Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Culinary idea of the day

I read not so long ago that beekeepers sometimes feed bees plain sugar water and get really crappy honey on the cheap. I'm guessing that this honey doesn't have much subtlety or complexity to it, without the floral notes that you might get in the honey from proper nectar-fed bees. Also, at the PNE I saw some bees in a glass tank that had a tube going out of it so that they could have at flowers, but there was also a little jar of sugar water on top for them to eat, since the tube wasn't big enough for the bees to get through unimpeded and because the flowers were kind of far away. (Really, I'm guessing it's just so that they can pad their output volume with some plain-sugar-water honey.)

But then it hit me: why not take this seemingly lame practice and turn it on its head? Sugar water might not have much flavour, sure, but there are plenty of things that do have flavour. Why not feed the bees Coke? What would the honey taste like? I'm guessing Coke.

(Actually, my first thought was root beer, as I think that would turn out a pretty interesting result. Plus the caffeine might do bad things to the bees and make them all aggressive.)

If anyone out there keeps bees and wants to try this, please do and tell me how it goes. All I ask is a free jar of the resulting honey if it's good. Also a mention on your website when it becomes the next big thing. Also a cut of the profits.

You're welcome.

Current Music: The Replacements - Kiss Me On The Bus