Cheers to Winter

Don’t fear the cold, embrace it with these delightful drinks

Jack Frost and holiday gatherings make for the perfect mix when it comes to warm drinks. Need some ideas for your next holiday party? Jazz things up with one of these sweet concoctions.

SUE BEE® Honey Hot Toddy

This one is for after the kids are tucked into bed, or perhaps after a late night of shoveling snow.

Ingredients

3/4 cup water

1 ½ oz whiskey

3 tsp SUE BEE® INFUSIONS™ Lemon Honey

2 tsp lemon juice

1 lemon twist

1 cinnamon stick

Directions

Bring the water to a simmer in a teapot and then pour the hot water into a mug. Add the whiskey, SUE BEE® honey, lemon juice and stir. Garnish with a lemon twist and cinnamon stick.

Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate with Honey

This one comes from our friends over at the National Honey Board. (Of course, we use SUE BEE® honey for ours!)

Ingredients (Makes 4 servings)

4 tbsp SUE BEE® honey

4 cups milk

4 tbsp cocoa powder

4 tbsp creamy peanut butter

Directions

In a medium-sized saucepan, add milk and honey and heat over medium-high heat. When the mixture comes to a boil, add the cocoa powder. After cocoa dissolves, turn heat off and add the peanut butter. Stir the ingredients with frequent and quick strokes so that the peanut butter blends well and the hot chocolate reaches a creamy, thick consistency. Serve immediately.

Hot Apple-Pineapple Cider

Are the cousins and in-laws battling for control of the remote control again? Calm everyone’s holiday spirit with a warm glass of this sweet, fruity cider.

Ingredients (Makes about 14 servings)

2/3 cup SUE BEE® honey

1 can (about 48 oz) pineapple juice

2 qt apple cider

2 cups orange juice

1 tbsp whole cloves

2 or 3 cinnamon sticks

Directions

Combine all the ingredients into a large stock pot over medium to high heat. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Strain out cinnamon sticks and cloves before serving.

Vanilla Cranberry Mimosa

Ingredients

1/2 tbsp SUE BEE® INFUSIONS® Vanilla Flavored Honey

1 1/2 oz vodka

1 1/2 oz cranberry juice

Sparkling wine

Fresh cranberries (for garnish, optional)

Directions

Combine honey, vodka, cranberry juice and ice in a cocktail shaker.

Shake until well mixed and chilled.

Strain mix into champaign flutes and add sparkling wine.

Add cranberries if desired.

Soothe Dry Skin

Try our natural mixture – with AUNT SUE’S® Raw & Unfiltered Organic Honey – this winter

Ever had skin so dry you’ve contemplated sleeping with your hands submersed in buckets of lotion? No matter how much we try to stay ahead of the season’s dry air, it seems like, every winter, Jack Frost wreaks havoc on our skin regardless of how much water-based lotion we use. Luckily for us, we have a homemade moisturizer to help soothe dry, chapped skin.

It has only four ingredients, and one of them is AUNT SUE’S® Raw & Unfiltered Organic Honey. We pair our honey – which has minimal water content – with other natural ingredients to create a buttery solution that offers relief to dry skin. Try a batch this winter and let us know how it works.

Ingredients

1 cup AUNT SUE’S® Raw & Unfiltered Organic Honey

16 oz organic extra virgin coconut oil

16 oz organic unrefined shea butter

2 tbsp organic pure vanilla extract

Directions

Melt and blend honey, coconut oil and shea butter in a double boiler over medium heat while stirring constantly.

After the ingredients are thoroughly blended, remove from heat and place in the refrigerator to solidify the mixture. 

Once the mixture is solidified, scoop pieces into a bowl and use a stand mixer or hand mixer to whip the contents.

Finally, add and blend in the vanilla. You can also add essential oils to give the cream a preferred scent, if desired.

This recipe will fill 10 half-pint mason jars.

Let’s Bee Grateful

Thanksgiving dinner tables sure would look empty without honeybees

Turkeys get the spotlight on the Thanksgiving Day stage – they’re the lead singer in this merry band of edible delights. But it’s all the side players who really make the holiday sing.

We’re talking dishes like candied yams, glazed carrots, corn muffins and pumpkin cheesecake – not to mention classics like cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, butternut squash, roasted veggies, like asparagus and broccoli, and fruit salad with blueberries, apples, cherries, melons and so on.

None of those side dishes would be possible if it weren’t for honeybees, which are responsible for pollinating those foods – and many more. Simply put, they wouldn’t exist if not for the honeybee. 

So, this Thanksgiving, while you’re giving thanks for family and friends, try to throw in an extra thank you for the honeybee. We can’t imagine life without those foods and, of course, our favorite food of all time: honey.

Have we tickled your tastebuds?

If you’re looking to jazz up your Thanksgiving meal this year, we have a few recipes that will be the talk of the table. And, if you guessed that they all include honey as an ingredient, well then, you should be extra thankful this year because you are one smart honey lover!

Try our Honey-Glazed Carrots, Candied Honey Yams, Maple Honey Corn Muffins, Honey-Spiced Pears or Pumpkin Cheesecake this year. And, for the adults at the table, our Honey Mulled Wine is a popular beverage during the holidays.

Thank You, Veterans!

As we honor our military, let us also note the wartime efforts of honeybees

The first veterans of the United States were the ones who served during the American Revolution. They fought for the Continental Army, which was created in 1775 when colonial militias formed a common army under George Washington (who, incidentally, kept honeybees at his Mount Vernon estate).

Since then, the U.S. has declared war 11 times and fought in numerous conflicts across the globe. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 41 million Americans have served in the military over the course of our nation’s history (In World War II alone, more than 16 million served in the U.S. military, the most at any point in history). That means we are sending out more than 41 million “Thank yous!” this Veterans Day, November 11.

Helping the war effort

WWII was a time when all Americans did their part to help the war effort, including the country’s beekeepers, who played a significant role. The Department of Agriculture deemed the honey industry “essential” during wartime and requested a 20% increase in production in 1942 just to keep up with demand for both honey and beeswax (not to mention honeybee pollination of vital foods). Like other Americans, the Sioux Honey Co-op beekeepers joined in the effort to collect and deliver as much honey as possible.

Why was honey so essential? For one, the Japanese occupied many of the countries from where the U.S. had previously purchased sugar. That led to a sugar shortage, and as we know, honey is an amazing substitute for sugar, and many prefer honey over sugar because of its natural goodness. Using honey in everything from coffee and tea to daily meals and baking increased during this time. 

But it wasn’t just honey that went to the war effort. According to the National WWII Museum, our beekeepers’ honeybees were also counted on for their wax, which was collected and used to coat airplanes, cables and pulleys, as well as adhesive tape, varnishes, canvases, awnings and more. Beeswax helped prevent rust and aided in waterproofing, too.

“Practically all types of ammunition were coated with beeswax, from rifle cartridges to 16-inch shells,” says American Bee Journal. “Beeswax did not expand in desert heat nor crack in polar cold … Beeswax was used to desensitize gun powder for naval guns, as a corrosion inhibitor for brass casings and as waterproofing for leather.”

Honeybees and their honey and beeswax were so popular and appreciated during the war, there was even a contest for the best slogan to celebrate the honeybee’s efforts. The one that won was “Let the Bees Wax the Way to Victory.” 

So, today (and every day), let us celebrate the millions of men and women who have served in wars and conflicts near and far. To them, we say thank you! Thank you for your service and sacrifice so that we can continue to live free.

A New and Improved Caramel Apple

Substitute sugar with SUE BEE® honey in this tasty autumn treat

Caramel apples are a sweet delight any time of year but, in the fall, when apples are fresh and the Halloween season looms, these treats are a must-have.

Unfortunately, they traditionally come with lots of sugar. But don’t fret, we’ve solved that problem by using SUE BEE® honey instead. Our honey gives the caramel a rich, creamy texture without all the graininess that comes with sugar.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup SUE BEE® honey

6 fresh medium-size apples

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tbsp. butter

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1 cup crushed cashews and/or colorful sprinkles

6 popsicle sticks

Red food coloring if you want that familiar caramel color

Directions

First, whisk your SUE BEE® honey with the whipping cream, butter and salt in a saucepan over medium-high heat until it begins to bubble. Then, reduce the heat to medium. Stir in some of the red food coloring (if you want) to get the color your desire.

You don’t want the caramel to burn or bubble up, so continue to whisk it. Cook until it reaches a temperature of 250F, with the caramel reaching a thickened state.

Next, pour the honey caramel into a mixing bowl and place the bowl into a larger bowl with ice. Stir the caramel until it cools and begins to thicken.

Then, insert a wooden stick into the core of your apples and roll them in the caramel until coated. If you want to jazz up your honey-caramel apples, roll them in chocolate baking chips and/or sprinkles, and place them on a piece of parchment paper to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Honey Halloween Carving

Try these honeybee-themed stencils on your jack-o-lanterns this year

This is for all the aspiring Michelangelos amongst our Sioux Honey lovers out there – so get out your pumpkin-carving tools and get ready to sculpt a masterpiece.

Using our honey-themed pumpkin stencils, you can carve a jack-o-lantern that the whole neighborhood will admire. Choose from a honeybee, beehive or honeycomb. Carve all three for a hat trick of honey Halloween fun!

When you’re done, share your work of art with us. You can tag us @SueBeeHoneyUSA on Facebook or @SueBeeUSA on Instagram.  

Click on the stencils below to print, or download to save and print later.

Pumpkin Spice? How Nice!

Our new muffin recipe offers a perfect pairing of pumpkin and honey

October is a popular time for all things pumpkin spice, but who says you can’t enjoy the fall flavor any time of the year? Not us, we love pumpkin spice ALMOST as much as we love honey. Which is why our recipe for Honey Pumpkin Muffins is such a hit with all of our honey lovers!

Ingredients

3/4 cup SUE BEE® honey

1 ½ cups whole wheat flour 

½ teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

¾ teaspoon baking powder

¾ cup canned pumpkin puree

½ cup vegetable oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease a 12-cup muffin pan.

In a large bowl, stir together the whole wheat flour, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add in eggs, pumpkin, oil and SUE BEE® honey. Mix just until the dry ingredients are absorbed.

Spoon into muffin cups so they are about 2/3 full.

Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven.

Cool in the pan before removing from cups.

Drizzle muffins with icing (recipe below).

Muffin Icing

Ingredients

1 cup powdered sugar 

1/2 teaspoon vanilla 

1-2 tablespoons milk 

Directions
Mix powdered sugar, vanilla and milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until spreadable (mixture will thicken slightly as it sets).

Once Upon a Hive …

Updated logo reveals 100-year journey of the Sioux Honey Co-op

Tell a 100-year story in a single, unassuming logo. That was our ambitious goal when we set out to design the updated Sioux Honey Co-op logo – crafted, coincidentally, during our 100th anniversary.

What story does our refreshed logo tell? If you look closely, you can envision a story about five beekeepers from Sioux City, Iowa, who decided to pool their honey and create a partnership, a co-op, back in 1921. That’s a heritage reflected at the top of our updated logo.

Heritage is – and always will be – at the root of our beekeeper-owned co-op, which has grown from those five beekeepers to more than 200 Sioux Honey families today. It’s a legacy at the heart of our beloved co-op that highlights our generational commitment to quality, and celebrates our unique place in the honey industry.

Simply put, “We wanted to update our Sioux Honey logo to better reflect the heritage of our co-op members and honor the purity of the honey they produce,” says Alex Blumenthal, President & CEO of the Sioux Honey Co-op.

That purity comes from a logo that is purposely simple and free of clutter. We didn’t want to over-design it. Rather than feeling “trendy,” our hope was to not only shape a logo that represented a forward-moving co-op, but also one with a rich history.

Instead of sharp edges, we worked towards a more natural, fluid design to propel the oval-like rings that make up the icon.

“The typography inspired by the SUE BEE® logo needed to reflect the consumer loyalty that SUE BEE® has earned over the past 100 years,” Blumenthal says. 

The three ovals represent three unique aspects of Sioux Honey:

• One, they make the shape of the world’s most precious and essential pollinator, the remarkable, hard-working honeybee.
• Two, the interlocking of rings symbolizes the interconnectedness of our beekeeper-owned co-op members.
• And three, the ovals themselves pay homage to the oval shape that formed the background of one of our earlier logos.

Often, the absence of an element tells a story, too. Longtime Sioux Honey lovers might have noticed that the word “Association” has been removed from the end of our name. Today, we are simply the Sioux Honey Co-op.

“We decided to remove the word ‘Association,’ because we felt it didn’t accurately reflect the spirit of the nurturing and entrepreneurial nature of the hundreds of small, individual family-owned beekeeping businesses that joined together as a co-op to champion both the health of our bees and purity of their honey,” explains Blumenthal.

Conversely, we added a new element – the words “a beekeeper-owned co-op” to the base of the updated logo – to reflect our heritage even further.

And finally, the colors. We chose to use earth tones in our updated logo to tell another piece of the story. It shows that our beekeepers are stewards of the land, and our honey is natural, while the golden hue mimics both the coloration of the honeybee and the pure golden deliciousness of our honey.

How does this story end? The best part is that it doesn’t. Our story is a happily-ever-after affair, and we can’t wait to see what happens over our next 100 years.

A Brotherly Love of Honey

Sioux Honey’s Mark and Doug Mammen reflect on their combined 93 years at honey co-op

Let’s put 2.8 billion pounds of honey into perspective. That’s enough honey to fill:

• 353 Olympic-sized pools (each one holding 7.9 million pounds of honey)
• Or … enough honey to fill 2.24 million 20-ounce YETI tumblers
• Or … enough honey to fill 89,600,000,000 (89.6 billion!) tablespoons

You get the idea. It’s a LOT of honey. And it’s how much honey is estimated to have been collected by the beekeeper members of the Sioux Honey Co-op over the past 100 years. Yes, an “estimate,” but one that’s probably close to spot-on because it’s coming from two brothers who have worked at Sioux Honey for nearly half its existence.

Meet Mark and Doug Mammen. Mark, currently President Emeritus, has worked at Sioux Honey for 48 years. Doug, currently vice president of member relations, has been with Sioux Honey for 45 years. If anyone knows how much honey the co-op has collected over Sioux Honey’s 100 years, it’s these two.

Which is why we sat down for a chat with the Mammen brothers as we celebrate our 100 years as a beekeeper co-op – to learn about some of their insights into the world of honey; hearing about things they’ve absorbed over their long tenures in the cooperative. 

The ‘Correctionville Pipeline’

Mark and Doug weren’t the only Mammens to work at the Sioux City, Iowa-based honey co-op. Their father worked at Sioux Honey as well, for 28 years. 

“Our aunt, uncle, sister, and one of our cousins worked here, too. We had a regular pipeline from Correctionville, Iowa, which is where we’re from,” says Mark, who spent time in the packing line for many years before moving to beekeeper-member relations. “There was a number of us from Correctionville who worked at Sioux.”

Correctionville is small Iowa town (population 806) directly east 33 miles from Sioux City.

“There were a lot of people from Correctionville who drove 30 miles every day – rain, sunshine, snow,” Mark continued.

“And then many moved to Sioux City,” added Doug, who spent several years in the co-op’s processing and shipping departments. 

Family has always been front-and-center at Sioux Honey, which began in 1921 with five beekeepers who lived in the Sioux City area.

“It was five local beekeepers with $200 cash capital and 3,000 pounds of honey (valued at $500) that started the co-op,” said Mark.

“It was the motivation, creativity and ingenuity of those early beekeepers that grew Sioux Honey. At that time, there was really a need for a honey packer in the Midwest. The east had plenty of packers and there were packers out west, but not here in the Midwest where beekeepers needed packing facilities, so they had a place to sell their honey. That’s how the idea of the co-op came to be.”

Growing the Membership

As a co-op, not a corporation, Sioux Honey is about teamwork. For the past 100 years, the co-op has kept its focus on what is best for the beekeeper members, our honey and the honey-lovers who buy Sioux Honey, whether it’s SUE BEE® honey, AUNT SUE’S® Raw & Unfiltered Honey, SUE BEE® INFUSIONS™ honey, SUE BEE® SPUN® honey or any of our other honey products.

“I don’t think many people really know what a cooperative is,” says Doug. “We’re actually owned by the beekeepers.”

Those beekeepers – all 200+ of them today – pool their honey together and everyone shares in the profits from the sales of that honey.

“When we started, it was a small group of beekeepers with a small pool of honey, but the co-op gave them an outlet for all of it,” says Mark. “At that time, a lot of them would deliver their own honey in pick-ups. It has obviously really evolved over the years.”

The five beekeepers who started the co-op began with about 3,000 pounds of honey in the first year. Today, the co-op collects about 30-38 million pounds of honey each year. The original five also packed their honey and marketed it, too.

Today, the main thing the beekeepers need to do is focus on keeping their bees healthy so they can produce the delicious honey we have come to enjoy at home on a daily basis.

“Our beekeepers don’t have to spend time marketing their honey or selling it. We supply them with containers, either 55-gallon drums, barrels or new totes that hold two-and-a-half to four-and-a-half drums of honey,” says Mark. “Independent beekeepers have to find their own containers and buy them, and they’re pretty expensive and hard to find these days. 

“Then we pick up their honey. They just make a phone call, and we come right away to pick it up. Bring it back, bottle it up, send it to stores, market it and handle all the sales.”

It’s a big reason there is a waiting list to become a Sioux Honey beekeeper. Mark and Doug say there is a process that potential beekeepers need to go through, which includes checking the quality of the beekeeper’s operation.

“We always feel that when we accept a new member, we want them in for the long haul, not just one year,” says Mark.

Once a new beekeeper is accepted, the Mammen brothers make it a point to get to know them. Mark and Doug say they know all of the current 200+ Sioux Honey beekeepers by name and face – and they’ve met many of them in person. The newest beekeeper member of the co-op is number 3,083. 

As for the oldest current membership, that distinction goes to the Sundberg family, which is on its third generation of Sioux Honey beekeepers. They hold Sioux Honey Co-op beekeeper number 44, which has been passed down from generation to generation.

“I have a membership list in my office that goes all the way back to number one,” says Doug. 

Ensuring Quality

Part of the vetting process for accepting new Sioux Honey Co-op beekeepers is testing their honey to make sure it meets the standards of the cooperative.

After the Sioux Honey in-house labs test the honey to ensure it meets our high standards, samples are then sent to accredited third-party labs where they go through another series of tests that range from purity to pollen analysis. 

Even after the members are accepted into the co-op, their honey is still tested rigorously each year to ensure that the high quality remains the same year to year.

Nearly 5 decades of Making Friends … and Counting

Looking back on their time at Sioux Honey, Doug and Mark both point to the relationships with the beekeepers as some of their fondest times.

When asked more about his experience and favorite part about working at Sioux Honey Doug replied, “The beekeepers and the people you work with here. It’s always been a great place to work, but the relationships I’ve formed over the years … some of my best friends are our member beekeepers.”

“Ditto,” said Mark.

“When you come up through our Member Relations group, you really get involved in that side of the business. The people you get to know over the years, just the pride, I guess, in being with a company that stands for what Sioux Honey stands for.”

A Happy Couple

Honey + the zest of BBQ = a deliciously popular sauce

It originated nearly 40 years ago one afternoon at the Sioux Honey plant in Sioux City, Iowa. Plant Manager Denny Kayl began experimenting, mixing ingredients and taste-testing what would later become one of Sioux Honey’s most popular products: SUE BEE® Original Style Barbecue Sauce.

Denny used a mixer that had previously been used to create SUE BEE’S® SPUN® Honey. In fact, we still use that same mixer – made in the USA, by the way – to make fresh batches of our famed BBQ sauce. We’ve also stayed true to the original recipe, with a minor tweak here and there. One thing (along with the mixer) that has never changed: Honey is the first ingredient.

Our original style barbecue sauce did not come about because we thought adding honey to a barbecue sauce would be a good idea. It came about because we thought adding a barbecue sauce to honey would be a tasty idea. There’s a big difference. Honey was the first ingredient, not an afterthought. And you can taste the difference. In fact, 48% of our SUE BEE® Original Style Honey Barbecue Sauce is our honey. That’s important to us. Then we add rich tomato and natural spices to complete a sweet and tangy blend. 

“The sweetness of honey pairs well with many foods but really compliments BBQ,” says Dustin Livermore, director of quality control at Sioux Honey. “It definitely takes BBQ sauce to the next level. Unlike many other honey-BBQ sauces, where honey can be a very minor sub-ingredient, in our sauce it is the star of the show; it is the No. 1 ingredient.”

Dustin says the magic happens in that celebrated mixer we mentioned earlier. “The mixer is used to blend the ingredients together. Then, in a steam-jacketed tank, the sauce is cooked to the correct temperature. And then it sits for a set amount of time before finally being moved to bottling.”

The result? The perfect honey BBQ sauce.

If any of this is tickling your taste buds, visit the SUE BEE® Amazon pageand order a bottle now so you’ll have it on hand for your next cookout. And if you need some grilling ideas, be sure to take a gander at our mouthwatering recipes for SUE BEE® Honey BBQ Chicken Wings and SUE BEE® Honey BBQ Ribs.

A Half-Century … And Then Some

From mopping floors for $1.50 an hour to Plant Manager, Sioux Honey’s Denny Kayl looks back on his long career at the Iowa-based co-op

Denny Kayl took a pay cut to work at the Sioux Honey Co-op. He went from a welding job that paid $2.10 an hour to mopping floors in the co-op’s warehouse for $1.50.

That was in 1968. This past summer, after 53 years at Sioux Honey, Denny retired as the co-op’s Plant Manager. Before he rode off into the sunset, we sat down for a chat in his office to talk about his journey at Sioux Honey and why he initially left a higher paying job to work here; how the honey business has evolved over the past 50 years; and what he planned to do in his retirement. You’ll read that Denny is certainly one of a kind, and he is going to be missed.

Vietnam and black lungs

Born and raised in South Dakota, Denny made his way to Sioux City, Iowa, in the mid-1960s to take a job as a welder out of high school. In 1968, Denny was called on to serve in the Vietnam War. But the draft board chose not to enlist Denny after discovering he had developed black lung disease as a result of poor ventilation at the welding company. It also didn’t help that Denny was tone deaf.

“I’m still tone deaf, but the black lung disease has gone away,” Denny says. “When the draft board rejected me, they said, ‘You better quit what you’re doing, or you’ll probably die a young man.’”

So, Denny talked to his brother, Carl, who was working at Sioux Honey at the time. Carl got Denny a job as a maintenance line worker.

“I started February the 2nd, 1968,” Denny recalled. “I started mopping the floors, cleaning things up. I did that for a couple of years. The manager at the time began showing me the ropes – showing me how the machines worked. And in 1970, I became Assistant Plant Manager. A couple years later, that manager retired, and I was promoted to Plant Manager. And the rest is history.”

A lot has changed in 53 years

The Sioux Honey Co-op has evolved considerably over the years, and Denny has been there for many of the most notable changes. Transforming the honey bottles from glass to plastic was among the most significant.

“I think it was ’82 when we went to plastic,” Denny says. “That was probably the most challenging thing we’ve had to deal with. Speed-wise, that was pretty major; you just have to handle it differently. 

“It’s like, we went from something heavy to handling feathers. Plastic is lighter, a little more difficult to handle. And so it slowed things down. We went from 140 bottles a minute in the glass jars, to the max around 138 in the plastic. That all varies in the different sizes on the speed, too. So how much honey you’re putting into a plastic bottle kind of dictates the speed of it. We’re running 15 different sizes of the bottles at this point in time in the plastic.”

When Denny started, many of the operational phases were done by hand – specifically the packing process. 

“When I first started, when we also handled the comb … we had a lot of honey stored in barrels, and we had to wheel honey from the basement over to an elevator, put four drums on the elevator, take them up to the first level, and that’s where we were melting the wax from the combs. 

“Back then, we did most everything by hand – there was even very little use of the forklift. But now we have the help of machines, and they are a lot more involved. “

A Day in the life …

Even after 53 years, Denny says he comes into work each day not fully knowing what that day will bring. 

I don’t always know what it’s going to be like, what new developments might arise, what I’m going to have to deal with, or this and that,” he says. “But we do the same thing mechanically every day and we have to deal with personalities and people; there’s a lot more people involved in it. You just deal with different situations as they come, as you’re presented them.”

Denny says he spends a lot of his days walking … and walking … and walking …

“I walk so many miles in here, I have no clue how many miles I walk on any given day. … One trip out to the line is about six blocks out and back, and I do that a lot. But lately, sometimes I’ll jump on a forklift because the concrete has taken its toll a little bit on my hips. But I can’t complain.”

A lifetime of friendships and accomplishments

By far, the most memorable part of working at Sioux Honey all these years has been the people he gets to work with, Denny says. 

“I love talking to the people and listening to them, hearing what they have to say. I have a lot of respect for these people. That’s the biggest thing; you have to respect all of the people you work with – from the janitor to the top. Give them all the respect you can and have an open mind, listen to them, take suggestions and stuff like that. And when you’re trying to accomplish something, go at it with an open mind and it’ll all work out.”

Denny has worked with seven different Sioux Honey presidents during his 53-year tenure.

“They’ve all been good; I liked working with all of them because they’ve got their ideas and you get to work together to make their visions become reality.”

Pride in what they do carries a lot of weight, according to Denny. 

“We take a lot of pride in what we put in that bottle,” he says. “We deal with pure honey; that is probably our one keystone. There are no sugars added to it, and we don’t even let them in the building for that reason. There are no sugars ever housed in here.”

And what will he do with his time off?

Denny says he is looking forward to relaxing. But he also has plenty of projects on his acreage to keep him busy.

“I like to work with wood, I like to make canes and I like to hunt and fish and just enjoy the seasons. It’s time to relax a little bit,” he adds. 

“But yet, I’ve got projects that I want to do, and my wife has got a lot more, so we’ll get them all taken care of.  We don’t travel much. We’re homebodies, I guess. But again, mostly, I’ll be able to relax a little bit.”

After 53 years, we think you’ve earned it, Denny. And you’ve also earned a very heartfelt “THANK YOU!” from all of us at Sioux Honey. We’re going to miss you around here.

Honey’s Amazing Versatility

We’ve learned a lot over the past 100 years as a beekeeper-owned co-op

When you’ve been collecting honey for more than 100 years, you learn a thing or two about its seemingly infinite uses. First and foremost, it’s a natural sweetener in everything from tea and coffee to cookies, salads, chicken and so on. (Just take a glance at our recipes section for more examples than you can shake a honey dipper at.) The golden goodness of SUE BEE® honey goes well beyond its use as America’s favorite condiment. Consider a few of our all-time favorite alternative uses for honey:

Dry skin? You guessed it – honey!

When winter rolls around, this honey hand and lip balm is a favorite for honey lovers. It’s a natural solution that is known to help lock in moisture and give hands and lips a soothing and refreshing sensation.

Mild sunburn? Bug bites?

If you guessed honey – ding, ding, ding! You’re right! Honey is a go-to for many when it comes to helping soothe itchy skin that comes from pesky bug bites, especially mosquitos. Got a bite? Try this soothing relief.

A hair-raising story

Honey in hair? Sounds like a sticky mess, right? But did you know that honey is a popular choice for those with dry, frizzy hair? Try on our Honey Egg Hair Mask for size.

We’re Official!

USDA celebrates Sioux Honey Association Co-op’s Centennial

Since 1921, the Sioux Honey Association Co-op has been working together to provide the best honey possible, and we couldn’t be prouder to be an official USDA Century Cooperative.

“Sioux Honey Association is indeed a century cooperative that shows the sustainability of the cooperative model and how concrete benefits can be derived from a cooperative, both for the members participating in its use, ownership, and returns, but also for the high quality American-grown products the co-op provides to consumers through the U.S. food and fiber system,” says the USDA.

Of course, we would have never reached the century mark if not for the tireless work of our beekeeper families – many of whom are on their third and fourth generation of Sioux Honey membership. A warm and heartfelt thank you to all of them, and to all our Sioux Honey team members who have helped us achieve this milestone.

You can read more about how Sioux Honey has grown from five local beekeepers in Sioux City, Iowa, 100 years ago to more than 200 beekeeper members across the United States today in the article, “A Century of Sweet Success: Sioux Honey Association.”

From Iowa to Brazil

AUNT SUE’S® new organic honey makes its way to America

When the five original beekeepers who started the Sioux Honey Co-op in 1921 began bottling their golden goodness, they probably never imagined their co-op would someday be working with beekeepers from Brazil. 

After all, for the past 100 years, our Sioux Honey headquarters has been based in Sioux City, Iowa, where it all began. Our most popular honeys – SUE BEE® honey, SUE BEE® SPUN® honey and AUNT SUE’S® Raw & Unfiltered Honey – are all pure U.S.A. honeys that come from our 200+ member beekeepers, who harvest the honey right here at home.

But to be certified “organic,” honey has to come from a country like Brazil, which has an abundance of remote, rural areas. To be considered organic, the apiaries (bee yards where the hives are placed) cannot be near any urban areas or conventional agricultural fields.

Once we decided to offer a Brazil-sourced organic honey, we carefully vetted and thoroughly reviewed all of their records during our organic audits.

In addition, to receive official organic certification, we use an internationally recognized laboratory partner that specializes in testing organic honey under the NOP (National Organic Program).

Outside auditors also annually manage an on-site review of policies and procedures and inspect every area of the plant to make sure we remain in compliance with the organic standard.

The end result: AUNT SUE’S® Raw & Unfiltered Organic Honey is the best-tasting organic honey we have found. You’ll find it slightly darker and not as sweet as our domestic honey, due to the different types of floral sources. But, if you are searching for a delicious and certified-organic honey, this is the honey for you.

Soothing Summer Relief

Mild sunburns, bug bites? Try Aunt Sue’s honey

“Sun hot. Sun burn Tonga’s nose. Honey good. Honey make Tonga’s nose feel better. Tonga like honey.” 

That’s not an official quote, but it’s how we imagine a caveman might describe his experience with honey for sunburn relief. After all, honey’s antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties have been well documented throughout history. 

Honey is a natural product that has been used in medicine since ancient times, says a 2020 report from the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health.

“Honey, propolis and pollen are used to heal burn wounds, and they possess numerous functional properties such as: antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, disinfectant, antifungal and antiviral,” says the report. 

Of course, AUNT SUE’S® honey lovers of all ages have talked about how honey has helped soothe their skin, especially when summer rolls around.

Too much fun in the sun

No matter how careful we are, sometimes the sun has its way with our skin, and we end up with a burn at the end of a day outdoors. It happens. And when it does, we reach for a bottle of AUNT SUE’S® Raw & Unfiltered Honey.

For us, we like to rub a little AUNT SUE’S® honey on a mild burn because our skin absorbs the moisture in honey, which often results in a soothing feeling. Shoulders tend to be especially susceptible to sunburns, so when that happens, we apply honey on our shoulders and let it sit 20 to 30 minutes before hopping in the shower to wash off. 

It’s important to note that if your sunburn is severe, we recommend that you see your physician. 

Pesky mosquitos!

Like with the mild sunburns, we like to apply honey on bug bites to help soothe the area of the bite. In addition to helping with the swelling, AUNT SUE’S® honey helps provide relief from the itching. Sometimes, we’ll apply the honey and then rub an ice cube over the area for additional relief. Like with mild sunburns, we get the best results when we leave the honey on our skin for about 20 to 30 minutes.

And again, as with sunburns, if the bug bites are severe, consult your physician.

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Craft Cocktails with a Buzz

New SUE BEE® INFUSIONS™ honeys make merry mixers for flavorful drinks

Sure, you can grab a can from the fridge and crack open a beer. Or pour whiskey into an ice-filled glass. Those are tried-and-true go-tos during the summer when you and your pals are hanging out in the backyard, taking sips in between a beanbag toss.

But summers are made for adventure. Why not mix it up a bit this year and try a new libation concoction? Especially when you have flavorful mixers like SUE BEE® INFUSIONS™ – strawberry, vanilla and lemon – which are blended to perfection with natural flavoring and our famous SUE BEE® clover honey. We’ve told you all about drizzling these tasty honeys over everything from waffles, toast and desserts to coffee, chicken and so much more. And now we’ve discovered a new way to use SUE BEE® INFUSIONS™: in craft cocktails! Ready to jazz up your backyard hootenannies? Try these new drink recipes at your next get-together.

Strawberry Bellini

Packed with strawberry flavor and fun, fizzy bubbles, these Italian-rooted wine cocktails are perfect for weekend afternoon cookouts.

Ingredients

10 oz of frozen or fresh strawberries

1 1/2 tsp SUE BEE® INFUSIONS™ Strawberry honey

1 tsp lemon juice

4 cups chilled prosecco

Directions

Place strawberries and SUE BEE® INFUSIONS™ Strawberry honey in a blender and puree.

Stir in lemon juice.

Fill champagne flutes with 2 tablespoons of strawberry mixture and top with prosecco. Salute!

Vanilla Paloma

Ideal for grilling season, this vibrant and citrusy Mexican-inspired drink (paloma is Spanish for “dove”), gets its zip from tequila and grapefruit soda. But we’ve added our SUE BEE® INFUSIONS™ Vanilla honey, which gives the cocktail a wonderfully smooth taste, as the vanilla-flavored honey helps balance the tartness from the citrus.

Ingredients

1 1/2 tsp SUE BEE® INFUSIONS Vanilla honey

1/2 cup pink grapefruit juice

1 tbsp lime juice

1/4 cup club soda

1 oz tequila

Directions

Add grapefruit juice, SUE BEE® INFUSIONS™ Vanilla honey, lime juice and tequila in a mixer with ice and shake. Strain over ice and add the club soda. Cheers!

Lemon Drop

Another summery drink that is best enjoyed outside while having fun under the sun, the famous Lemon Drop was invented in the 1970s in San Francisco. It’s a balanced blend of sweet and sour, and we’ve given it a new twist by adding our SUE BEE® INFUSIONS™ Lemon honey!

Ingredients

2 oz vodka

1/2 oz triple sec

1 oz lemon juice

1/2 oz SUE BEE® INFUSIONS™ Lemon honey

Garnish: sugar rim

Directions

Coat rim of martini glass with sugar and set aside.

Add vodka, triple sec, lemon juice and SUE BEE® INFUSIONS™ Lemon honey into a shaker with ice and shake well.

Strain into prepared glass. Enjoy!

Fire Up the Grill with Sweet Heat

SUE BEE® INFUSIONS™ Hot Honey spices up a variety of summer cookout go-tos

One of our favorite things about the new SUE BEE® INFUSIONS™ Hot Honey – aside from the easy-pour flip-top cap – is that we can take a simple summer grilling staple like BBQ ribs and turn them into a magical, mouth-watering journey into Yumville, USA.

And it’s as easy as drizzling our natural, chile-infused honey over your neighborhood-famous ribs … or burgers, or chicken, or beef kabobs, and so on.

Don’t have a favorite recipe for any of those? Don’t fret. You can always find delicious, easy-to-make recipes at SiouxHoney.com. Hungry for ribs? Try this super-simple recipe for SUE BEE® Hot Honey-Glazed BBQ Ribs.

SUE BEE® Hot Honey-Glazed BBQ Ribs

Ingredients

3 pounds of pork ribs

2 tbsp salt

1 1/2 cups SUE BEE® Original Style BBQ Sauce (Available on Amazon)

1 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tsp black pepper

SUE BEE® INFUSIONS™ Hot Honey (also available on Amazon) for drizzling

Directions

Preheat grill – gas grills on high, or stack charcoal on one-half of briquette grill – and lightly oil grate.

Combine salt, pepper, cumin, garlic powder in small bowl and mix to create the spice rub.

Add rub to both sides of ribs.

Place ribs on upper rack and reduce heat to low on gas grills, or place on the side without coals if using a briquette grill.

Close lid and leave undisturbed for 1 hour.

Brush ribs with SUE BEE® Original Style BBQ Sauce and grill for an additional 5 minutes.

Serve ribs as whole or cut between each rib bone and arrange on a platter.

Now, the final touch – drizzle some of that oh-so-zesty SUE BEE® INFUSIONS™ Hot Honey over the ribs.

Welcome to Yumville!

SUE BEE® SPUN® Honey

How it’s made, and our favorite ways to use it

It’s creamy. It has a silky-smooth texture. It’s easy to spread. And it has only one ingredient: honey, 100%. 

You might have heard it called “whipped honey” or “honey butter.” We call it SUE BEE® SPUN® honey and we’ve been making it almost as long as our co-op of beekeepers have been collecting honey – which is 100 years in 2021.

SUE BEE® SPUN® honey is by far our most popular Sioux Honey product. That’s because we’ve perfected the SPUN® honey process. Here’s how we do it (at least, as much as we can say – it is, after all, a well-guarded secret):

First, granulated honey is added to liquid honey and the two go for a spin – literally. Once they’ve been blended and spun, the mixture is moved to a cooling unit where the consistency – the spreadable, velvety deliciousness we all love – develops.

Unlike granulated honey all by itself, our propriety mixing process takes the graininess of granulated honey and refines the granules down so small that it creates a very smooth and easy-to-spread consistency.

Since SUE BEE® SPUN® honey is already “crystalized,” you can place it in the refrigerator to harden the texture if you prefer. Take it out and bring it to room temperature to bring it back to a smooth, creamy and spreadable texture. 

AN IMPORTANT NOTE

SUE BEE® SPUN® honey differs from regular liquid honey in that, if you place regular liquid honey in the refrigerator, it will cause the honey to naturally granulate and crystalize. All of which is still delicious. In fact, some people prefer naturally crystalized honey. You can read more about the crystallization process of honey in our blog, “A Precious Gem: Crystallized honey is not only OK, it’s preferred by many foodies.”

All about versatility with SPUN honey

In addition to SUE BEE® SPUN® honey being our most popular Sioux Honey product, it also might be our most versatile. While you can certainly add SPUN® honey to your coffee, tea and baked goods, we like to spread it … on everything! Crackers, biscuits, bagels, rolls, fruit, veggies, French toast and – arguably the best way – on peanut butter and honey sandwiches. Have you tried it? It is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

And not just any peanut butter and honey sandwiches. We have recipes to PB&H combos you won’t soon forget. Here are three of our all-time favorites.

‘The Homer’

Ingredients

• Two slices of multigrain bread
• Your favorite creamy (or chunky, if you prefer) peanut butter
• SUE BEE® SPUN® honey
• 3 pieces of cooked bacon, medium thickness

Directions

If you’re familiar with “The Simpsons” character, Homer, then you know that he LOVES bacon. Mmm, bacon. So, in honor of Homey, we present our salty-and-sweet bundle of edible joy we affectionately call “The Homer.”

For this one, we use a multigrain bread that has been toasted. After the toast pops up, remove from the toaster and let it cool for about 2 minutes. Then, spread the peanut butter on one side and the SUE BEE® SPUN® honey on the other. Layer the bacon in the middle and press the pieces together. YUM!

‘The Elvis’

Ingredients

• Two slices of regular ol’ white bread
• Your favorite creamy (or chunky, if you prefer) peanut butter
• SUE BEE® SPUN® honey
• 1/2 banana, sliced

Directions

Elvis Presley was onto something with his peanut butter-nanna sandwich. It’s a good sandwich, no doubt. But we think we’ve made it even better by adding SUE BEE® SPUN® honey to the mix. 

First, slice up that nanna and set aside. Again, the amount of honey and peanut butter is on you – some like it thick, some not so much. For this recipe, we don’t toast the bread. We’ve tried it toasted, too, but everything seems to gel and stay together much better when the bread is not toasted for this particular sandwich. Next, spread the peanut butter and honey, then lay the banana pieces on one side, press the two pieces of bread together and viola! “The Elvis!”

‘The Hive & Seek’ (a classic)

Ingredients

• Two slices of sourdough bread
• Your favorite creamy (or chunky, if you prefer) peanut butter
• SUE BEE® SPUN® honey

Directions

The amounts of honey and peanut butter will vary to taste. We like to toast the bread for this one, too. After the toast pops up, remove from toaster and let cool for 2 minutes. (Spreading the peanut butter and honey on hot toast tends to lead to gooeyness.) 

After the toast has cooled a bit, spread peanut butter on one side and SUE BEE® SPUN® honey on the other side. Press the two pieces together and enjoy!

Marriage Made in Heaven

Beekeeper Mason Maxwell’s all-American love story

What’s love got to do with it? Well, when it comes to Mason Maxwell’s beekeeping story, almost everything.

In 1992, Mason took a summer job working for Mike Thomas, a beekeeper in Florida. When Mason graduated from college a few years later, he started looking for a job as a firefighter and discovered the universal truth of beekeeping.

“Once it’s in your blood, it’s always there,” Mason says. 

He went back to work for Thomas in Florida, and, while he kept an ear out for an opening with a fire department, something – or rather someone – caught his eye. 

“That’s when I started dating Thomas’ granddaughter. And when I got hired with the fire department here in North Dakota, I came back home and the relationship with her continued.” Mason says, “And here we are. We ended up marrying in 2000, and we purchased the bee business (Thomas Honey) in 2002.” 

The love story doesn’t end there. When we asked what it takes to be a successful beekeeper, Mason’s answer was simple: “You gotta like bees.” 

But you also have to have patience, he added.

“The bees are going to produce what they can produce on a day-to-day basis. It’s all dependent on the weather. We can’t encourage them, we can’t force them to produce more than they can produce,” Mason elaborated.

“We’re completely dependent on Mother Nature; there’s no set plan. You take the good years with the bad, and hopefully every year you’re back with the bees.”

Hard work equals sweet results

Today, Mason runs colonies in North Dakota during the summer and in Florida during the winter. In January and into February, they usually send honeybees to California for almond pollination.

“We’ve got locations in about a 25-mile radius around the community of Turtle Lake, North Dakota. We try to get to every bee yard or check them every week to 10 days.

“People don’t realize the amount of transportation that goes into all of it. The trucking of the bees across the country and the hours of work that are involved from everybody.”

So why does Mason stick with it? “I just enjoy all aspects of it. I like moving the bees. I like supering. And watching how much honey they can produce when the conditions are right.”

And when you have a family like the one Mason married into, it makes the business all the sweeter. In one of his favorite photographs, there’s well over a hundred years of beekeeping experience. From Mr. Thomas – Mason’s grandfather-in-law – to Mason’s kids, there’s always an extra hand around when needed.

The Sioux Honey family

In regard to his co-op family, Mason says, “Sioux Honey is looking out for the best interest of all of us. It’s member-run, member-owned – there’s a sense of ownership.”

“From the beginning to the end, the honey has been produced by us, processed by us, and Sioux Honey finishes the process,” Mason says.

So other than enjoying a nice piece of fresh corn bread smothered in raw, unfiltered honey, what’s his favorite part of the job? 

“I just enjoy watching to see what something so small can produce,” Mason mused. “When I’m not working the bees, I’m wondering when it’s time to go back to the bee yard.”

Sounds like true love to us.