This Sauce Is No Secret

SUE BEE® honey and other natural ingredients make our BBQ sauce a popular choice

Chicken, ribs, pizza, pulled pork, shrimp, salmon – what’s your favorite way to enjoy SUE BEE® Original Style Honey Barbecue Sauce? Don’t worry, you don’t have to choose just one. When it comes to grilling season, you’ll have plenty of time to try our popular blend on all your favorite dishes. 

And what’s in our special blend? You can probably guess one of the ingredients – it’s SUE BEE® honey, sourced from the beekeeper members of the Sioux Honey Association Co-op. In fact, 48% of our SUE BEE® Original Style Honey Barbecue Sauce is our honey. Then we add rich tomato and natural spices to complete a sweet and tangy blend. 

Whether you’re grilling, broiling or baking, this convenient sauce in a flip-top bottle is just a squeeze away and ready to add zest to any dish. Need ideas? How about our SUE BEE® Honey BBQ Chicken Wings? Or perhaps our SUE BEE® Honey BBQ Ribs? How about them, indeed!

SUE BEE® Honey BBQ Chicken Wings

Ingredients

3 cups SUE BEE® Original Style Honey Barbecue Sauce 

3 lbs chicken wings

1/4 cup olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

2 cloves garlic

Directions

Cut off and discard wing tips.

Cut each wing at joint to make two sections.

Rinse wings, drain and pat dry with paper towels.

Season wings with salt and pepper, to taste.

Place wings on broiler pan and broil about 6 inches from heat for 10 minutes on each side OR until brown.

For Slow Cooker: 

Transfer wings to slow cooker.

Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl; pour over chicken wings.

Cover and place slow cooker on high for 2 hours or low for 4 hours.

For grill

Transfer wings to a bowl and mix with remaining ingredients.

Place wings on hot grill and cook until done.

Coat with SUE BEE® Original Style Honey Barbecue Sauce.

SUE BEE® Honey BBQ Ribs

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups SUE BEE® Original Style Honey Barbecue Sauce

3 lbs pork back ribs

1 medium onion

1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

1/4 tsp celery salt

1/2 tsp onion powder

2 tbsp Old Bay Seasoning

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp paprika

1/4 cup white sugar

Directions

Place all ingredients together in large roasting pan.

Cut ribs apart for easier serving.

Mix together, making sure to coat all ribs with this semi-dry paste.

Spread ribs out evenly on bottom of pan.

Cover lightly with foil.

Bake at 375 F for approximately 1 hour. Turn or stir occasionally.

You can use a broiler for these ribs, just watch more closely and adjust cooking time.

Who Does Your Honey Come From?

Meet David Coy, one of the 200+ Sioux Honey beekeepers

David Coy’s father wanted to be a cotton farmer. But he didn’t come from a family that had a large farming enterprise, and starting an operation like that – especially considering the cost of machinery – put traditional farming out of reach.

“You basically had to be born into a family of farmers to live that dream,” says David.

So David’s father, Bobby, found a different kind of crop and decided to be a different kind of farmer. With help from his father, Gene, Bobby embarked on what started as a hobby in Jonesboro, Arkansas. And, thus, began his life as a beekeeper.

That was 1969. Today, Bobby’s sons collect honey full time, helping turn that hobby into a major business as members of the Sioux Honey Association Co-op.

If you build it, they will buzz

Through the 1970s, Bobby and Gene grew their honey business, and now with Bobby’s and his two sons, David and Richard, the Coys operate out of Perkinston, Mississippi. Bobby’s third son, Steven, operates as an independent beekeeper.

“The whole time doing this, he wanted to provide an opportunity for his sons to also do what he loved,” says David.

“At one time, all three of us boys worked for my father. The only person I’ve ever gotten a paycheck from is my dad, or from Coy’s Honey Farm. I’ve worked there all my life.”

David did entertain other avenues. He earned a degree in plant science from Arkansas State University, but, after telling his guidance counselor how much money he made working for his dad in the summer, she said, “I think you need to work for your dad.”

“It really never was a question. That’s what I planned on doing,” says David.

Once a beekeeper, always a beekeeper

If you ask David what his favorite part of beekeeping is, get comfortable. His list is long.

“If I had to narrow it down to one thing, I’d say being able to see the fruits of your labor, to see your hard work pay off, the return you get on your hard work,” says David. “Of course, we’re relying on the bees to help us do that. It’s similar to how farmers feel about crops and cattle. We’re very similar in spirit. Our livestock is the bees.

“Now, there are days when I ask, ‘Why am I doing this?’ The days when you get stung a lot. But those times don’t last.”

In southern Mississippi, the floral sources for their bees consists mostly of gallberry and Chinese tallow trees.

“There’s a lot of different holly bushes that grow in the pine forest in that Gulf Plains region, and so they make a lot of honey off of that,” David says. 

The Coys also send hives to California each year to help with the February-March almond pollination season there.

Becoming a co-owner of Sioux Honey

In 2000, the Coys joined the Sioux Honey Association Co-op after several years of selling their honey as independent beekeepers. Why join Sioux Honey after hawking their honey for so long on the open market?

“We need to be taking care of our bees instead of worrying about marketing our honey,” says David. “With Sioux Honey, we know we have a home for our honey, so we don’t have to worry about going out and trying to sell it or wait on other people to come to us to sell it. 

“And there is an ownership there. We’re one of the owners. And, as owners, we can make sure the standards are up where they should be – the testing, the oversight. It matters.”

For Sioux Honey, knowing who your honey comes from is the key to providing a safe, pure and delicious honey.

“It’s not that there aren’t other good beekeepers out there, but with the beekeepers at Sioux Honey, there’s ownership in it,” says David. “So we, as beekeepers, can make sure we’re providing the best product to the co-op that we can. It’s straight from the hive. Good, clean honey.

“And there’s just a lot of history with Sioux Honey, much of it I’ve learned by serving on the board of directors. And it makes us proud to be members of the organization.”

Stop! It’s Hammy Time

Easter is the perfect day to try our popular Honey-Orange Glazed Ham

Thanksgiving has turkey. Valentine’s Day has chocolate. St. Patrick’s Day has corned beef. And Easter? Easter gets delicious, mouth-watering ham.

Of course, not all hams are created equal. Our AUNT SUE’S® Raw & Unfiltered Honey-Orange Glazed Ham, for example, is above and beyond what you might expect from an Easter ham recipe. It’s the ideal blend of flavors and, best of all, it’s easy to make!

Honey-Glazed Orange Ham

Ingredients

1/2 cup AUNT SUE’S® Raw & Unfiltered Honey

5–7 lb precooked ham

1/2 tbsp cornstarch

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

2 tbsp spicy brown mustard

1 6-oz can orange juice concentrate, thawed

1 orange, sliced

Directions

Using a paring knife, score ham in a diamond pattern, making cuts about 1/4-inch deep.

Mix remaining ingredients, except orange, and bring to a boil while stirring. Continue boiling and stirring for 1 minute.

Brush ham with glaze and bake 1 1/4 to 2 1/2 hours at 325 F, brushing with glaze every 30 minutes.

The last 45 minutes, top ham with orange slices.

March Radness

Basketball watch parties are a slam dunk with these tasty appetizers

Everyone is a basketball fan in March. Even if you don’t follow closely, when it comes to filling out end-of-the-season NCAA basketball tournament brackets, you can at least pick teams based on which state you prefer, or maybe which mascot you like better, and or even which color of uniform suits your taste.

Whichever way teams are picked, millions of people will be filling out their brackets online, at the office or with friends on social media. It’s a fun tradition, and so are March Madness marathon watch parties.

What’s not fun? Serving your friends flat food. When it comes to appetizers, the last thing you want to do is shoot an air ball. But don’t worry, we’ve drawn up a winning play that will score you points and pump up your basketball watch party with delicious appetizers like our Buzzer-Beater Buffalo Dribble Dip, Give-and-Go Garlic Beef Bites, Slam Dunk Sliders, and Fastbreak Fruit Crostini – all of which include our Sioux Honey MVPs, SUE BEE® honey.

Sure, that 14-seed team might bust your bracket, but these can’t-miss appetizers won’t.

Fastbreak Fruit Crostini

Ingredients

1 French baguette (18 inches), cut into 1/2-inch slices

8 oz creamy goat cheese

1/4 cup SUE BEE® Honey

1 cup sliced fruit (strawberries, blackberries, peaches)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degree. Place bread slices on a baking sheet and bake about 10 minutes or until lightly toasted.

Mix goat cheese and SUE BEE® Honey together until smooth. Spread the goat cheese-honey mixture on the toasted bread and top with your favorite fruits.

Before serving, drizzle each Crostini with honey. And ta-da! That’s it! Super simple, but oh, so tasty!

Slam Dunk Sliders

Ingredients

1/4 cup SUE BEE® honey

1 large onion, sliced thin

5 tbsp garlic butter

Pinch of sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 tbsp clove garlic, minced

12 slider buns, halved

1 lb thinly sliced deli roast beef

12 slices provolone cheese

1 1/2 cups low-sodium beef broth

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt 2 tablespoons of garlic butter. Add onion and season with salt and pepper. Cook until caramelized.

Place the bottom halves of slider buns on a large baking sheet and add the roast beef, provolone cheese, caramelized onions and then slider bun tops.

Brush the top of the buns with 2 tablespoons of melted garlic butter, then sprinkle with sea salt and bake until cheese is melted and sliders are warmed through.

For the au jus: Add remaining 1 tablespoon of garlic butter and melt over medium heat. Add beef broth, SUE BEE® honey and Worcestershire sauce and season with salt and pepper. Simmer until slightly reduced.

Serve sliders with au jus for dunking! (Be sure to serve with plenty of napkins for the dribblers.)

Buzzer-Beating Buffalo Dribble Dip

Ingredients

1/2 cup SUE BEE® Honey

4 cups cooked and shredded chicken breast

1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

8 oz cream cheese

3/4 cup buffalo sauce (pick your favorite brand) 

1 cup ranch dressing

Directions

Combine cooked chicken, SUE BEE® Honey, cream cheese, buffalo sauce, ranch dressing and 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese in a slow cooker (Crock Pot) and stir together.

Place lid on and set to low heat for 3–4 hours or high heat for 1–2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes. When the cheddar cheese and cream cheese are fully melted, you’re good to go.

Sprinkle the remaining shredded cheddar cheese over the top and place the lid back on, letting the dip continue to cook until the cheese on top is melted.

Serve with chips, baguette, crackers, veggies – basically, this dip is so yummy that you can put it on all sorts of things! Dill Pickle Buffalo Chicken Wraps, anyone?

Give-and-Go Garlic Beef Bites

Ingredients

3 tbsp SUE BEE® Honey

1 lb top sirloin steak, cubed


1 tsp sweet or smoked paprika


2 tbsp vegetable oil

4 tbsp soy sauce

1/4 cup water (or beef broth)


2 cloves garlic, minced


1 tbsp rice vinegar

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp dried oregano


1 tbsp cornstarch

Sesame seeds, for garnish


Sliced green onions, for garnish

Salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste


Directions

Cut steak into 1/2-inch cubes and season with paprika, salt and pepper, and then set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine SUE BEE® Honey, soy sauce, water, garlic, olive oil, rice vinegar, oregano and cornstarch, and then whisk until thoroughly combined. Set aside.

Heat vegetable oil in a skillet over medium-high heat until hot.

Add the steak cubes to the hot oil and cook for 2 minutes per side, or until browned and done. Then remove and set aside.

Pour 1/3 of the sauce and the steak bites into the skillet and pour the rest of the sauce over the steak. Cook for 1 to 2 more minutes, or until sauce starts to thicken. Remove from heat.

Transfer steak bites to a plate and drizzle with the pan sauce. Garnish with sesame seeds and sliced green onions. Serve with toothpicks and rolls for easy eating.

Honey of a Hobby

With a sweet freight, this beekeeper keeps on truckin’

“I run bees to support my trucking habit.” 

That might be a bit of an exaggeration, but as Paul Roeder shows you around his honey operation outside of Hebron, North Dakota, you see a nugget of truth.

Four semis, gleaming in the North Dakota sun, make up the family’s other business – Roeder Trucking. The pride of the fleet is the 4,500-gallon tanker dedicated to delivering honey – one of only a handful in existence.

“We’re one of the few lucky beekeepers that can haul our honey in a 4,500-gallon tank down to Sioux City, (Iowa), one of the distribution points for the Sioux Honey Association Co-op, which is headquartered in Sioux City.

“We don’t have to barrel it up. It takes a lot of the labor out of it and saves us a lot of time and energy.”

Honey has been the Roeder family business for some time. Paul and his brother John currently run the show. Their sister, Colleen, takes care of the office work. They became members of the Sioux Honey co-op in 2004. 

But their family’s honey-roots go back another generation. It all began in Randolph, Nebraska, known as the “Honey Capital of the Nation” based on the number of beekeeping families who once populated the area.

“My dad, Don Roeder, was just a kid that needed a job and ended up working for a local honey company in Randolph, which was Miller Honey Company out of Colton, California. They asked if he would go to California and he was more than willing to see the country, so he headed west.”

“He eventually ended up back 20 miles from Randolph, bought a little bee outfit on sale and ended up in Dixon, Nebraska.” Dixon was the location that started the Roeder Honey Farms’ booming business and is still one of the locations for their honey production.

After creating a strong foundation in Dixon, Roeder Honey Farms began to look for other areas to expand the business, searching for better flower sources and better honey production. Paul and his family weren’t the only ones in search of new fields, though. Another beekeeper decided to relocate after seeing a photo in a newspaper article. The photo captured workers building a dam in North Dakota. But what caught the eye of that beekeeper were the miles of yellow fields in the picture – a good sign that a beekeeping business could flourish in that area.

He was one of the original beekeepers to come up here and that’s what got him up here. That picture in that newspaper. Not long after, other honey farms followed suit and moved to North Dakota, including Roeder Honey Farms. 

On the road again

While Paul enjoys the freedom and fresh air of being a beekeeper, there are also many challenges. One of them is having to be away from family for long periods of time as the team moves the bees from location to location. 

“The hardest part about being a beekeeper is the traveling. You’re away quite a bit. From North Dakota, we’ll head to Texas in the fall. We’ll winter the bees there.” 

Then, in late-January, early-February, Paul and his team run the bees to California for almond pollination.

“We’re only there for a month or two,” Paul continued. “We’ll load them all back up, go back to Texas and then head back to North Dakota.”

For Paul, it’s also about the ability to connect with people from all around the country. As a beekeeper with many years of experience, traveling has become a natural part of continuing the traditions established at Roeder Honey Farms. 

“We like to have a relationship with as many of our landowners as we can. We know them from all over the United States. It’s amazing the vast amount of people that a beekeeper has to know to do his job. It’s a lot of people.

“We’re just local farmers. We’re trying to do the best job that we possibly can and put the best product out there.” 

No one can deny the hard work that goes into being a beekeeper – the hours, time away from family, and daily activities of honey production. With the help of Sioux Honey, Paul and his family have been able to maintain their tradition – not only of being a family-run business but also being part of something bigger. Paul hopes these traditions will continue to a third generation once his nephew, Nic Roeder, takes over the business. Continuing the strong relationship with Sioux Honey will allow Roeder Honey Farms to be part of an excellent team, while also supporting the bees, the co-op and, yes, even Paul’s trucks.

St. Patrick’s Day Feast

7 Irish-flavored foods to celebrate the holiday – and lucky for us, they all include honey

You might think that a leprechaun’s favorite food is a lucky cereal. Not so. That’s just make-believe kiddie fodder for TV. In real life, ask any leprechaun and they will tell you: Their favorite food is honey. And not just any honey. Four out of five leprechauns prefer SUE BEE® honey over regular honeys. 

That pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? It’s a pot of gold, all right – one filled with sweet, golden honey.

But you don’t have to chase rainbows this St. Patrick’s Day to celebrate with SUE BEE® honey or AUNT SUE’S® Raw & Unfiltered Honey. Our Sioux Honey Association Co-op leprechauns, er, beekeepers, have collected all the honey you’ll need to make your St. Paddy’s Day feast a lucky one. Below, you’ll find seven lucky recipes for Irish staples – of course, our versions all include honey. Happy St. Patrick’s Day – and don’t forget to wear green.

1. Honey Irish Coffee

Get ready for the festivities first thing in the morning by adding a twist to your usual cup of coffee. Our Honey Irish Coffee is a classic whiskey cocktail, and one cup will have you ready for a full day of celebrating. Get the recipe.

2. Irish Soda Bread

This quick-and-easy bread will bring the taste of the Irish to your kitchen. And the best part? It’s incredibly easy to make, and you don’t even have to wait for it to rise before baking. Get the recipe.

3. Honey-Glazed Corned Beef

Irish or not, would it be a real St. Patrick’s Day celebration without corned beef? Feast on this traditional recipe that features a unique, delicious honey glaze. Get the recipe.

4. Irish Pot Roast

If corned beef isn’t your thing, we have the perfect alternative for you. Add this hearty and flavorful Irish Pot Roast to the dinner menu, and you won’t be disappointed. Get the recipe.

5. Sweet and Sour Cabbage

Complement your Honey-Glazed Corned Beef with this Sweet and Sour Cabbage recipe. Sandwich the two between sweet rolls and a little mustard, and feast on some delicious sliders for lunch or dinner. Get the recipe.

6. Honey-Kissed Grasshopper Pie

Oreo crust brimming with mint-flavored filling and sweet honey makes for one mouthwatering pie and another superb St. Patty’s dessert option. Just make sure you hop up and grab seconds before it’s gone! Get the recipe.

7. Irish cream Cheesecake

Forget the nightcap and embrace the dessert. This decadent cheesecake is full of sweet honey and Irish cream liqueur and is best served drizzled with chocolate sauce to take your taste buds the extra mile. Get the recipe.

Winged Workaholics

Hardworking honeybees set the standard when it comes to overachievement

You’ve heard the catchphrase: “busy as a bee.” We use it every day. In the movie Office Space, it might be used like this … 

“How’s work, Peter?” 

“Oh, lots of TPS reports to get done. I’m busy as a bee.”

But is he? Is Peter really working as hard as a honeybee? Or is “busy as a bee” just a silly saying that has become a cliché?

For Peter, maybe. But not for honeybees. For these hardworking insects, the catchphrase is truer today than it ever has been. Honeybees are indeed the hardest working creatures on earth. Need proof? Consider what a worker bee does over the course of a year.

Born to work

Honeybees begin to work from the day they are born. (Child labor laws don’t exist in a beehive.)

• Birth to 3 Days: Worker honeybees spend the first three days cleaning the cells they were born in, so that the cell can either be used for a new egg from the queen or for food storage. 
• 3 to 7 Days: These days are spent helping feed older larvae. 
• 7 to 14 Days: Worker bees secrete royal jelly that is fed to the queen, younger worker larvae and queen larvae. They also secrete wax for comb-building during this period.
• 14 to 21 Days: They begin to forage, primarily for pollen. They’ll fly up to 2 or 3 miles from the hive at about 15–20 mph, and with their wings beating about 230 times per second.

From 21 days on, worker bees forage for nectar, as well as contribute to the process of changing nectar into honey and helping fan the hive to keep it cool in the warmer months. Worker bees also gather water and propolis and defend the colony against intruders.

During the active honey season – spring and summer – worker bees live five or six weeks. (Overwintering worker bees may, however, live for four to six months.) During daylight, they work non-stop, and they might fly up to 500 miles in their lifetime.

All that for a pound of honey?

It is estimated that honeybees fly 50,000 to 75,000 miles and visit 2 to 4 million blossoms to gather enough nectar to produce one pound of honey.

A honeybee colony (a hive, which is made up of between 30,000 to 60,000 bees) can collect enough nectar to create and store between 3 and 5 pounds of honey a day during spring-summer. For an entire year, the bees need about 300 pounds for themselves. Plus, a beekeeper will harvest between 60 and 100+ pounds per hive for us humans to enjoy.

Wintertime work

So, what do the honeybees living in climates that experience cold winters do during the winter months?

If they are being kept by commercial beekeepers, like those of the Sioux Honey Association Co-op, honeybees are often shipped to cold storage facilities or to warmer climates (Texas, Florida, etc.) after beekeepers finish with the August harvest of honey.

In cold storage (potato sheds are ideal, for example), bees stay dormant, which helps them build strength and body fat. Plus, the bees are broodless, which means the queen can get a rest because she isn’t constantly laying eggs. The cool temps also help kill off hive pests like varroa mites, which can’t live if they don’t have new brood to eat.

In warmer climates, honeybees can also rest and build up strength. They also tend to hunker down for a few months, as winter temperatures are cooler even in southern locales in the U.S.

If you’re a honeybee that belongs to a commercial beekeeper in the U.S., your downtime lasts from September to December, and then it’s time to travel to California for the almond pollination season, which lasts from late-January to mid-March.

It’s no fun-in-the-sun vacation for the honeybees when they get to sunny, central California, either. They are busy collecting honey and pollinating almond trees. And then queens – which typically live between 2 and 5 years – who were taking a break are back to laying 1,500 to 3,000 eggs per day, rebuilding the hive with new worker bees.

More than almonds …

While beekeepers who lease their bees for pollination services typically do so for almond pollination, almonds are certainly not the only food bees pollinate. In fact, we rely on bees to pollinate 71 of the 100 crops that provide 90% of the world’s food. In the U.S. alone, honeybees pollinate an estimated $15 billion worth of crops every year. They say that one in every three bites of food we eat depends on bee pollination.

Here are just a few foods that would likely disappear without the honeybee: almonds, apples, avocados, blueberries, cherries, cucumbers, grapefruit, onions, oranges, pumpkins and lots, lots more!

Let’s not forget about those drone bees

We’ve talked about the worker bees (females) and the queen (also female), but we haven’t mentioned the drones of the beehive (the males). 

That’s because their role is limited. Out of the 30,000–60,000 bees in a colony (a hive), only a few hundred are drones. Let’s face it, drones are only there for one thing: to mate with the queen. Drones do not pollinate, create wax or have a stinger. They just help make baby bees.

After six days in the hive, the drones venture out and get to know the area around the hive, and then they begin searching for a mate. Once a drone mates with the queen, he dies. Sorry, guys. 

A labor of love

What does all this mean? It means we are even more grateful than ever for the wonderful, miraculous honeybee. And the next time someone says they are “busy as a bee,” you can say, “Well, actually …”

Dry Skin Solution

Our homemade treatment can help soothe winter wear

Winter’s cold, dry air can wreak havoc on hands and lips, so it’s important to keep them moisturized. Serendipitously for you, we know of a natural solution that locks in moisture and gives hands and lips a soothing and refreshing sensation. And it takes just about 10 minutes to make!

Our recipe below features a Homemade Honey Hand & Lip Balm that is ideal as a lotion or cuticle balm. It also helps hydrate sore, chapped lips. Best of all, it includes our AUNT SUE’S® Raw & Unfiltered Honey.

Ingredients

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup almond oil

5 tbsp beeswax pellets (available on Amazon)

1 tbsp shea butter

1 1/2 tbsp AUNT SUE’S® Raw & Unfiltered Honey

10–20 drops of essential oils of your choice (optional)

4 drops of vitamin E oil (optional)

Containers

Small glass jars, small tins with lids and plastic lip balm tubes all work well for storage. Containers like these are available on Amazon.

Directions

Arrange containers (lids off) that you plan to use to store the balm.

Combine all ingredients – except the honey, vitamin E and essential oils – into a microwave-safe bowl or double boiler.

Heat using …

Option 1: In a double boiler, slowly heat until melted.

or

Option 2: In a microwave-safe bowl, heat in microwave in 30-second intervals until all ingredients have melted.

Remove from heat. Add honey, essential oils and vitamin E, then gently stir until all ingredients are mixed thoroughly.

Spoon the balm into your containers, seal with lid and place into the refrigerator for 15 minutes to cool completely. Let the balm solidify before using.

If you’d like to change the texture, simply melt the balm again and add either more beeswax or more essential oils until you reach your desired texture.

Bake the World a Better Place

How pie might save humanity (and ‘dogmanity’)

Can a pie bring world peace? Perhaps. After all, stranger things have happened. One thing is certain, though: AUNT SUE’S® Chocolate Lovers Pie might be our best chance.

At the very least, we should be less stressed after a savory slice of this easy-to-make pie. As renowned playwright David Mamet wrote, “We must have pie. Stress cannot exist in the presence of pie.”

How true. And how deliciously decadent our beloved AUNT SUE’S® Chocolate Lovers Pie is. And what better time to enjoy it than in February, which happens to be National Pie Month.

But humans aren’t the only ones who can celebrate. We have a special recipe for a pet-friendly pie, too, so your furry family members won’t feel left out. It’s called Pumpkin Pie for Pooches, and our dogs love it!

AUNT SUE’S® Chocolate Lovers Pie

Ingredients

1 Pre-made graham cracker crust

For the Filling

1/3 cup AUNT SUE’S® Raw & Unfiltered Honey

2 large eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup dark chocolate chips

1/4 tsp salt

For the Chocolate Curls

1 chocolate bar of your choice

Instructions

For the filling

Separate the eggs. Break the whites into a large bowl or mixer. Put the yolks in a small bowl and set nearby.

Spoon the sour cream into a measuring cup and have it nearby.

Fill a double boiler with about 2 inches of water. If you don’t have a double boiler, fill a small saucepan with about 2 inches of water and set over high heat on the stove. Place a metal or glass bowl on top of the pan. Let the water come to a bowl. Make sure you use hot pads when you touch the bowl. (This works the same way as a double boiler.)

Add 6 ounces of chocolate (1 cup) to the bowl and stir occasionally until melted.

As soon as the chocolate is melted, remove it from the heat (leave the pan boiling), add the yolks and whisk vigorously.

Replace the bowl of chocolate over the pan of boiling water and whisk for about 30 seconds, or slightly more, until the mixture forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the pan.

Immediately remove the bowl from the heat. Stir in the sour cream and beat with a whisk until smooth.

While the chocolate is melting, begin preparing the egg whites. Add the salt to the whites in the bowl.

Beat the whites, then gradually add the honey while continuing to beat for 4 or 5 minutes. Then fold them into the chocolate mixture.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared crust and spread to the edges.

Poke toothpicks all over the pie so that they stick up. Cover with plastic wrap and store the pie in the fridge for at least 3 hours, overnight is better.

For the Chocolate Curls (optional):

Grate chocolate bar over pie as desired.

Pumpkin Pie for Pooches

Ingredients

16 oz can of pumpkin

2 tbsp SUE BEE® honey

8 oz plain low-fat yogurt

3/4 cup all-purpose or whole wheat flour

1/2 cup oatmeal

1/4 cup applesauce, unsweetened

3 tbsp water

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix oatmeal and flour together in a food processor.

Add applesauce and honey and continue to mix in the food processor.

Add water slowly, using only enough to make a ball (too much will make the dough sticky).

Spray wax paper and muffin tin with vegetable oil cooking spray.

Roll out dough onto wax paper and divide dough into 8 small balls before rolling out.

Press individual circles into bottom and sides of muffin tin.

Bake for 8 minutes.

Let crusts cool, then remove from the muffin tin.

Fill each crust with about 1/4 cup canned pumpkin.

Top with a dollop of yogurt (optional).

Spoil Yourself

Relax this Valentine’s Day with a combo that bathers swear by

Honey and milk, maybe an herb. A dash or two of essential oils, and voila! It’s a soothing bath blend custom-made for a relaxing Valentine’s Day soak.

“The combination of honey and milk has been used from ancient times to treat skin problems and nourish the skin,” says stylecraze.com. “When both these skin-benefiting agents are used together, the result is amazing.”

Apparently, Egyptian rulers enjoyed a good old-fashioned milk-and-honey bath, too.

“Cleopatra soaked in fragrant milk and honey baths, which kept her skin looking beautiful and radiant,” says diybeautydiva.com.

Adds bathtubber.com: “Milk contains a known skin exfoliant. Honey is a natural emollient. Skin will feel smooth, soft and rejuvenated after a 20-minute soak.”

Ready to try it?

You can find a variety of recipes for milk-and-honey baths, but they all have the basics: milk and honey. You can add scented oils, dried herbs, dried flowers and more to the mix. Here’s how to make your own:

Base Ingredients

1 cup AUNT SUE’S® Raw & Unfiltered Honey

1 cup milk

Optional Ingredients

Almond oil

Essential oils, such as lavender

Dried flower petals

Dried herbs

Directions

Gently warm the milk and honey in a saucepan. DO NOT BOIL.

Remove from heat and pour into a glass bowl. 

Add optional ingredients if desired.

Pour ingredients into a warm bath.

Remove clothes and get into bath.

Relax … 

From NASA to Nectar

Engineering a successful family-run honey farm

Talk about changing the trajectory of your career.

Howard Bradshaw was working as a rocket engineer at NASA-supplier Rocketdyne in the mid-1960s when he decided to leave all that behind to devote his life to beekeeping. 

Of course, Howard wasn’t a novice when it came to keeping honeybees. He had found a swarm of bees as a youngster and immediately fell in love with the amazing insect.

“He came home from work one day – he was fixing bicycles at the bike shop for 25 cents an hour – and there was a swarm of bees sitting on the hedge in the front yard,” explains Howard’s son, David. “Back in the day, you could go down to Sears Roebuck and buy anything that was in the catalog, including a beehive kit, so he went down and bought a beehive. That was the start. He kept bees from that time on until he officially retired a few years ago.”

At Rocketdyne, much of Howard’s work related to the Apollo Program, David says.

“But they had a series of mishaps where someone mixed the wrong combination of fuel together and there was an explosion,” David recalls. “My dad said, ‘You know what? I think beekeeping is a safer job than building rocket engines.’ So he quit.”

Beekeeping becomes a lifelong love affair

Howard moved his family from Los Angeles to the Visalia, California, area, located about 40 miles south of Fresno, where the Bradshaw Honey Farm has been ever since. In addition to building his honey operation, Howard also rented his bees to area farmers for pollination services.

“More and more almonds were in demand, which called for more bees, so we got more bees and it really took off,” says David. “When I graduated from high school, my mom told me that I needed to go to college and my dad was like, ‘No, he needs to work bees with me.’”

David did attend a few years of college before returning home to work in the honey business. He soon added his own hives to the operation, and Howard joined the Sioux Honey Association Co-op in the late ‘60s; David joined in 1976.

“We do a lot of pollinating, but we also have an amazing honey crop to go with it,” David said. “We’re surrounded by oranges, so our big honey crop is orange honey. And then, in the summer, we have some alfalfa honey.

“My dad and I worked side by side until he was 81,” David said. Howard passed away in June 2019. “He longed for the days of working with bees.”

A handshake and some honey

For honey farmers, it’s all about location. The fields where they are able to set their hives determine what types of honey their bees produce, and how much. For years, beekeepers have made handshake deals with traditional crop and livestock farmers to place their hives.

“It’s still done with a handshake, surprisingly,” says David. “It’s still pretty old-school. I’ve been working with these ranchers and farmers for 40 years. They’re good people.”

Nozzles and dollies

David Bradshaw must have his dad’s engineering genes in him, because he has made a name for himself with beekeepers across the U.S. thanks to his custom-made beekeeping tools.

“We are always looking for ways to make our work more efficient,” David says. Through years of trial and error, we have developed a few tools that have proven to save us time and save our backs from the constant bending and lifting.”

From a special Bee Hive Dolly (aka “the Back Saver”) to a custom-designed beehive tool that helps with beehive box construction, David is all about making the beekeeper’s job easier.

Best job in the world

“The lifestyle of beekeeping, being your own boss, is amazing,” says David. “You watch the bees and see how they are organized; it’s just amazing.”

Of course, beekeeping – the long hours, the driving, the moving of hives, the stings and everything that goes with it – comes with a lot of responsibility and hard work.

“It’s a constant effort, every day. I keep a little notebook here. My list just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger. I keep checking them off because I have to think of things to do, think of things for the employees to do, and try to get everything done in an efficient manner.

“But this is the best job I could ever imagine.”

Sweet Heat for Your Flame

Spice up Valentine’s Day with our NEW SUE BEE® INFUSIONS™ Hot Honey

Have you tickled your taste buds with our SUE BEE® INFUSIONS™ Hot Honey? For this magical mix, we’ve taken our beloved, naturally pure SUE BEE® honey and infused it with chilies to create a taste experience you won’t soon forget.

You can order it now on our Amazon store, and, with Amazon Prime delivery, you should get it in time to make your sweetheart a special, zesty meal for Valentine’s Day. (HOT recipes below!)

Our chili-infused honey adds pizzaz to your pizza; zing to your wings; sizzle to your stir-fry; fire to your ribs; a “Boom!” to your burgers; a va-va-voom to your veggies … you get the idea.

Speaking of ideas, need any for a Valentine’s Day dinner? These popular, easy-to-make recipes will win the heart of your Valentine – and because they all include SUE BEE® INFUSIONS™ Hot Honey, you might even get a spicy kiss!

Hoy Honey Shrimp Stir-fry

Ingredients

1 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tbsp fish sauce

1/2 tbsp sesame seeds

1 tbsp cornstarch

2 tbsp SUE BEE® INFUSIONS™ Hot Honey

1/4 cup chicken stock

4 cups prepared white rice

1 each red, green and yellow bell pepper, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 cup button mushrooms, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

1/2 zucchini, chopped

1/2 cup sugar snap peas

1/4-lb peeled, deveined shrimp

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

1 tbsp canola oil

chopped scallion, to garnish

Directions

Whisk together soy sauce, fish sauce, sesame seeds, cornstarch, honey, and chicken stock. Set aside.

Heat canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

Add chopped peppers, onion, mushrooms, carrot and zucchini to skillet and sauté for about five minutes, or until vegetables have begun to soften and take on color.

Using tongs or a spatula, push vegetables to the sides of the skillet.

Add shrimp to the center and sauté till pink and translucent, about three minutes.

Add garlic to the skillet and cook for about a minute.

Add soy sauce honey mixture and sugar snap peas.

Cook for another two minutes.

Serve over steamed rice, topped with chopped scallion.

Spicy Honey Lime Salmon

Ingredients

2 salmon fillets

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup olive oil

Juice from 2 limes

4 tbsp SUE BEE® INFUSIONS™ Hot Honey

Salt and pepper

Directions

Whisk together olive oil, honey, lime juice, garlic and salt and pepper.

Pour into a large zip-top bag with salmon fillets and marinate for at least two hours.

Preheat grill over medium heat.

Brush grill lightly with oil.

Grill salmon for about five minutes on each side, or till flesh flakes easily.

Hot Honey Chicken Tacos

Ingredients

2 lb skinless, boneless chicken breasts

3/4 cup SUE BEE® INFUSIONS™ Hot Honey

3 tsp chipotle in adobo sauce

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 1/2 tsp paprika

1 1/2 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp pepper

Taco-sized corn or flour tortillas

1/2 cup pepper jack cheese, shredded, if desired

Red cabbage, diced

Avocados, sliced thin

Lime wedges

Directions

Puree honey and chipotle in food processor or blender until smooth.

Lay chicken breasts in Crock-Pot and season.

Pour honey chipotle mixture over chicken and cook on high for 3 hours or low for 5–6 hours until chicken is done and shreds easily.

Remove chicken from slow cooker. (Keep juices in Crock-Pot.)

Shred chicken with forks and return to Crock-Pot to absorb the remaining juices.

Serve on tortillas with your favorite taco toppings. Also works well for nachos.

Honl’s Honey

Third-generation beekeepers take over family business

Al Honl was just a kid when he presented a 4-H project featuring a solitary honeybee colony. That was 1924, when the 4-H judges might have been thinking something like, “Big deal. A honeybee colony.”

But now, 96 years later, it is a big deal – a very big deal. Al’s single colony has grown into thousands of colonies, and the Honl family is on its third generation of beekeepers.

Today, Honl’s Bees, Inc., is one of the top producers for the Sioux Honey Association Co-op and is run by Al’s grandsons, Bert and Jesse, who operate out of Winthrop, Minnesota, in the spring and summer. They spend winters in Texas where they sell hundreds of nucs (small honeybee colonies) each year to professional beekeepers and hobbyists. The Honls also send some of their bee colonies to California in the winter months to help pollinate the state’s almond farms.

Next generation takes over

A few years ago, Bert and Jesse Honl purchased the honey operation from their father, Rand Honl, and his brother, Gary Honl. But don’t expect Rand to leave the operation he helped build. He’s a beekeeper for life, his sons say.

“My father is 75, and he’s one of those guys that will never retire,” Bert Honl said. “When he passes away, we will find him in the bee yard, because he won’t quit. We tell him to go on vacation, but he insists on working the bees.”

Bert and Jesse worked in the Honls’ bee yards through their high school years. After graduation, they decided to leave home and work in other professions.

“My brother went to college to be a welder. I wanted to be an electrician,” Bert said. “So I did that for two years, and I hated it because I didn’t like working for somebody else. Then I came back and I started working for my father. My father and my uncle Gary gave me 100 colonies as an incentive to get in on the bees.”

Jesse also came back home after college. “We wanted to work bees. That’s what we knew best.”

In 2003, Jesse was in a car accident that injured his neck, which left him paralyzed from the chest down. However, that hasn’t kept him away from the family business.“He’s our boss, and he handles labor stuff,” Bert said. “Hiring our employees, filling orders for our queens. He runs the honey house, while my wife, Angie, handles billing and accounting.”

They love collecting honey, and they love eating, too

The Honls collect honey produced from their bees that visit mostly basswood trees (also known as Linden trees) and clover.

“People come into our honey house, and they’re like, ‘Holy cow!’ When we’re producing a load of honey a day, it’s pretty amazing.”

Bert says he eats honey every day.

“I love it; I’m eating it right now. I made a smoothie and I put a couple of tablespoons of honey in my smoothie. My kids just devour it.”

Bert and Angie have three children – the oldest of which works in the fields with the hives. He said the kids love Angie’s “Special K” bars made with honey, and they are “to die for.”

“Whenever she cooks, she always substitutes the sugar in recipes for honey.”

A lifetime of memories

One of Bert’s fondest memories came during a downpour of rain when he and his brother – just 14 and 15 at the time, respectively – were working the hives with their father.

“We had one yard of bees left to check and it was raining so hard that you couldn’t see past the windshield in the truck. My dad wanted to get out and finish the hives, but my brother and I had a different idea,” Bert said.

Bert and Jesse who are now 6’5 and 6’7, respectively, were even taller than their dad at that point. (Dad is 5’10.) Bert said he and his brother had more muscle on that day.

“We taped his hands to the steering wheel with duct tape so he couldn’t get out of the truck,” Bert said, laughing. “He had to drive us home because he couldn’t get out … That’s a memory I’ll never forget.”

Honey and Exercise

Two of our favorite things go hand in hand

Sioux Honey Association Co-op members are not scientists; they’re beekeepers. But if you’ve ever talked to a longtime beekeeper, you might think they have a Ph.D. in chemistry or biology. 

In one sentence, they’ll tell you all about the components found in honey, like fructose, glucose, vitamins, minerals and so on. In the next sentence, they’ll talk about honey byproducts, like propolis, pollen, royal jelly and beeswax.

And the bees? They’re the true chemists. They make honey through a complex process using enzymes and dehydration to convert sugar found in nectar into the supersaturated solution – and superfood – we call honey. That’s Nobel Prize-level work there.

The point is, we’re not here to make scientific claims about honey. We’ll leave that to the real Ph.D.s. But we can certainly tell you about our experience with honey – in particular, how honey gives us an energetic feeling before, during and after workouts.

But don’t just take our word for it; consider what others say about honey and exercising:

“If you are looking for an energy boost during your next workout, or something to help with your recovery from a tough session at the gym, you may want to consider honey,” says AmpFitness.com.

“Due to its carbohydrate composition (low glycemic index, mostly fructose and glucose), honey may theoretically exert positive effects when consumed before, during or after exercise,” says the U.S.  National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health (NIH).

According to NIH’s report, “Honey Supplementation and Exercise: A Systematic Review,” (which you can read at ncbi.nlm.nih.gov), “Due to the potential health benefits and to offset the risks posed by supplement contamination, many athletes, practitioners and researchers espouse a ‘food-first’ approach to sports nutrition. 

“As honey is a natural substance comprised of 80% carbohydrates (primarily fructose and glucose), and is known to possess antioxidant, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties, there exists a theoretical basis for its use as a nutritional supplement in exercising populations.”

Like we said, we like the way honey makes us feel before and after we work out. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that one.

More on honey and exercise

According to Healthy Living, “Depending on how intense your workout was and whether you properly fueled up beforehand, your blood sugar can drop dangerously low. Having a tablespoon or two of honey after a workout is an effective way to keep your blood sugar up. Even if you don’t enter the danger zone, honey will refuel your body, giving you energy for whatever you need to do next.”

Still another source: “Honey may also be useful before and during your workout. If you eat honey before body building or any exercise, you allow for a slow and steady release of glucose into the blood. Honey can be absorbed into the bloodstream without the process of digestion,” says LiveStrong.com.

“When honey is eaten before a workout or athletic activity, it is released into the system at a steady rate throughout the event. During exercise, consuming carbohydrates, such as honey, during a workout helps muscles stay nourished longer and delays fatigue,” according to Biology and Medicine.

A final thought before you head to the gym

As we said at the beginning, we’re not mad scientists. But we are happy campers when we eat honey before and after we exercise – whether that’s walking the dog, riding a bike, pumping iron at the gym or taking in a yoga class. 

Freezing Temps? Frigid Winter Winds?

Sounds like a perfect time for a hot cup of honey-drizzled tea

“It’s always teatime,” says the Hatter from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. And you’d have to be mad not to know winter is an especially good time for a hot cup of tea.

That’s probably why the people in charge of holidays made January National Tea Month. It’s usually cold, often snowy, and it’s the perfect time of year for us to revisit some of our favorite hot tea recipes – all of which include our beloved Sue Bee® honey and Aunt Sue’s® Raw & Unfiltered Honey.

Ready for teatime?

Apple Pie Spiced Hot Tea

Ingredients

1 tbsp Sue Bee® honey

1/2 tbsp crystalized ginger

1 tsp whole allspice

1 tsp whole cloves

1/4 cup dried apple chips or dried apples

3 cinnamon sticks (2-inch size)

4 green tea bags

Directions

In medium pan, mix ginger, allspice, cloves, cinnamon sticks and 4 cups of water. 

Bring to a boil and reduce heat. 

Simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. 

Remove pan from heat. 

Add apple chips and tea bags to spiced water mixture. 

Let tea steep for 5 minutes. 

Remove and discard tea bags, spices and cinnamon sticks. Makes 4 servings.

Irish Whiskey Hot Tea Toddy

Ingredients

1 lemon slice

5 whole cloves

5 black peppercorns

1 bag black tea

1 broken cinnamon stick

Grated fresh nutmeg

2 tsp Aunt Sue’s® Raw & Unfiltered Honey

1 1/2 oz of Irish whiskey

Directions

Place two teaspoons of honey with 1 1/2 ounces of Irish whiskey in a ceramic mug.

Add tea bag, 5 black peppercorns, 5 whole cloves, 1 broken cinnamon stick, a squeezed slice of lemon, and grated fresh nutmeg.

Top with boiling water and serve.

Honey Chai Tea Latte

Ingredients

2 tsp whole fennel seeds

8 green cardamom pods

2 cinnamon sticks, broken up

10 black peppercorns

10 whole cloves

1 star anise, broken up

1/3 cup honey (use our Aunt Sue’s® Raw & Unfiltered Honey or try our new Sue Bee® Infusions™ Lemon Flavored Honey)

6 cups water

1 cup milk

5 black tea bags

Directions

Toast the spices in a medium saucepan over medium heat till fragrant.

Add water and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.

Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Remove from heat, and add tea bags.

Steep another 5 minutes, then remove tea bags.

Strain, then stir in milk and honey and serve.

Quick and Easy Honey Lemon Green Tea

Ingredients

1 tbsp honey (try our classic Sue Bee® honey, or try our new Sue Bee® Infusions™ Lemon Flavored Honey)

1 lemon slice

Green tea bag

Hot water

Directions

Steep green tea with lemon slice to desired color.

Stir in honey and serve.

Hobby? Hardly!

Leisurely pastime turns into lifetime livelihood for this Sioux Honey beekeeper

Go ahead. Ask Bob Newswander how he got started in beekeeping. “I tell people that beekeeping is a hobby that went amok.”

If that’s the case, it’s been a lifelong hobby for Bob. A beekeeper for 50 years, he’s learned to put his bees before almost everything else.

“You’ve got to give 100% attention to your bees. It has to consume you; you have to be in the hives every day. When you’re in the hives, the bees are telling you what’s going on. You can see stuff. After 50 years of doing it, I can just walk up, and you just know, you can tell. It’s just the way they look, the size of them, the way they move – even the sound.”

Beekeeping is hard work, and, to succeed, you have to be committed to it and not be afraid of hard work. Bob shared his secret for 50 years of success. “The bees have to be your first love. My wife’s not pleased with that, but that’s the way it has to be sometimes,” he says, quickly adding with a laugh, “She’s been a pretty good sport about it.”

A faithful devotion

Bob clearly loves his bees. “Bees are really a natural product of the creator. Sometimes you tell people about bees, and they can’t even believe what you’re saying. They’ll say, ‘That couldn’t be true,’ but it is true. They’re a really marvelous insect.”

“In California, we had a whole bunch of hives right in the middle of an almond orchard. The trees were big enough, it was a total, complete canopy. I walked over there, and I stood by a hive, and I could watch the bee come right through the canopy right down in his hive. From above the canopy, he knew where his hive was, even though he couldn’t see it. How he does that, only the creator knows.”

Like so many Sioux Honey Association Co-op members, Newswander Apiaries is a family operation. Bob’s son Michael traded in his engineering career to join his dad in the bee business.

Michael grew up around beekeeping before he went off to college to get a degree in engineering. About 11 years ago, he thought, “I’ve got sons that need to have good experiences learning how to work, and I wanted to spend more time with them. So I quit my job as an engineer.” Looking across the landscape, past the trees to the mountains on all sides, he says, “And now I get to work in an office like this.”

So what is so appealing about beekeeping? “Working for yourself and dealing with a wonderful creation of nature. There’s just nothing better than being outside digging in a beehive, building beehives, pulling the honey off at the end of the year. That’s a culmination of your efforts through the spring and summer.”

Joining Sioux Honey

A member of the Sioux Honey Association Co-op since 1970, today the Newswanders’ beehives are spread out across more than 6,000 square miles of southeastern Idaho and northern Utah, with their base of operations in Preston, Idaho, in the Cache Valley. As a long-time member of the co-op, they can tell you firsthand the advantages of membership.

“This co-op has existed for lots and lots of years. It’s just a group of fellow beekeepers that are members. And as members, we have a say as far as what happens with the co-op, how it works, because it basically is owned by us. Sioux Honey Association Co-op is owned by its 200-plus members.”

Bob says, “Our philosophy is to give the bees all of your attention. If you do that, you don’t have the time or the energy to market your honey, so you need to turn it over to an organization that works well with you, that will take care of that responsibility, so you can spend 100% of your effort in keeping the bees alive. I want to just run bees, and I want to run as many hives as I can and try to be successful in keeping as many hives alive and healthy as I can.”

All about the bees

If you’re catching a theme, it’s all about the bees for Bob. He is quick to point out the role that his bees play in pollinating so many food crops – key among them are the almond orchards he takes his bees to every February and March, almost 1,000 miles west. “It’s a very important part of agriculture in America – well, the world. Without the bees, we’d all live very differently.”

Bob is adamant that consumers should know where their honey comes from. When you know the individuals who produce the honey, and you know they’re producing it in America, you can trust that it’s pure and clean. “It doesn’t have antibiotics in it. People need to know it’s safe to eat. The more we learn about non-natural sweeteners, the more we learn that honey is the best way to go. It’s a natural sweetener.”

Not only do the Newswanders love bees, they love honey. And like all beekeepers, they get to enjoy it in special ways. They related a recent story: “The other day one of our employees brought a loaf of bread to work in the extracting room, and we all put slices of bread under the outlet of the spinner and ate a bunch of bread with honey on it, and it was fantastic. So, there’s a lot of ways (to enjoy honey), but a good, thick, heavy honey on bread is pretty awesome.”

Bob’s happy that his son is continuing in the family business. “It’s a good business and a good way of life,” he says. With Michael shouldering the bulk of the daily work, Bob doesn’t have to run the entire operation on his own. “It makes it so I can still be involved at an older age. It’s been a good deal because retirement has never set too good with me. I prefer to be active and involved.”

Now that he’s closer to retirement, maybe Bob needs to find a new hobby – for the next 50 years.

A Family That Bakes Together …

… Ends up in a home filled with sweet aromas for the holidays

Pro tip: If you want jolly ol’ Saint Nick to be extra generous this year, leave him a plate of Santa’s Honey-Kissed Chocolate Chip Cookies. Sweetened with Sue Bee® honey, Santa Claus will love these ho, ho, homemade treats.

Need more holiday baking ideas? Try our Honey-Spiced Gingerbread Elves or Mrs. Claus’ Honey Holiday Delights – two more Sue Bee® honey-sweetened cookies that the whole family will enjoy making – and eating! – together.

First, a note on baking with honey

One of the many great things about baking with natural honey rather than refined sugar is that that you use less in the recipes. (Because honey is sweeter than sugar, you’ll need less of it.) The general rule is: For every 1 cup of sugar, use 1/2 to 2/3 cup of Sue Bee® honey.

Also, remember that honey contains a small percentage of moisture, so, when substituting honey in recipes that call for 1 cup or more of sugar, reduce the other liquids in the recipe by 1/4 cup for every 1 cup of honey.

If the recipe doesn’t already call for it, you’ll need to add a little baking soda, which helps balance honey’s natural acidity, allowing the baked goods to rise properly. In cookie recipes using eggs, or in recipes with no other liquids, increase the flour by 2 tablespoons for each cup of honey.

Ready to bake? Let’s go!

Santa’s Sue Bee® Honey-Kissed Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup Sue Bee® honey

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 cup chocolate chips

1 tbsp vanilla

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 F.

Mix flour, salt and baking soda together; set aside.

Mix Sue Bee® honey, sugar, butter and vanilla until well blended and slightly fluffy; scrape sides of bowl.

Add flour mixture to sugar/butter mixture and blend together. Do not over mix.

Add chocolate chips.

Drop rounded spoonfuls of dough onto an un-greased non-stick pan, and bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until browned around the edges. For crispier cookies bake 18 to 25 minutes.

Set on wire rack to cool.

Honey-Spiced Gingerbread Elves

Ingredients for the Cookies

6 tbsp Sue Bee® honey

1/2 cup softened butter

1/4 cup molasses

2 cups unbleached flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp ginger

Ingredients for the Frosting

1/3 cup Sue Bee® honey

1 package of cream cheese

1/4 cup softened butter

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Food coloring (red and green)

Directions for the Cookies

Combine butter, honey and molasses in a bowl. Add dry ingredients until a dough is formed.

Let dough chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Divide in half and knead each ball gently, as dough will still be soft and buttery.

Roll each ball to a thickness of 1/4 inch on a lightly floured board and cut dough with a cookie cutter.

Place shapes on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 F for 5 to 7 minutes. Watch carefully, as they burn easily.

Directions for the Frosting

Mix all ingredients until well-combined. Split into three portions and add red food coloring to one, green to another, and save the last for the white.

Place into separate piping bags (red, green and white) with small tips and frost cookies. Serve and enjoy!

Mrs. Claus’ Honey Holiday Delights

Ingredients

1 cup Sue Bee® honey

1 egg

2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour + 1/2 cup for rolling/dusting

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup butter

Ingredients for the Frosting

1/3 cup Sue Bee® honey

1 package of cream cheese

1/4 cup softened butter

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions for the cookies

Cream butter and honey.

Add egg and vanilla and mix well.

Mix all dry ingredients, then slowly incorporate into the wet mix.

When the dough becomes too hard to mix, turn out onto floured surface and work dough until smooth.

Roll dough on floured parchment paper and cut with cookie cutters.

Bake at 350 F for 6 to 8 minutes.

Allow to cool before decorating.

Directions for the Frosting

Mix all ingredients until well-combined.

Place into piping bag with a small tip and frost cookies. Serve and enjoy!

Fresh Start

3 delicious recipes for a healthy-minded 2021

Who’s ready to kick 2020 to the curb and welcome in a fresh start for 2021? Us, too!

It’s been a challenging year, but we’re ready to take on 2021 with a fresh energy, which is why we’re making some of our favorite healthy-minded Sioux Honey recipes. Below, you’ll find the instructions for making our new Honey Cranberry Granola Bars, as well as our popular Honey-Kissed Fruit Smoothies and our Greek Salad Quinoa Bowl – all made with Aunt Sue’s® Raw & Unfiltered Honey.

Honey Cranberry Granola Bars

Ingredients

• 2 cups old-fashioned oats 
• 3/4 cup raw almonds 
• 2/3 cup dark chocolate chips 
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 1 cup almond butter or peanut butter 
• 1/2 cup Aunt Sue’s® Raw & Unfiltered Honey 
• 2/3 cup coconut 
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries 

Directions

In a mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients. 

Add honey and nut butter to dry ingredients and mix. 

Line the bottom of an 8”x8” or 9”x9” square baking pan. Pour in mixture and press down as firmly and evenly as possible. 

Cover the pan and refrigerate for at least one hour, or overnight. Use a sharp knife to slice the bars. 

Keep in airtight container or freeze them.

Honey-Kissed Fruit Smoothies

Red Smoothie

• 1 ¾ cup soy or almond milk
• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1 cup frozen strawberries
• 1 cup frozen peaches
• 1 cup frozen raspberries
• 2 tbsp Aunt Sue’s® Raw & Unfiltered Honey

Blend all ingredients together, very slowly, increasing speed from low to high. Blend for 1 and ½ minutes at high.

Yellow Smoothie

• 1 cup soy or almond milk
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 cup frozen mango
• 1 cup frozen peach
• 1 cup frozen pineapple
• 1 ½ tbsp Aunt Sue’s® Raw & Unfiltered Honey

Blend all ingredients together, very slowly, increasing speed from low to high. Blend for 1 and ½ minutes at high.

Green Smoothie

• 1 ¾ cup soy or almond milk
• 1 cup chopped kiwi (about 2 kiwi fruits), frozen
• 1 cup fresh baby spinach
• 1 chopped pear, frozen
• 1/2 chopped granny smith apple, frozen
• 1 banana, frozen
• 3 tbsp Aunt Sue’s® Raw & Unfiltered Honey

Blend all ingredients together, very slowly, increasing speed from low to high. Blend for 1 and ½ minutes at high.

Greek Salad Quinoa Bowl

Ingredients

• 1 cup quinoa
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 3/4 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• 5 leaves basil, thinly cut
• 1/2 cucumber, roughly chopped
• 1/3 cup feta cheese
• fresh chopped or dried dill to taste
• For the Honey Dressing:
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/4 cup Aunt Sue’s® Raw & Unfiltered Honey
  • 1 tsp sea salt

Directions

Prepare quinoa according to packaging instructions.

Once finished cooking, combine quinoa, red onion, cherry tomatoes, basil, cucumber and feta in a bowl and stir to combine.

In a separate bowl, whisk together honey and olive oil.

Toss salad with about half of the dressing.

Taste, then season and add more dressing as needed.

Top with chopped fresh or dried dill.

Giving Sweet Thanks

Beekeeping is an extended-family affair for this honey farmer

David Winter has beekeeping down to a science. But he’s no mad scientist. Although … perhaps he could have been. 

David, a California-based member of the Sioux Honey Association Co-op, majored in biology and chemistry in college, but it was a beekeeping job during summers in high school that convinced Winter he wanted to wear a beekeeper suit rather than a lab coat.

“I started in 1961, working for a friend from church,” David recalled. “I like the outside work; I like hard work. And I had a lot of energy, so it fit me pretty good. Through college, I had to make a decision whether to work at something I was majoring in in college or beekeeping. The bees won out, and I’ve worked at it ever since.”

Today, David runs Chaparral Honey in Valley Center, California.

“It’s been a good place for us; we’ve been blessed,” David shared. “Our primary goal has not been beekeeping but trying to help young people learn how to work. We try to bring them in here and work with them. Most of us all go to church at the same place, and we’ve always got our eye open for people in need of help. We help them to grow up, so there’s a room full of them in there.”

Joining Sioux Honey

David and his Chaparral Honey have been members of the Sioux Honey Association Co-op for the past 16 years, after several years of selling their honey on the open market. David said it’s the best decision he ever made.

“The thing I really appreciate about Sioux Honey is that they answer their phone. Every time I call, everyone is very helpful. I guess they’re just used to talking with farmers. They’re not lofty or anything like that; they’re just very easy and accessible.

“Sometimes with big organizations, you’re passed around. You call somebody, ‘Oh, no, you need this department.’ It’s not like that at Sioux. We have two people we deal with, and they’ve just been great. We love being able to talk directly to them, and they’re very responsive and helpful and appreciative. You never hear them complain.”

While Winter and his team at Chaparral obviously depend on bees for their livelihood, it’s the people that matter the most to him.

“By far the best part of being a beekeeper is the people you work with – the farmers and our employees,” he said. “We deal with a lot of old-timers up on cattle ranches that are always glad to see you. ‘Come in and have a cup of coffee,’ they say. It’s neat.”

Like most beekeepers, Chaparral depends on farms – particularly the ones that don’t have crops that need pollinating – and the farmers who allow David to place his beehives on their property.

“I get to know their kids, their lives; we care about each other. And our agreements are all mostly still done on a handshake. I really like that part.”

Passing on the Business

David’s children worked at Chaparral Honey through high school, but they ultimately chose to pursue careers outside the honey business. The Chaparral Honey owner said he will pass the company on to his employees, whom he considers his extended family.

“One of the things that we say over and over is that we’re not in the bee business, we’re in the people business,” he said. “The bees are just the way we make a living, but the people are more important.

“And so, we really try to work with people. We intentionally take on people with problems – a few – and most of the time, we’re able to help them out. If we’re taking care of people, my philosophy – and from the Bible really – is that He’ll bless the business. And that’s the way it’s worked out.”

Parade Breakfast Snacks

Three tasty treats for Thanksgiving Day parade watching

In a year like 2020, when so many things are not like they used to be, it’s nice to know that one of the longest-running holiday traditions will go on this year: The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Of course, it’s been reimagined and will be a TV-only type of event on NBC, but familiar sights will still be seen live from 34th Street in New York City by more than 50 million viewers worldwide. Giant, larger-than-life balloons; dazzling, colorful floats; entertainers galore; and, of course, the one and only Santa Claus will be on hand.

All of which begs the question: What kind of breakfast snacks will you enjoy while watching the parade this year with friends and family? Well, as luck would have it, we have some deliciously brilliant ideas: Sue Bee® Honey French Toast Bites, Aunt Sue’s® Cinnamon Honey Pull-Apart Rolls and Aunt Sue’s® Candied Bacon.

Sue Bee® Honey French Toast Bites

If brunch is your favorite meal, then this recipe is for you. We’ve taken a morning classic and added a sprinkle of cinnamon and a healthy pour of our favorite ingredient – Sue Bee® honey! Plus, these bites make it easy to make a larger quantity so everyone can have a nibble. Pair it with our Sue Bee® Mimosa 75, too!

Ingredients

1 loaf of French bread, unsliced

4 eggs, well beaten

1/2 cup milk

1/3 cup Sue Bee® honey

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

Cut the bread into cubes.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla and Sue Bee® honey. (Note: You can melt the honey in the microwave for 20 seconds first if that helps.)

Add the salt and cinnamon to the bowl and mix.

Dip the cubed bread into the egg mixture, making sure to coat all sides.

Place the dipped bread cubes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Broil on one side for three minutes. Then flip the bites and broil for another three minutes. (Keep in mind that, with a broiler, the process can take less than three minutes per side. Just toast so they crisp but do not burn.)

Aunt Sue’s® Cinnamon Honey Pull-Apart Rolls

One bite of our cinnamon honey pull-apart rolls and your self-control will be out the door and down the street. They’re sweet without being too rich, and they’re best served warm with a hefty drizzle of our Aunt Sue’s® Raw & Unfiltered Honey. Mornings never tasted better.

Ingredients

14 frozen dinner rolls

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 tbs cinnamon

1/4 cup Aunt Sue’s® Raw & Unfiltered Honey

Directions

Thaw dinner rolls for one hour, then cut into three pieces and shape into balls.

Melt butter and place in a small bowl.

Mix sugar and cinnamon and place in a small bowl.

Coat each piece of dough with butter, then with cinnamon-sugar mixture. (Keep any leftover butter for later!)

Place the coated dough into a cast iron skillet (or 9×13 baking dish).

Allow dough to rise for at least two hours.

Bake at 350° F for 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and top with remaining melted butter.

Drizzle Aunt Sue’s® Raw & Unfiltered Honey. Serve warm.

Aunt Sue’s® Candied Bacon

Never again will you have a Bloody Mary without this delicious candied bacon as a garnish. Made sweet with Aunt Sue’s® Raw & Unfiltered Honey, and spicy with sriracha, it’ll be gone faster than it took you to make it. … Maybe plan on doubling the recipe below just in case.

Ingredients

2 tbsp Aunt Sue’s® Raw & Unfiltered Honey

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp sriracha

8 slices thick-cut bacon

Salt and pepper

Directions

Mix the Aunt Sue’s® honey, apple cider vinegar, sriracha, salt and pepper in a bowl.

Bake your bacon in the oven for 15 minutes at 350° F.

Remove from the oven and brush with the honey mixture, then continue baking for five minutes.

Remove from oven again, flip bacon and brush other side with the honey mixture, then continue baking for another five minutes.

Remove bacon from oven and let cool for 30 minutes before serving.