Portland Culinary Alliance

Eager PCA members gathered together last night at the Oregon Culinary Institute for an informative program about honey bees, the beekeeping industry, and that golden nectar itself. Beekeeper George Hansen of Foothills Honey Company in Colton welcomed us with a glass of mead, the alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey with yeast. As we sipped, Hansen shared with us his work as a beekeeper of more than 30 years.

Following Hansen’s talk, students from the Oregon Culinary Institute paid the classroom a visit and shared the story behind the many honey-infused desserts they’d prepared for us that evening. Among them were a moist honey apple cake and addictive honey walnut crisps.

Enjoying the rare opportunity to have dessert before dinner, we filled our plates with these honey-sweetened treats and settled in to watch the evening’s film, Pollen Nation. Hansen makes an appearance in this film, which discusses the role of bees and the important work of beekeepers. Additionally, the film provided us with some background on the challenges of beekeeping and the need to make sure the industry continues to grow and thrive.

One such beekeeping challenge is solving the mystery of Colony Collapse Disorder. This disorder has many potential causes, and threatens to disrupt the bee industry and our nation’s agriculture industry as well. (For more information on this mysterious disorder, be sure to read PCA President Susan Hauser’s article, The Mystery of the Missing Honey Bees, in this month’s Northwest Palate magazine.)

After a Q + A session with Hansen and a honey tasting, we departed, armed with fresh knowledge about bees and a gift bag from the National Honey Board filled with everything from a honey cookbook to coupons for Haagen-Daz honey bee ice cream.