Clockwise from far left: Chef Knoll repurposes a tire to create a water source for the bees; Mike Turner of Marin Coastal Bee Company checks on the health of a Langstroth hive at Jordan; Chef Knoll adds fresh honey to a bento box; Turner examines honeycomb; Flow Hives situated in front of Langstroth hives at Jordan.
Honey on Tap
Honey is considered one of nature’s rare complete foods because it contains essential elements to sustain life, from vitamins and proteins to free amino acids and folic acid. While the labor-intensive, multiple-step process of harvesting this liquid gold has always been deemed worthwhile, it’s often a barrier to the adoption of beekeeping. When Knoll serendipitously saw a very compelling Facebook video of the Flow Hive, an Australian invention that was being introduced to the world in February 2015 through a crowdfunding campaign, he jumped at the chance to adopt the technology. The winery purchased one Flow Hive the first day they were introduced and soon bought two more. “The Flow Hive is ingenious,” Knoll says. “Now even a novice can easily harvest honey.”
The Flow Hive, the first major redesign of a beehive since the classic Langstroth hive (developed in the 1850s), makes harvesting honey as simple as turning on a tap. It uses special flow frames that open to create channels in the honeycomb so that honey can flow directly from the hive. The user-friendly nature of the Flow Hive and its potential to
increase the number of backyard beekeepers was an immediate draw for Chef Knoll.
In preparation for building a Jordan apiary, Knoll began attending beekeeping and sensory classes at the University of California at Davis. Working with Marin Coastal Bee Company beekeeper Mike Turner, who Knoll credits as a “bee whisperer,” they established nine beehives for a local species of honeybees: six traditional Langstroth hives and three Flow Hives. “We decided to approach beekeeping using both methods, side by side, to better understand the differences between these hives, and to see if their honeys have distinct flavors,” Knoll says.
According to Turner, the dozen or so Flow Hives that he tends work well when a robust bee colony can build enough honeycomb to fill the topmost frames of the hive. “The invention is still so new that we’re still monitoring the health and productivity of these hives compared to traditional ones,” Turner says. “But the world needs more bees, and any invention that makes it easier for small businesses and homeowners to become beekeepers is a good thing.”
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