation, it flowers late in the season (in
December/January) and results in the bees foraging exclusively on the
abundant nectar-filled blossoms. This means that we are able to produce a
particularly pure terroir version of Yellow Box honey.
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Colour: Deep golden colour
Texture: The swish of rich caramel, with faint toffee-like stickiness
Aromas: Apricot tart, chamomile tea, crème brulee, an exotic whiff of sweet paprika, orange blossom, faint eucalyptus piquancy
Flavours: This
is the first time that post brood honey has been produced from Yellow
Box honey flow under the custodianship of the Malfroy family. It’s a
generous mouthful of flavour, slippery with golden syrup flavours spiked
with cinnamon spice with preserved lemon, ripe stone fruit, agave
nectar characters woven through. Exotic in a way, but distinct for its
richness of true, pure honey character and splendid in its light,
honeysuckle floral lift of freshness to finish. Ultimately, a very
complex, compelling honey.'
Mike Bennie, Wine Writer, Public Speaker and Journalist
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This special Wild Honey is currently only available in
500g jars and a few mixed packs.
Read on for the satisfying test results our newest Post Brood variety achieved recently, they are a testament to the health of our bees and the purity of the nectar and our apiary locations.
Be sure
to snaffle some up as numbers are limited and it will sell out quickly,
particularly with the silly season around the corner.
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Talking and Tasting with Sydney's Finest Chefs
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Tim
spent a short time in Sydney last week with our our amazing distributor,
Two Providores,
meeting some of Sydney's best chefs in their restaurants. He had a
wonderful time running education sessions with them on our latest Wild
Honeys and Honeycomb and discussing how they use our produce in their
inspiring creations.
We
always find these meetings and chats so encouraging - nothing is more
satisfying than being shown first hand how our work in the bush
translates into some of the finest dishes in the country (if not the
world!).
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Brittany, Alex and Tim (and some ingenius beeswax paddle
pop sticks) in the gorgeous
Icebergs Dining Room
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Brittany and Alex with their creation featuring our Wild
Honey, Honeycomb, Pollen and Beeswax
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We are
so fortunate to have Culinary Director, Alex Pritchard, and Executive
Pastry Chef, Brittany Smith, at
Icebergs
in Bondi championing our produce for some time now. Their dishes using
our Wild Honey and Honeycomb have featured in quite a number of our
newsletters as they are always so creative and visually stunning.
They
have been speaking with Tim over the past month or so about their
latest creation which required a custom bee product, so Tim was very
excited to catch up with Alex and Brittany to see it in the flesh.
A creative take on one of Australia's favourite ice creams, the Golden Gaytime, the
Stecco Gelato al Miele
uses our Wild honey in the gelato itself, chunks of our Wild Honeycomb
and a special batch of propolis from our hives for the beautiful
textured crumb on the outside, and even our beeswax - which is molded to
form a paddle pop stick. Wow!
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Matt Moran's superstar Chefs and Culinary staff
assembled at
Aria to chat with Tim
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Tim had a wonderful meeting with Jeff De Rome and team
at the illustrious
Mimi's in Coogee
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Next stop was Matt Moran's renowned
Aria restaurant at Circular Quay.
Tim
was incredibly honoured to speak with staff from a number of Matt's
establishments in Sydney, including Laura Baratto Group Chef of all of
Matt's Sydney establishments, Daniel Cooper the new Head Chef of
Chiswick Woollahra, Fernando Sanchez, executive Chef from the
Opera Bar, Head Chef Scott Kim from
Chophouse and Executive Chef Tom Gorringe, Head Pastry Chef Aoife (Eva) Noonan and Sous Chef Conner Black from
Aria
itself. This incredible group of people gathered just to meet with Tim,
discuss their use of our produce and sample our latest Wild Honeys and
honeycomb. Matt and his team have been so supportive of our work for
many years now - we are so grateful to them for sticking with us! Tim was then whisked away to the new and exciting venue,
Mimi's at Coogee.
Mimi's
is graced by some of the world's most famous celebrities so Tim was
very excited to find out chef Jeff De Rome (who used our honey for many
years at
Kitchen by Mike) is now running the kitchen and using our Wild Honey in the restaurant.
Tim then had a short visit at Sydney's
Nomad
restaurant, run by Jacquie Challinor, who regularly features our
produce in her beautiful dishes. Unfortunately we didn't get any snaps
from that visit but
Nomad
are planning to do a feature on our produce in the coming week or two,
so we will discuss their amazing work in the food scene in more detail
in the near future. Tim, Jake Ahrens (Head Chef) and Lakhan
Bhounsle (Sous Chef) had a wonderful time catching up, discussing
dishes, touring the venue and tasting our wild honeys. Not a bad way to
spend a Monday morning!
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Good Things Start with 'W'
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Tim met with
W Hotel Sydney's
Cullinary Director, Richard Millar, Head Chef, Chris Dodd and their team
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The glamourous dining room in the equally glamourous
W Hotel, Darling Harbour
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Final stop for Tim and our Wild Honey was Darling Harbour's
W Hotel,
Sydney's newest luxury hotel. The building and location alone is jaw
dropping and they are servicing such a large number of people, so to
have 10 of the W hospitality team drop everything, the day before
Melbourne cup no less, to spend 2 hours with Tim in an educational and
tasting session shows their true dedication to honouring our produce in
their dishes.
It is
quite humbling and gratifying at the same time to have some of the best
talent in the Sydney culinary scene stop their busy days to share with
us how they use our produce, and to take the time to better understand
the uniqueness of each Wild Honey and what it takes to produce them.
We are truly blessed to be working with such inspiring and generous people!
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Two Providores Trade Show
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We are so humbled and fortunate that world renowned
chef,
Clare Smyth, picked up some of our Wild Honey in person at the trade show
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Tim at his table (image taken from a great reel posted
by
Two Providores in which celebrity chefs abound!)
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We
mentioned in our last newsletter that Tim was heading down to the big
smoke for the
Two Providores trade show.
He
had an amazing time meeting new chefs who were keen to taste our latest
range, reconnecting with people he hasn't seen in some time and
discussing all the incredible ways these truly talented people use our
produce.
One of the highlights, and a very pleasant surprise, was
the illustrious Clare Smyth stopping off on her way to the airport to
grab a jar of our
Red Stringybark Wild Honey directly from Tim to take back with her to London!
For such
a small business working in remote areas to be supported by the best of
the best working in Sydney and beyond is more than we could have ever
hoped for. Our heartfelt thanks to our friends and supporters in the
industry - we are eternally grateful.
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Tim and Malfroy's Gold in the Media
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Lennox Hastie's
Baked Fetta with Honey and Chilli recipe was published in the
Weekend Australia Magazine recently. He uses our Wild Honey in the dish in his Basque inspired Wine Bar,
Gilda's, in Surrey Hills (photo © Nikki To)
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Our
friend, the internationally renowned chef Lennox Hastie, has been
working with our produce for some years now in his Sydney restaurants,
Firedoor, and more recently,
Gilda's.
He is now also writing food articles and recipes for the
The Weekend Australian Magazine.
He got in touch with Tim while penning some honey centric recipes based
on those he serves in his restaurants which feature our honey.
We have added the recipes/articles to
our media page for you to try at home if you are feeling adventurous!
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Lennox's
Honey Cake recipe is now
on our Media Page (scroll to the bottom of this missive for a photo of the cake itself) (photo © Nikki To)
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In these
digital times where most things people do exist as pixels with tags
attached, it's always nice to have what we do celebrated in the odd
printed publication.
We have been lucky recently to have 3 small mentions in Australian magazines and a new book.
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What a surprise it was to receive this beautifully printed,
large book in the mail from the soil and eco conscious ladies at
The Land Gardeners in the UK.
'The mission of The Land Gardeners is to work with
gardeners and farmers to improve the health of our land – creating
beautiful, healthy plants, gardens, and farms brimming with biodiversity
and life – all founded on healthy soil.
We design productive gardens - wild, romantic and
joyful - and restore walled and historic gardens in England, France,
Italy, New Zealand and Zimbabwe. We also run workshops, exploring healthy plants, healthy soil and biodiverse, living gardens.'
(The Land Gardeners)
Due to some email glitches we didn't receive their
correspondence about being included in their book but are so pleased
they went ahead and included us anyway!
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delicious Magazine and
Gourmet Traveller
have always been big supporters of our work which we are ever grateful
to them for. Recently, we were chuffed to discover that both
publications had included our limited batch of
Red Stringybark Wild Honey in their October issues.
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We were honoured to be included in
Gourmet Traveller's October 'Five of a Kind' section
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delicious Magazine included our latest limited batch of Red Stringybark in their 'Bits and Bites' section in October
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For more
information on Tim Malfroy and Malfroy's Gold in the public eye, visit
our
Social,
Awards,
Blogs and
Media pages (the latter also includes recipes from some of Australia's finest chefs who work with our produce!)
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Test Results for our new Wild Honeys
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Our
latest additions to the Wild Honey family, Red Stringybark and Yellow
Box Post Brood, were recently tested for pollen concentration
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We are
proud to share some more of our Wild Honey testing results with you.
As our
bees forage in pristine wilderness on native wildflowers and trees,
their health is as good as it possibly could be which means they produce
delicious, medicinally active, raw Wild Honeys packed with pollen and propolis.
Samples
of our new varieties, Red Stringybark and Yellow Box Post Brood were
sent to the lab to test for Pollen concentration a few months back and
we have just received the outcome.
Pollen richness is a key
marker of the ‘rawness’ of a honey and contributes to any health
benefits, as pollen (bee bread) has anti-bacterial, anti-oxidant,
anti-allergic and anti-cancer properties.
The
typical pollen concentration found in conventional honey is between 2,000 - 10,000 grains per gram. We are thrilled that both of our honeys were found to contain
extraordinary amounts of pollen:
Yellow Box Post Brood:
1,435,107 grains per gram
Red Stringybark:
3,949,678 grains per gram
To further explain, we outline why we test the pollen count and what the results indicate in our article,
'The Proof is in the Pollen'.
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The
hills and mountains of the Central Tablelands with their beautiful
woodlands where our bees forage
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These
results confirm that our style of beekeeping (bee-friendly natural comb
Warré hives), method of processing (pressing whole combs instead of
extracting) and location (permanent apiaries established in pollen-rich
environments in the Blue Mountains and Central Tablelands), result in a
truly unique and healthy food that cannot be replicated.
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The ever enduring Yellow Box's blossom
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Red Stringybark Blossom in the Central Tablelands of NSW
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Given
that our Wild Honeys have achieved such positive results again, we would
like to reiterate that your decision to support our business by
purchasing our Wild Honey produce is a testament to your commitment to a
better planet, and better food for you and your family.
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As
mentioned in our last missive, we spent a lot of winter packing and
bottling our Wild Honey and Honeycomb in various varieties and packs,
including our latest limited variety,
Yellow Box Post brood ~ so it's a great time to tick off some items on your Christmas list!
We still have some
300g and 750g Wild Honeycomb
sections in the Red Stringybark variety available so be sure to grab
some for those summer desserts and cheese platters before they sell out.
Our usual bounty of
Wild Honey is available in 2 or 3 jar sizes for the majority of our award winning, medicinal and pure varieties.
200g and 500g Gift packs are proving very popular in the lead up to the festive season and our existing
Mixed Wild Honey Four Packs are available as always for those who prefer to buy in larger quantities at a reduced price.
We also have
E-Gift vouchers on offer so you can give the gift of honey this Christmas without the extra pressure of meeting postal deadlines.
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Shipping and Housekeeping
(Pre-Christmas)
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Please
note when ordering that it can take us up to a week to process orders as
everything is done in house, from the production of the goods all the
way through to the packaging and posting of your order.
We
generally allow another week for goods to be delivered as we live in
Regional Australia. Make sure to take this into consideration when
finalising any orders.
To guarantee delivery by Christmas we advise you to
place your orders by the end of November in order for us to meet Australia Post's Christmas deadline.
We will be
closing on the 19th December, however, online orders can still be placed, and will be shipped, up until that date.
Our online store will be open over the Christmas break, however, we
won't be posting orders out between the 19th December and 4th January.
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~•*•~
This Month's Select Products
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Wild Honey 500g
Yellow Box
Post Brood
$39.00
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Wild Honey 500g
Central Tablelands
Two Jar Gift Pack
$78.00
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Wild Honey 500g
Mixed Varieties
Four Pack
Now $140.00
$156.00
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Wild Honey 200g
Mixed Region
Four Jar Gift Pack
Now $82.00
$88.00
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*
Please note we are bound by Australian Biosecurity regulations so are
not permitted to send honey to TAS, NT or WA
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Tim's Warré beekeeping adventures in the Blue Mountains and Central Tablelands
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Beekeepers and their beautiful bees in the spotlight of late
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We were
greeted with an incredibly warm spring this year after a short, mild
winter. Flowering across all three regions where we keep bees started
one month earlier than usual, forcing us to leap into action before the
season runs away from us.
The colonies are responding to the
early abundance of food with glee, readily expanding their nests and
already storing away honey. The opportunistic natural beekeeper uses
this time of abundance to produce some wild honeycomb, when the bees can
gladly share it.
Stay tuned as some of the finest comb we’ve
ever produced will be on our online shop soon and hitting the menus of
Sydneys best restaurants!
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Bearding colony on a warm, stormy afternoon in the
Central Tablelands
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Strong colonies overflowing with bees in the Blue
Mountains Wilderness
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The
standout flowering event so far this spring has been the biennial
blossoming of Yellow Bloodwood (Corymbia eximia), a unique tree species
endemic to the sandstone country of the lower Blue Mountains. In
contrast to its gnarled form and yellow, textured bark, the tree
blossoms are large, delicate, creamy and fragrant, yielding a world
class honey with caramel and citrus notes.
As I write, the
equally fascinating Angophora costata (Sydney Red Gum) is bursting into
bloom. One of the benefits of establishing apiaries in the Blue
Mountains is that there is always something flowering!
Conditions
in the Central Tablelands are also good, with spring thunderstorms
providing some welcome moisture and triggering the flowering of both
ground flora and Eucalypt species. We’re hoping that despite the
forecast of a hot, dry summer, the rains continue to arrive and provide
some relief.
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The gorgeous creamy blossom of Yellow Bloodwood
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Incredible ruby red honeycomb from Angophora costata,
Blue Mountains
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In
addition to the anxiety around impending drought and bushfires, a major
concern has been the evolving Varroa biosecurity situation. The Varroa
mite - the most serious pest of the honeybee worldwide - has been in the
news a lot recently. It was first detected near Newcastle in June 2022
and in an effort to control the pest, the industry and NSW DPI decided
to implement an eradication policy, resulting in the destruction of
around 30,00 managed bee colonies and an unknown number of wild
colonies. After more than a year of stress and chaos, the plan was
recently abandoned in favour of a ‘transition to management’ approach,
the details of which are still being thrashed out behind closed doors.
We’re
planning to post more about the Varroa issue over the coming months and
years, however, in the meantime please be assured that none of our
hives were eradicated or affected by any of the baiting programs, which
had yet to be implemented anywhere near the Blue Mountains (and are now
completely abandoned).
It might be of interest to know that every
decision we have made in our beekeeping business over the past 17 years
has been with a sharp focus on Varroa adaptation. In fact, the reason
we pioneered the natural beekeeping approach with wild bees and Warré
hives in Australia was to create a style of apiculture that placed the
needs of the bee colony above that of the beekeeper in the hope that a
less stressful and healthier life for the colony would assist in the
bees ability to adapt to pests, diseases and a changing climate.
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A key principle of Natural Beekeeping is allowing
colonies to build their own nests
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Diverse selection of Bee bread (fermented pollen), a key
contributor to colony health
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So far
the natural beekeeping ‘experiment’ has been a success, with yearly
colony losses at only 2-5% (not including natural disasters such as
floods and bushfires, our main cause of colony loss over the years)
compared to conventional beekeeping losses of 5-20% locally and 15-50%
overseas (with Varroa present).
As
our bees have gone through a process of natural selection over many
years, bee diseases that are common in some commercial operations are
virtually non-existent in our apiaries.
Unfortunately, chemical
treatments for Varroa will become commonplace in the local industry (as
they are worldwide) in the short term, many of which contaminate the
honey and beeswax and may have adverse affects on the bees.
Our Varroa management will be finely tuned to each region and will
lean heavily on the inherent strength of the wild colonies. Importantly,
no chemicals will be used in our operation, with a focus on
bee-friendly pathways to adaptation via management techniques and
natural selection.
The
real acid test of Varroa is still ahead of us - wish us luck, or even
better, please continue to support our work by purchasing our chemical
free, Wild Honey!
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Fresh, wild honeycomb from bee-friendly Warré hives
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Blue Mountains wild honeycomb from 100% natural comb
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Despite
the concerns listed above, the colonies in all of our apiaries are
looking better than ever and we have high hopes for the rest of the
season. There really is nothing better than working with strong, healthy
colonies and observing the magic that unfolds in the apiaries. In the
next missive we’ll have all the summer beekeeping news to share so
please stay tuned for that!
If you
enjoy reading our newsletters you can view archived copies of them
here, as well as articles that I’ve written which I hope to add to when there is a spare minute.
~•*•~
Tim will continue to fill your feed with updates from the field
about the ever changing and unique flora of the regions, bee biology,
our wild honey produce and other interesting things - all bee related -
follow along below!
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A
big thank you to our readers for taking the time to follow what we do
and for their kind words of support, particularly as the ever-changing
Varroa situation in NSW unfolds.
We hope our eleventh newsletter
provided you with some inspiration and food for thought! (If you missed
our last newsletter and would like to read it you can do so
here.)
Thank you for reading,
Tim, Emma and the Daughters of Light
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Lennox Hastie's take on the
Russian Honey Cake (Photo © Nikki To and the
Weekend Australian Magazine)
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