Robbing the Bees: A Biography of Honey--The Sweet Liquid Gold that Seduced the World

Honey has been waiting almost ten million years for a good biography. Bees have been making this prized food -- for centuries the world's only sweetener -- for millennia, but we humans started recording our fascination with it only in the past few thousand years. Part history, part love letter, Robbing the Bees is a celebration of bees and their magical produce, revealing the varied roles of bees and honey in nature, world civilization, business, and gastronomy.
To help navigate the worlds and cultures of honey, Bishop -- beekeeper, writer, and honey aficionado -- apprentices herself to Donald Smiley, a professional beekeeper who harvests tupelo honey in the Florida panhandle. She intersperses the lively lore and science of honey with lyrical reflections on her own and Smiley's beekeeping experiences. Its passionate research, rich detail, and fascinating anecdote and illustrations make Holley Bishop's Robbing the Bees a sumptuous look at the oldest, most delectable food in the world.

Holley Bishop loves bees. No, more than that: she idolizes them. She marvels at their native abilities and the momentous role these misunderstood and unjustly feared creatures have played in the development of human history. And with her book, Robbing the Bees, she succeeds in making the reader love bees, too. Take this nifty bit of information, one of countless fascinating factoids offered by Bishop in her celebration of all things bee-related: "Because of bees' starring role in the drama of pollination, we humans are indebted to them, directly and indirectly, for a third of our food supply. Visiting bees are required for the commercial production of more than a hundred of our most important crops including alfalfa, garlic, apples, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, citrus, melons, onion, almonds, turnips, parsley, sunflower, cranberries, and clover." Or how about this: "For the past decade, the American military has been testing [bees'] potential as special agents in the war on drugs and terrorism. Bees are as sensitive to odor as dogs and can be trained to buzz in on drugs, explosives, landmines, and chemical weapons." Beat that as a winning opening gambit at a cocktail party. And that ain't all. Bishop charts the evolution of honey and beeswax harvesting through the ages, gives us an up-close look inside working beehives from ancient Egypt to the present day, interviews beekeepers, quotes bee chroniclers past and present (from Charles Darwin to contemporary Florida beekeeper Donald Smiley), reveals her rather clumsy foray into beekeeping in candid detail, studies bees' impact on religion and history, and provides a selection of innovative recipes calling for honey. Through it all, Bishop never loses sight of the star if the show--the humble honey bee--or the crucial but largely unrewarded role they continue to play on our planet. And she does it with snappy prose and keen humor. Dogs be warned: if Bishop has her way, bees will be the it pet of the future, or at least less likely to die at the end of a folded newspaper next time one buzzes in through an open window. --Kim Hughes

I made some of these tinctures using Silver Wolf Vodka, straight from the plastic bottle. A few were purchased at an herb store.

Whats in the bottles?

Small bottles/ Left to right: mint leaf, wood betony*, blue vervain*, basil leaf, mullein flower, mullein leaf, plantain, sage, valerian*.

*store bought

Big bottles/ clear bottle in the center: white oak bark. Far right amber bottle: plantain

The mason jars contain basil, lemon basil, mullein flower, mint. The bottles on the lowest shelf to the right are store bought white wines.

What are tinctures?

Quite simply, a tincture is an alcohol based solution used to preserve herbs. An oxymel is similar, but made with vinegar instead of alcohol. There are a number of advantages to using herbal tinctures. Tinctures preserve the medicinal substance of plants longer after dried or fresh plants break down and decomponse. Tinctures also provide a convenient way to store, transport and administer herbal medicines. A few drops of tincture can be added to a glass of water or a wound on the body without the need to boil water or wait for a cold infused herb. Some herbs are alcohol soluble but not water soluble and so tinctures are better at capturing their medicinal substances as opposed to teas. I think Eichinacea is an example of that.

Most of the work of making tinctures occurs at the end of the process but once completed, the tincture is availbe for immediate use whenever it is needed. Tincturing herbs involves soaking the dried or fresh plant material in vodka, brandy or everclear and closing them in an air tight container for anywhere from three weeks to three months. Then, the liquid is strained from the plant material. The leftover over plant material (called the marque) is squeezed until all the liquid is removed. The liquid is strained again if there is still more plant meterial in it. Then it is stored (usually in amber bottles to decrease the deterioration of the medicinal substance from exposure to light; the bottles with rubber droppers you see in the picture are called Boston Amber Rounds)in a cool, dark, dry place. Different herbs will remain medicinally viable for different lengths of time, usually between 1-3 years.

Herbs that are tinctured in Everclear (pure grain alcohol, 100 proof) will last up to 20 years or longer. Everclear is used to help preserve responsibly harvested rare but not endangered herbs. Brandy is prefered by some herbalists to preserve bitter tasted herbs because it sweetens them, but only good quality brandy can be used. Vodka is most commonly used because the cheapest stuff works great and offers a consistent result with many different herbs.

For short term/ quick fix situations, white wine can be used to make weak but usable tinctures in less than 36 hours that will last up to a week or however long white wine lasts after it has been uncorked.

IM BACK bahahahahahaha! please press "L".....soooo much better=] YAHHHHY I wanted to recreate this for like over a week and I am soooo glad i got it up before this weekend, which is gonna be supper awesome amazingness! Mostly cause it's gonna be my 21st birthday on sunday! I still have to get my halloween costume together, Im being a circus ringmaster! I have most of it done but i just have to make my jacket get some suspenders a white tank and some boots. Anyways when i was out the other day i hit up the spirit halloween store and bought some fake blood because the stuff i always make sucks then i got liquid latex and eyelashes. It took me about 2 house to get my hair and make up done then i probably shot for like 45 minutes and then showed for what seamed like forever. My neck still feels sore from scrubbing the paint (i painted my neck green to help with the editing process and it really did) and latex off my neck. All in all I'm really happy with it but the blood was drying a lot so it doesn't look all the real and i had to keep putting it on but Im still ok with it =] oh this also reminds me of my halloween costume. Like a circus ringmaster's trick going wrong lol Anyways I would love to credit the original photographer but I found that photo on pinterest and the best I got was a link to that tumbler.

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