Events
THE SWEET TASTE OF VICTORY Alan Lyons, Head of Shows, Bath & West
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t has been widely reported that the British public has developed a love of ‘homegrown’ and British produce as a result of the lockdowns experienced in the past year. Two quintessentially British products which have benefitted from this are cider and honey. Indeed, it has been estimated that over 1.1m new shoppers bought cider last year when they were unable to go to the pub. As people stayed at home during 2020 and their cars remained firmly parked on driveways, air pollution plummeted. This was a huge benefit to the native bee population, which thrived in the cleaner air. Much daily exercise in the hot spring and summer was taken in the countryside, where walkers saw beehives and apple orchards, making them more aware of where their food and drink came from. This was also good news for the thousands of farm shops up and down the country, which saw huge increases in sales as interest in ‘farm to fork’ and the carbon footprint of products grew. The quality of these products can vary, which is why competitions to find the best honeys and ciders have been going for hundreds of years. Apiculture; the art of beekeeping, has been practised for thousands of years across the world and the Egyptian pyramids have proven that if honey is packed in beeswax by the bees it will last for at least 3000 years. By comparing honeys and products of the bee throughout the centuries standards are improved or 24 | Sherborne Times | August 2021
maintained. In 1888 competition standards were laid down and honey shows were added to different sections until 1901, when the competition in apiculture was given its own section. The Royal Bath & West Show Bees and Honey Section covers the South West of England and the level of competition is just one step below the National Honey Show. Up to 400 entries are typically made to cover various types of Honey; ‘Runny’ (which is clear and pourable), ‘Set’ (firmer and cloudy), ‘Comb’ (still contained within its original hexagonal-shaped beeswax cells, and has received no processing or filtering), ‘Sections’ (where small pieces of comb have been drawn and filled with honey and placed into a container), ‘Chunk Honey’ (a piece of comb in a jar filled with liquid honey), and other products like beeswax in several different forms like one ounce and eight ounce blocks, candles rolled, moulded, and dipped, and wax flowers that look almost real. In a normal year there are cake and sweet classes, and mead in its different forms becoming ever more popular again. Qualified international judges take pride in their task of selecting the best in each section, looking for cleanliness of jar and contents, and the aroma and clarity of honey. Results are eagerly awaited by the competitors in each class as the points for getting a placement card are accumulated to give the best in each
