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Bermondsey Street Bees x Provenance Editions Royal Albert Dock London Honey 220g #005

£16.00

A Provenance Editions (#005) Limited Edition of 500 Jars of this exceptional London honey from the Multi-Award-Winning sustainable Bermondsey Street Bees.

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DESCRIPTION

Royal Albert Dock Honey

Beyond the Thames barrier, East London’s riverside offers some surprising spaces where bees can prosper. The Royal Albert Dock bees collect pollen and nectar principally from brownfield areas that were cleaned and returned to nature more than 20 years ago. Apparently bleak, this post-industrial landscape actually offers a wealth of the wild forage that honeybees will always seek in preference to cultivated garden flowers. Pioneer species such as Black Alder, Willow, Robinia, Bramble, Dandelion, Elder and Tree of Heaven are amongst the many forage sources which produce this rich varietal.

Bermondsey Street Bees was founded in 2007, a time when London’s open spaces, rooftops and private gardens still offered honeybees a safe haven. Even then, with sustainability top of their agenda, founders Dale & Sarah began establishing significant urban planting projects to protect and build biodiversity around their apiary sites.

Since then though, the fashionable trend for urban beekeeping has swamped London and many other cities with more and more hives. The combination of soaring honeybee populations and ever-shrinking green space raises major ecological concerns, with scientists spotlighting London beekeeping (and honey production) as having become problematic. The city’s hive density is now three times higher than anywhere in Europe, and in this challenged environment, food-seeking honeybees increasingly compete not only with each other, but also with already-endangered wild bee species (bumblebees and solitaries.)

In the face of a steady increase in honeybee populations and parallel declines of wild pollinators, Bermondsey Street Bees have reduced their urban hive numbers significantly over the past few years. They have also moved apiaries away from urban hotspots into uncrowded, naturally rewilded land in London’s far Docklands, under an exclusive licence with The Royal Docks.

In these naturally rewilded brownfield sites, a rich, vibrant and ever-evolving flora and fauna underpin a strong ecosystem. Here, with plentiful resources, Bermondsey Street Bees’ hives can live in balance with their wild cousins. Bermondsey Street Bees always prioritise their bees’ welfare over honey production, but it’s thrilling to see national award-winning recognition for the glorious, and highly differentiated sustainable London honeys that their four Docklands sites are now producing.

ABOUT PROVENANCE EDITIONS

Provenance Editions bring together the best independent Provenance Hub growers and producers, creating mouthwatering collaborations or limited edition releases of multi-award-winning foods exclusive to Provenance Hub and a few select retailers.

Provenance Edition #005 Bermondsey Street Bees Royal Albert Dock London Honey (2022)

Edition Size:500 Jars

First Release: Numbered Jars 1 to 100 released 17th Feb 2023.

PRODUCT INFORMATION

A rich single-source honey from East London’s Docklands area where significant re-wilding underpins the wide variety of pollen and nectar sources that honeybees need for optimal health and the production of characterful honey. Only their surplus honey is ever harvested, leaving the colony with plentiful winter stores. The honey is extracted using a simple centrifuge. Never blended or heated above the natural hive temperature, it is minimally filtered in a traditional process that removes excess wax whilst preserving all of the honey’s natural flavours, aromatics and micro-nutrients including the pollens.

Awarded ‘Best Honey in Middlesex’* at the 2019 National Honey Show.

(* traditional name for the majority of the Greater London Area which fell within the county of Middlesex.)

Three Star Great Taste Awards Winner: 2020, Two Star Great Taste Award Winner: 2022

Guild of Fine Foods Judges Comments:

"Very complex nose and a luscious butterscotch hit right at the start of the palate followed by a clean, round, mouth-filling sensation that had us all eulogizing in the most florally descriptive terms. We were amazed at the creamy notes coating the mouth and we could detect the hints of bramble on the finish. We'll never think of the brambles in our hedges in the same light."

"Wow! This is a stunning honey. Full of all the promised butterscotch qualities which are deep, dark and creamy. In fact the mouthfeel is creamy too - coating the mouth so beautifully like velvet. We are so enjoyed judging this, the finish goes on for ever - giving us a long, warm and joyous time of it! The hints of the bramble and blackberry also made an appearance on the finish - which was clean and utterly sublime. This is how honey should always."

"Caramelly and enticing! An earthy hedgerow aroma. Deliciously smooth and creamy on the palate. That butterscotch and bramble flavour definitely comes through as well as mineralness. Initial strength in flavour melts away leaving a lingering and long lasting freshness that changes as time goes on. A light but complex honey. Lovely!"

Great British Food Awards 2020 - Highly Commended, Great British Food Awards 2021 - Winner London & South East

Judged by Bryn Williams:

"This is a fantastic and solid honey and it would work well across various uses. I can imagine enjoying this in tea, with cake, or in cooking. A good all-rounder although with slightly less depth than the other winners"

Provenance Assured by Provenance Hub (click here for more information)

INGREDIENTS:

A single-source raw London honey. Never blended, heated or micro-filtered.

PACK INFORMATION:

220g Single-source Raw Honey in a Reuseable Le Parfait Glass Jar

Typical values per 20g serving (1 teaspoon); will vary naturally from batch to batch

Energy: 272kJ

Protein: 0.08g

Fat: 0g

Protein: 0.0 g

Carbohydrate: (sugars) 15.9g

Sodium: 2.4mg

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Provenance Editions bring the best independent growers and producers together to create mouthwatering collaborations, or as here limited releases of mouthwatering and multi-award-winning foods not normally available to the public.

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